Does a phony medium start getting messages from the beyond during a sham séance… or are even darker forces afoot? John Hoomes’ clever direction will always leave you guessing. From the composer of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” comes a gorgeously chilling chamber opera presented by candlelight. And since it’s Halloween weekend, Nashville Opera is going all out to make it a spooktacular experience complete with deliciously creepy signature cocktails.
There was a chill in the air on Monday, the first day of rehearsals upstairs in the Studio for the production. Menotti’s score is gorgeous: boldly dissonant mixed with melodic beauty as the haunting piano notes were ringing down the Liff Center’s spiral staircase to the offices below.
As the cast gathered for the first time, John told the company that this is the first time he’s ever directed “The Medium,” but that it is an opera that’s been part of his life for a long time. As anyone who attended the 2019 presentation of Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” knows, the composer’s works have special magic that is particularly well-suited to the Liff Studio. Some works need that epic scope of a huge theater, while others thrive on being up close and personal. “The Medium” is very much the latter.
Speaking of, wherever you sit, you’re going to be right in Madame Flora’s parlor. (Just where she wants you!) Aside from this work being much, much darker in spirit than Amahl, it’s also much larger. The physical set is the largest ever created for a Liff Center Studio show.
However, a warning… The scale set means there’s plenty of places for the ghosties and ghoulies from the other side to hide themselves. You might want to buy and bring extra garlic just to be safe. They’ll try to have some around just in case Madame Flora rouses a particularly malcontented poltergeist from its wanderings.
Single-show tickets are easy to reserve, but won’t last long. At press time, Saturday night has the best availability and the Sunday matinee is the most limited. The last place I’d want to be is out in the cold and dark on All Hallows’ Weekend. Better the devil you know inside the studio than the ones you might run into once the show sells out.
Nashville Opera’s HBCU Fellowship Program
Launched in 2020, Nashville Opera’s HBCU Fellowship Program works with longtime partner Tennessee State University along with Fisk University to present masterclasses and roundtables intended to provide access, promote inclusion, and expand career pathways for developing African-American artists. Nashville Opera received an Art Works award from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as an Innovation Grant from Opera America and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation to support this enhanced partnership.
Nashville Opera Fellows from TSU and Fisk coach with some of the most respected Black artists in the United States. Patrick Dailey and Gwendolyn Brown serve as project managers for the program and work with the 105 Voices of History to create a secondary cohort of HBCU students who tune remotely in from around the country. Due to the pandemic, masterclasses were streamed during the inaugural season. Plans for 2022 – 23 include both Zoom and live masterclasses.
Mark your calendars: On December 16, Nashville Opera and its Committee for Social and Artistic Impact (CASI) will present An Evening with Will Liverman at the Noah Liff Opera Center. This one-night-only concert is a rare opportunity to hear one of the most exciting, up-and-coming baritones of our time in an intimate, cabaret-style setting.
