Here's the review of opening night of Rodelinda. Now, while I can't see more than a measly chunk of the corner of the stage, I'm not the best to objectively judge the kind of acting and dramatic staging that goes on up there. So I'll give that one to Mr. Stabler.
But the suggestion that the Portland Baroque Orchestra should have been hired above us??? Okay, to be totally fair, the PBO just plain rocks. The sound bytes I've heard of them are fantastic. But the simple reason they weren't hired for this production lies with this: IT'S A PORTLAND OPERA PRODUCTION, AND THE OPERA HAS ITS OWN DAMN ORCHESTRA!
I know, I shouldn't be so offended by the suggestion - it was nothing more than a sidenote. Almost as if he forgot to review the orchestra and then threw in a sentence after his article had already been written. But what he doesn't seem to understand is that the Portland Opera Orchestra's worthiness lies in the very fact that we're NOT specialists. We've had, so far, productions this season written by Bizet, Rossini, and Handel. A simple wikipedia or New Grove Dictionary search will reveal the fact that the writing styles and periods of these composers are vastly different. And we do everything we can EVERY single rehearsal to make sure that we are being as chameleon-like as possible. We toil over single note articulations. We discuss the possible underuse (or gregarious overuse) of vibrato. Our section leaders are just on top of things. We practice, we listen, and we make sure that even though we're not the PBO (or the Met, or even the Academy of St. Martin), we do our darned best. Touting us as "earnest" and then immediately dismissing us as inadequate for the drama and feel of Handel is unfair. Grossly unfair. I don't sweat over intonation and rhythmic exactness of those double-dotted arias just to have a response from the audience be a pat on the head and a sweet, "Well, you sure aren't a Baroque orchestra, now are you?"
Come on, Davey-poo. We're a huge part of the opera. You may not have seen us, but you sure as hell heard us. And yes, we were the same musicians you thought did a great job in the past two operas... we weren't replaced with a magically inept orchestra. We deserve more credit.
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