OperaMetro had the privilege to connect again with Maestro Will Crutchfield, whose Teatro Nuovo will perform Rossini’s immortal Il barbiere di Siviglia in later this month in New York City. Keeping with Covid protocol, even though fully vaccinated, we opted to do this interview on paper, not face to face. Any seeming departures from this format are only for flow.

OperaMetro (OM): It’s indeed a pleasure to be chatting again, Will.

Will Crutchfied (WC): Indeed.

OM: It’s been a rough road to travel since we last talked in the summer of 2019. There have been restrictions for gatherings and contact forced on us by the virus. What were your strategies to keep Teatro Nuovo alive and well during these dark days? Which aspects of training, teaching, coaching, etc. were most affected and how did you adjust?

WC: We have been adjusting since Day One of the pandemic. First and foremost, a year ago we raised money to pay our singers and players 50% of their expected salary for the canceled 2020 season. We launched an intensive series of webinars, 53 in all, for the musicians who should have been in our training program that year. We also began employing them for a series of videos of rare Italian songs and chamber music. Thirty-one have been published so far, with many more in the pipeline or in planning.

Will Crutchfield, maestro al cembalo and Jakob Lehmann First Violin and Conductor of the Orchestra

OM: But this summer Teatro Nuovo is back on stage, si?

WC: Yes, for our 2021 season, we had seven fully developed and vetted budgets ready back in January, so as to be ready for whatever the circumstances could allow in the summer. This was crucial, and it's the main reason we are the ones to bring New York its first full-length opera performances since the shutdown. We were ready for everything, ranging from a return to indoor performances in totally normal style to abridged versions with a few singers and string quintet accompaniment. And for everything in between.

OM: But, as announced, you’re actually doing a little of both.

WC: Yes. It turned out we couldn't go back indoors yet, but we have the second-best scenario: outdoor performances with full orchestra, soloists, and chorus. We also did not attempt to run our usual training program, but almost all our participants are returning artists who have been through it before. Next year it will be back bigger than ever.

OM: You're doing Il barbiere di siviglia. Apart from its wonderful score and characters, hence its popularity, what reasons guided your choice?

WC: Three things. First, a performance in the park on a summer evening is not the place for introducing our usual rarities. It's the place for celebrating a familiar score. Second, the soloists we hired for Rossini’s Maometto Secondo made a great Barbiere cast. And third, Barbiere is an opera of pure joy, and we are all joyful to be getting back to work.

OM: You're a Rossini scholar as well as a wonderful force in the orchestra pit. Why is Barbiere so popular, compared, say, to La gazza ladra?

WC: La gazza ladra is great, but it is very difficult and complex, and it mixes comic and tragic elements in a way that does not automatically fall into place. So it will always remain an opera for a special occasion. Barbiere, on the other hand, is an opera for every season. Verdi said it best: "for comic verve, real musical ideas, and truth of declamation, Il barbiere is the most beautiful comic opera in existence."

OM: No contest. Your mission with Teatro Nuovo (correct me if I am wrong) is to return to the instruments, the tuning and balance of these instruments in the orchestra, the playing and singing styles of the early 19th century, maybe before. What aspects of Barbiere should the audience be listening to so the impact of your mission more clearly resonates?

WC: I don't think they have to listen for anything in particular. If they know the opera already, it will be very clear how different our interpretation is. If they don't know it already, our job is to introduce them to its delights, and I think we will. Our approach is the same as it is for reviving an unknown work: read the piece attentively to see what is in it, and let that be the starting point for our imaginations. Barbiere comes with a lot of traditions - traditional vocal casting, traditional jokes, traditional ornaments. We are pretending none of that ever happened, and trying to read the opera as though it was just discovered. Meanwhile the flavor and tone-colors of the original instruments will speak for themselves - we are just two days into rehearsal and already I am hearing gorgeous things I have always hoped to hear in Barbiere - and still others that I didn't even expect.

OM: Lastly, if you have two casts (or more), who are the artists, which performances (dates, times) and, if important, are there differences in their voices that relate to differences in the way you approach Barbiere on a given night?

WC: Just one cast. Rosina, Almaviva, and Figaro are Hannah Ludwig, Nicholas Simpson, and Hans Tashjian, who were originally supposed to be in Maometto Secondo. Basilio is Daniel Fridley, who was noticed by everyone in our Rossini Stabat Mater in 2019. Berta and Bartolo are Alina Tamborini and Scott Purcell, who would have sung in Il vero omaggio last year. All six are big-voiced, high-energy singers - this will not be a "lite" Barbiere. I'm very much looking forward to that aspect a lot.

OM: Thank you, Will! My best wishes for successful performances!

Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini will be presented on the stage of Damrosch Park, at Lincoln Center, on Tuesday, July 27th July at 7pm and Wednesday, July 28th at 7pm. We have also reserved Thursday, July 29th as a rain date.

The following links will take you to the Lincoln Center Box Office.

TICKETS:

July 27th, 2021 at 7pm:
https://tickets.lincolncenter.org/booking/production/bestavailable/22482

July 28th, 2021 at 7pm:
https://tickets.lincolncenter.org/booking/production/bestavailable/22483

You can also book your tickets by calling the Lincoln Center Box Office at (212) 721-6500

Enjoy!! Support local Opera!