(photo: El Pais)
Solid piece by Zach Woolfe in this week's Times, combining a review of Madrid's new production of Messiaen's Saint Francois d'Assise with an eye-opening interview with the Teatro Real's new artistic director, Gerard Mortier. If that name rings a bell, it's because Mortier was once destined to become City Opera's general manager, before quitting in the face of stark budget cuts. ("I cannot go to run a company that has less than the smallest company in France,” he said at the time. “You don’t need me for that.”)
Mortier, who's never been known for his modesty, has transposed his once-ambitious plans for City Opera – Kurt Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, a new Philip Glass opera about Walt Disney, as well as Einstein on the Beach, Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain – to Madrid, which is blessed to have half of it's $80 million annual budget supplied by the state. (Compare that to City Opera, whose budget in next year's nomadic season is less than $13 million.)
By far, the most ambitious of these transplants is Emilia and Ilya Kabakov’s production of Saint Francois, which was staged earlier this month at the Madrid Arena: a 12,000 capacity soccer stadium with bleachers for seats. (Queen Sofia herself attended the premiere, seated not far from Mortier.) The central feature of the Kabakov's production – and the main reason for it's outdoor staging – is a massive steel and glass cupola that hangs horizontally over the stage, backlit in various colors intended to reflect the gradually shifting music. (Messiaen, who spoke of the relationship of color to music throughout his life, would not doubt approve.)
(photo: El Pais)
As if we needed yet another reminder of just how far City Opera has fallen in recent weeks, this same production was originally scheduled to be performed at the Park Avenue Armory in 2009; apparently, Mortier went so far as to have the sets shipped to New York, only to return them unopened several months later.
In his interview with Woolfe, Mortier claims that his departure from City Opera came down to a difference of about $20 million, which he said he was denied in a last-minute appeal to the board. "I am sure that if I had started in New York, we would have had an enormous success," Mortier says. "I would have won that, I am sure.”
Sigh. I wish George Steel the best next season, but taking a look across the pond, it's hard not to be wistful for what might have been. Or sanguine about the state of arts funding in this country, which is in greater jeopardy than ever as our government debates how to best preserve tax cuts for billionaires.
Double sigh.