Brokeback Mountain as opera and Tristan and Isolde 

are the opera highlights at

Theatro Real in Madrid 

right now.

By Henning Høholt

Brokeback Mountain. Daniel Okulitch and Tom Randle in the two main roles. Foto: Javier del Real.

MADRID/SPAIN: Tristan and Isolde.  Headed by some of the operaworlds great stars, with Violeta Urmana in the one titelrole and Ekaterina Gubanova as Brangäne Tristan and Isolde is a popular hit in Madrid, in the idea frame of “Forbidden love”.

Brokeback Mountain by Charlew Wuorinen with text by Annie Proulx the author of the novel that Brokeback Mountains is build on, dialogues taken directly from the popular film about gay love between two cowboys are the other “Forbidden love” opera right now.

It is good that the Brookeback Mountain love is not forbidden any longer in a large part of the world. Regi by Ivo van Hove. Conductor is Titus Engel. 

A world premiere, Ordered by Teatro Real.

There are many parallels to be found between this work, which will have it’s world première at the Teatro Real (Royal Theatre), and Tristan und Isolde.

Just as in the opera by Richard Wagner, we are presented with a love on a cosmic scale, and one that is rejected by society. It is a love story set in a stunning landscape of mountains, only to be destroyed by society’s expectations, just as in Wagner’s opera
.

Temperament in Brokeback Mountains. Foto: Javier del Real

Annie Proulx, the author of the book of the same name, wrote the libretto so that the music by Charles Wuorinen could transcend the message of the film. Wuorinen himself states that nature in the opera is, “a constantly menacing, deadly force”.

Unfortunately Kulturkompasset has not yet, had the posibility to visit Theatro Real in Madrid for Brokeback Mountain, but we are sure that this first gay opera, after Benjamin Brittens Billy Budd, will be an opera which will be played many places, because of the interesting subject, and of course because many spectators remember the beautiful film
. However the international press is interested and following up with TV, Radio and printed press. This is a good history, specially now just before the Winter OL.

When will Bolshoi in Moscow or Marinsky in St. Petersburg put it on stage? Will operachief Per Boye Hansen in Oslo programme it in connection with a coming Gay Pride in Oslo?

Tristan and Isolde by Richard Wagner is being played until 8. February

Brokeback Mountain by Charles Wuorinen until 11. February. 8 performances.

The composer of Brokeback Mountain, Charles Peter Wuorinen (born June 9, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City.

Wuorinen was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1970, he has in recent years dedicated himself to large-scale works for the stage, including collaborations with Salman Rushdie and annie Proulx.

His catalog of more than 260 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, and chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works. Wuorinen’s work has been described as adhering to serialism, but in recent years he has come to disparage that term as meaningless.

Annie Proulx at the Frankfurt Book Fair Conference 2009

Romantic scene between Ennis del Mar: Daniel Okulitch and Jack Twist: Tom Randle at Brokeback Mountain. Foto: Javier del Real

Edna Annie Proulx (born August 22, 1935) is an American journalist and author.

She has written most frequently as Annie Proulx but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx.

Her second novel, The Shipping News (1993), won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and was adapted as a 2001 film of the same name. Her short story Brokeback Mountain was adapted as an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award winning major motion picture released in 2005.

• Musical director: Titus Engel
• Stage Director: Ivo van Hove
• Set and lighting designer: Jan Versweyveld
• Costume designer: Wojciech Dziedzic
• Video: Tal Yarden
• Playwright: Jan Vandenhouwe
• Chorus Master: Andrés Máspero

From left: Alma: Heather Buck, Ennis del Mar: Daniel Okulitch, Jack Twist: Tom Randle. Foto: Javier del Real.

Singers:

Ennis del Mar: Daniel Okulitch and Jack Twist: Tom Randle in Brokeback Mountain, opera by Charles Wuorinen at Teatro Real, Madrid. Foto: Javier del Real.

• Ennis del Mar: Daniel Okulitch
• Jack Twist: Tom Randle
• Alma: Heather Buck
• Lureen: Hannah Esther Minutillo
• Aguirre / Hog-Boy: Ethan Herschenfeld
• Alma’s Mother: Celia Alcedo
• Jack’s Father: Ryan MacPherson
  

  Teatro Real, Madrid, Photo Carlos Delgado
• Jack’s Mother: Jane Henschel
• Waitress: Hilary Summers
• Seller: Letitia Singleton
• Cowboy: Gaizka Gurruchaga
• Bill Jones: Vasco Fracanzani

RICHARD WAGNER – TRISTAN AND ISOLDE

Violeta Urmana sings Isolde in Madrid. Foto: Ivan Balderramo

Violeta Urmana as Isolde in Madrid.

Richard Wagner interprets this story Tristan and Isolde from a very different perspective to L’elisir d’amore.