“Haunting, Profound” Tales of Hoffman Comes to Orcas Center in Encore Performance

Anna Netrebko, as the doomed Antonia, in the arms of Joseph Calleja, as Hoffman

THE MET: LIVE IN HD’s fourth opera of the summer Encore Series is Les Contes d’Hoffmann by Offenbach airing at Orcas Center on Friday, July 13 at 7:30 pm.

“The Met’s new Hoffmann is a musically gratifying and vividly theatrical staging of a haunting and, in its way, profound work.”New York Times

Bartlett Sher’s production stars Joseph Calleja in the tour-de-force title role of this fictionalized take on the life and loves of the German Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann. Diva, Anna Netrebko is the tragic Antonia and Alan Held sings the demonic four villains. James Levine conducts.

“There is much to cheer about in the Metropolitan Opera’s phantasmagorical new production of Offenbach’s Contes d’Hoffmann’ (‘Tales of Hoffmann’). The soprano Anna Netrebko was vocally lustrous, charismatic and wrenching as Antonia, the sickly and frustrated singer who has been warned that singing will lead to her death. She also made a captivating and tart Stella, the prima donna Hoffmann is smitten with.” New York Times

This Hoffmann, dressed in a plain suit suggesting 1920s Eastern Europe, spends most of his days seated at a humdrum writing table, with a battered typewriter and a small desk lamp. That desk is where he belongs. At least that is the conviction of the Muse of Poetry, who in the guise of Nicklausse, Hoffmann’s devoted friend, follows him everywhere. The mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, singing with warmth and subtlety and looking alluringly androgynous, makes a trustworthy muse.

The mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova was a suitably dark-hued and sensual Giulietta, dressed incongruously in an 18th-century gown. The baritone Alan Held was husky-voiced, imposing and often chilling, portraying the four devilish villains who torment Hoffmann.” New York Times

Tickets for Les Contes D’Hoffmann are $15 for adults and $11 for students  ($2 off for Orcas Center members) and may be purchased on the website at www.orcascenter.org or by calling  376-2281 ext. 1 or visiting the Orcas Center Box Office during box office hours which are Thursday, Friday and Saturday from noon- 4 pm. For more information about Orcas Center 2012 season events, please visit www.orcascenter.org.