Boston Baroque leader believes 'Alcina' will prove to be magical

By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff, 10/17/2003

Several of Handel's operas have achieved a prominence in the international repertory that no one could have predicted 50 years ago. One of the most popular has been "Alcina," which premiered in 1735. Its revival in this century was given a jump start by a famous production in the 1960s, with Franco Zeffirelli overseeing a cast headed by a young Joan Sutherland (this version was seen both in Europe and America).

Although Boston has probably heard more of Handel's operas and oratorios than any other US city, "Alcina" seems never to have been performed here.

Martin Pearlman, who leads Boston Baroque in two performances of "Alcina" (tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 in Jordan Hall), says, "What attracted me was the music -- I didn't realize at first we would be presenting the local premiere. `Alcina' has some very famous arias in it, and nowadays all voice students learn them and sing them in auditions. But the whole opera isn't as well known.

"Itwas one of the great successes of Handel's career; many of the other operas that have been successfully revived were not that popular when they were new. `Alcina' is about a sorceress, but she is more complicated than the heroines of most sorceress arias. She has wild and fast music, but most of it is introspective; she's a very complicated character."

Countertenor Drew Minter was supposed to supervise the semistaging for Boston Baroque, but he recently broke his shoulder in a fall down a flight of stairs. At Minter's suggestion, he will be replaced by Jennifer Griesbach, who has assisted him on several productions. "She's on the same wavelength as Drew," Pearlman says, "and she knows how to get a lot out of people very quickly."

Pearlman is excited about his cast, headed by Twyla Robinson -- a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions in 2002 -- and includes Margaret Lattimore, Christine Abraham, Amanda Forsythe, John Tessier, and Stephen Salters. Pearlman says, "A few years ago, we performed and recorded Gluck's `Iphigenie en Tauride' with Christine Goerke, who wasn't all that well known at the time. So many people told me afterwards, when she was famous, that they wished they had come to hear her. I feel certain there will be people coming up to me in the future and wishing that they had come to hear Twyla Robinson and the others."

For tickets or information, call Boston Baroque at 617-484-9200, or the Jordan Hall box office 617-585-1260.

Bach celebration: Peter Sykes and Christa Rakich, friends from the organ faculty of the New England Conservatory, have embarked on an ambitious program to play the complete keyboard works of J.S. Bach over a period of two years, on Tuesday nights in four local churches equipped with splendid organs. Admission is a suggested $10, which will go to local charitable organizations.

The second concert in the series is Tuesday in St. Paul's Church in Brookline, when Rakich will play Book I of "The Well-Tempered Clavier" on harpsichord and organ. A full schedule and other details are posted at www.tuesdayswithsebastian.info.

Emmanuel services: Speaking of Bach, the famous cantata series presented by Emmanuel Music in the context of the regular Sunday-morning liturgy at Emmanuel Church has moved to a new hour and a slightly different context. There are now two Sunday-morning services at Emmanuel, the first at 9 a.m. with the full liturgy, including Communion, and music by a volunteer choir under the direction of Nancy Granert. A second service, at 11:15 a.m., features the cantata and a weekly motet performed by Emmanuel's resident corps of professional musicians led by Craig Smith in the context of the liturgy of morning prayer.

According to Emmanuel Music executive director Leonard Matczynski, this decision was reached after long discussions among rector William Blaine-Wallace, the vestry, and Emmanuel Music because some Sunday services had reached inordinate lengths -- sometimes stretching to more than two hours. Because there was only one Sunday service, everything the church needed to do was crowded into it. Now the full liturgy with Communion will not be lengthened by musical works of sometimes substantial duration; the Bach cantatas will still be heard in the liturgical context for which they were written.