An ‘imperial’ adventure

Opera Festival celebrates 20th season with ‘A Russian Winterfest.’

By: Christian Kirkpatrick
   It was a night of caviar and vodka, swirling skirts and passionate music. It was A Russian Winterfest to benefit Opera Festival of New Jersey.
   The atrium of the Hyatt Regency resounded with Rachmaninoff’s rolling chords Saturday night as guests gathered first for a VIP reception. As pianist Cynthia Khachadurian performed, they sampled red, gold and black caviar from ice sculpture pedestals and drank a selection of vodkas.
   Then the party swept into a ballroom foyer for the grand reception. In the middle of the room stood an ice sculpture of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. Along the walls were the silent auction items. Guests could bid on tickets to musical and theatrical events, personal services, jewelry and home furnishings. There was a veritable gallery of paintings and stained-glass window hangings, and a travel brochure-worth of plane tickets, excursions and vacation home stays.
   Inside the ballroom, dinner was served to 170 guests. Between courses, Mayor Marvin Reed of Princeton Borough auctioned still more goodies — a case of wine; a tour of Grounds for Sculpture and a luncheon there for six; golf at Jasna Polana, and a tour of the Scheide Manuscript Library, which contains manuscripts by Bach and Beethoven and an autographed score of Wagner’s Das Rheingold.
   After the main course, John A. Ellis, Herbert Ruben and Thomas G. White were honored for their contributions to Opera Festival.
   One of Princeton’s most prominent and admired cultural advocates, Mr. Ellis co-founded the festival 20 years ago, when he was chairman of the music department at The Lawrenceville School, along with conductor Michael Pratt and composer Peter Westergaard of Princeton University.
   Mr. Ruben and Mr. White convinced Merrill Lynch & Co. to step forward as its inaugural corporate sponsor. Merrill Lynch’s "investment" in Opera Festival helped to transform a fine local organization into New Jersey’s leading opera producer and one of the state’s major arts organizations. The festival now commands a national reputation for excellence, innovation and "talent-scouting."
   Sweeter to opera lovers than even dessert, perhaps, was the presence of Margaret Lattimore, star mezzo of the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Washington Opera, etc., etc., who has performed four times with Opera Festival — most recently, as Rosina in its 2002 production of The Barber of Seville. Miss Lattimore was on hand to wish the festival a very happy birthday and to perform songs by Purcell, two arias by Rossini and some Broadway show tunes.
   Chairing A Russian Winterfest was Diane W. Parks. The event’s committees were chaired by Adrienne Rubin, Janice Gross, Sharon Saatsoglou, Helene Kulsrud and David H. Brown.
   The festival’s artistic director, David Agler, seemed pleased with the evening and its connection to the 2003 season, which will include Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, one of the great Russian operas.
   "It took us about two seconds to decide what would be our theme tonight," he said. "Russia and winter go so perfectly together."
   U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12) mentioned another natural duo — opera and the Princeton area. "The festival is a centerpiece of Mercer County culture," he said.
   "I love this opera company," agreed Jean Brown, president of the Opera Festival Guild. "My husband and I have heard opera in Vienna, Italy, Bayreuth, all over. This company really measures up!"
   This summer, in addition to Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, the festival will stage Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and Alban Berg’s Wozzeck. All three are new to Opera Festival and will be new productions.
   "(Wozzeck) is food for the brain," said Mr. Agler, "and we are planning lots of events around it, lots of ways to learn about this 20th century piece."
   Mr. Agler is especially proud that the festival will be doing Wozzeck, a co-production with Pacific Opera Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia. The production will use a new orchestration that has recently been approved by the Berg estate. This will be the first performance of the reduced orchestral version in the United States.
   L’Italiana in Algeri, which the festival has never staged, will be directed by Leon Major, artistic director of Boston Lyric Opera. This production will then move on to Boston, where it will open Lyric Opera’s season in October.
   The season will run from June 29 through July 19 at the McCarter Theatre Center.
   A Russian Winterfest was sponsored by Janssen Pharmaceutica, International Technology Services, American Surgisite Centers, Merrill Lynch & Co., Marion and Robert O’Connor, and Princeton Partners.
To contact Opera Festival of New Jersey, call (609) 919-1008 or visit www.operafest.org