‘MARRIAGE OF FIGARO’ CAST REJOICES IN OPERA’S TIMELESS STORY, CHARACTERS
By: Pam Kragen – Staff Writer

North County Times, CA
May 2 2007

Mozart’s opera "The Marriage of Figaro" turns 221 this year, and while
its harpsichord underpinnings and jus primae noctis story line may set
it firmly in a time and place, its characters and music are timeless.

"Five hundred years from now, it will still be performed, because
it is so human," said Isabel Bayrakdarian, the Canadian/Armenian
soprano who stars as Figaro’s bride, Susanna, in San Diego Opera’s
production opening Saturday. "We will still have the same passions,
the same jealousies, the same hormonal feelings. Susanna is a woman
of yesterday, today and tomorrow."

"The Marriage of Figaro," which closes San Diego Opera’s 2007 season,
was based on a 2-year-old play by Beaumarchais that was so sharply
critical of religion and politicians that the French king Louis XVI
banned it from the stage. To get around the Viennese censors in 1786,
Mozart hired an Italian librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, and played down
the political and religious satire, focusing instead on the story’s
romantic intrigues.

"The Marriage of Figaro" was a sequel to Beaumarchais’ hugely popular
"The Barber of Seville." The story picks up years later, long
after Count Almaviva has married Rosina (with the help of the wily
barber, Figaro) and now it’s Figaro’s turn to wed. But the Almaviva
marriage has grown stale and the bored Count tries to seduce Figaro’s
bride-to-be, Susanna, under the ancient custom of droit du seigneur,
which allowed a lord to deflower a servant’s bride before her wedding
night. To get back at the Count, Figaro, Susanna and the heartbroken
Countess conspire to trap Almaviva at his own game.

At a roundtable lecture last week at the San Diego Civic Theatre,
the "Figaro" cast agreed that their characters may live in the 18th
century but they’re modern thinkers.

"She’s so normal and real," Bayrakdarian says of Susanna. "I don’t
have to think about the period when I play her."

American bass-baritone Richard Bernstein, who plays Figaro, said
he sees himself in the character. "I find things about him that I
can identify with. For example, he’s very jealous, which is natural
because it’s his wedding day, he thinks his bride has cheated on him.

It’s a natural reaction and I try to make his emotions as human
as possible."

Portraying an adolescent boy isn’t as natural for New Zealand
mezzo-soprano Sarah Castle, who plays the Countess’ lovesick page
Cherubino, but Castle says the character is easy to play because
he is honest. "Cherubino is at the turning point in his life,
he’s post-puberty, he’s flirtatious, and he’s naturally interested
in women."

And Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien, who plays the philandering Count,
jokingly strips all pretension from the role. "I play myself in every
situation. The Count is just Mariusz with different clothes and more
polite manners."

Italian maestro Edoardo Muller, who conducts the San Diego production,
said many opera purists consider "The Marriage of Figaro" the best
opera ever written.

"If you’re just looking at the opera’s words, it’s a masterpiece.

Just the music? A masterpiece. If you want the best comedy or romantic
music, it’s there. Want a story for children? It’s there.

You want music for erudite scholars, it’s the best ever written,"
Muller said. "It seems deceptively simple, but it’s very difficult
to perform."

Fortunately, San Diego Opera’s cast is stocked with Mozart
specialists. Kwiecien and Bernstein have performed the roles of the
Count and Figaro, respectively, more than 100 times, and Bayrakdarian
has recorded an album of Mozart duets with the Canadian Opera Company.

All of the singers describe Mozart’s music as great training for
the voice.

"He’s the balsam for the voice," said American soprano Pamela
Armstrong, who plays the Countess. "You must be pure in voice and
understanding of the music because it’s so easy to hear every fault
in the voice when you sing Mozart. The writing is sublime, but it is
so very exposed."

Kwiecien said he started his career in Poland singing Verdi (well-known
as treacherous territory for young voices), but it was when he first
played Mozart’s Figaro at age 21 that he learned how to use his voice
properly. "Mozart has given me the most pleasure and success of my
career. It’s the only way to sing other music."

But Bayrakdarian said there’s no need to approach Mozart’s music with
reverence. Embracing the notes makes the music sound better.

"Mozart loved singers. He wanted them to sound good," she said. "He
had a childlike innocence, and to sing his music right you have to
rejoice in it. It’s elegant music, yet lusty."

Muller sums it up simply by saying that Mozart was both a genius and
a specialist.

"When he wrote for the piano, he wrote it to fit the hands of the
pianist, and when he wrote for singers, he wrote it in a way that
allowed the singers to perform it at their best. He loved life and
he wanted singers to love what they were singing."

"The Marriage of Figaro"

When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Tuesday and May 16; 8 p.m. May 11; 2 p.m. May 13

Where: San Diego Opera at the San Diego Civic Theatre, Third Avenue
at B Street, San Diego

Info: (619) 533-7000

Web: