Sexing up a forgotten classic

Sexing up a forgotten classic
davidhansenDuring its 12 years in operation, Sydney’s Pinchgut Opera company has carved out a reputation for bringing neglected operatic gems to the fore: centuries have passed since the Baroque opera period, and many works have undeservedly fallen by the wayside.
Pinchgut’s latest production, Cavalli’s Giasone, was perhaps the biggest-selling show of the 17th century, but is little-known today.
“It’s amazing how something so incredibly popular can have been lost to people like this. It’s nice that it’s been rediscovered and a company is willing to take a chance on it – most large-scale opera companies really can’t afford to take that chance,” Giasone director Chas Rader-Shieber told the Star Observer.
US-born Rader-Shieber, who lives for much of the year with his husband in Philadelphia, has flown Sydney to direct what will be his second Pinchgut production.
“There’s a reason that some pieces become hugely popular – there’s something to them that connects, and this one is no exception,” he said.
As the accompanying publicity pictures of hunky, bare-chested leading man David Hansen indicate, Giasone is one of Cavalli’s lustier operas.
“David is a great addition to the sexing up of this piece! The piece is, one might say, a romantic comedy that holds in its arms a bittersweet drama. I don’t know how movies are rated in Australia, but back in the States we’d call it R-rated. It’s filled with, as they say, adult themes.”
Hansen plays Giasone (that’s the mythological Jason of Jason and the Argonauts/Jason and the Golden Fleece fame), a man who is guided in life, more often that not, by his loins.
“What an elegant way to put it,” chuckled Rader-Shieber.
“We all are, to some extent, but it’s about how we temper that – or forget to temper it, in his case.”
Hansen is blessed with one of opera’s more unusual voices, a countertenor. Countertenors are the descendant of the 17th century castrato, a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to a female soprano. Traditionally, the effect was created by pre-puberty castration. Rest assured, Hansen’s manhood remains intact!
“I do a lot of Baroque operas, and I encounter countertenors all the time. They’re a fantastic group of singers, and it’s a voice like any other in that it’s deserving of respect. It’s in no way more artificial than a soprano or a bass – it’s the voice that belongs to those particular gentlemen,” said Rader-Shieber.
The director said he was particularly looking forward to watching Sydney audiences experience an opera of which they most likely have little prior knowledge.
“Part of the fun of working on a show like this is that there are no preconceived notions on the audience’s part. If the audience don’t really know what’s coming, it makes it more fun for me to tell that story… to hopefully surprise and enliven them.”
info: Giasone, City Recital Hall Sydney, December 5-9. www.cityrecitalhall.com

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