Three-Sixty 360

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The Theatrical Philharmonic

This month’s presentation of Janáček’s The Cunning Little
Vixen is the culmination of a dramatic Philharmonic season.
Alan Gilbert, Doug Fitch, and Madeline Rogers chat about the
theatricality of concertgoing and their production of this opera.
Three-Sixty, available at nyphil.org/three-sixty, is a multi-platform
feature with other avenues to understand this philosophy.

H
ere’s a multiple-choice quiz: Do we experience music with (a) our ears, (b) our eyes, or
(c) our whole selves? Music Director Alan Gilbert’s emphatic answer is (c)! “A con-
cert is not just closing your eyes and listening; you can do that in your living room
with a stereo. It is more visual than people realize. That’s one of the things that make the live
experience so essential. It's about watching the production of the sound and experiencing
the physicality of the building and the communal experience that it creates for all.”
Mr. Gilbert made those comments during a brainstorming session with director and de-
signer Doug Fitch back in April, as they wrapped up planning for this month’s Philharmonic

10 New York Philharmonic June 2011 11


Three-Sixty
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From left: Music Director Alan
Gilbert conferring with director and
designer Doug Fitch on their plans for
The Cunning Little Vixen, and Doug Fitch’s
costume concepts for the fox cubs
performances of Leoš Janáček’s opera The
Cunning Little Vixen (June 22–25), an im-
portant early 20th-century work that’s receiv-
ing its first production in New York in more
than two decades. This is the culmination of
a Philharmonic season highlighted by several
concerts of remarkable theatricality, although
none have been quite as dramatic as this.
Like Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft (which re-
ceived its New York premiere in October
2010), whose orchestration included an eye-
popping battery of unconventional percussive
instruments picked up at a local junkyard, or
In Seven Days, a collaboration between
composer Thomas Adès and video artist Tal
Rosner (also given its New York premiere, in
January 2011), Vixen will be a wraparound ex-
perience that reflects the Music Director's
deep commitment to “the connections among
visual arts, theater, literature, and music.”
At the center of the project is a great or-
chestra playing music that Alan Gilbert calls
“lush and gorgeous,” in an Avery Fisher Hall
that will be magically transformed into a for-
est populated by a motley cast of humans
12 New York Philharmonic
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and animals, including mosquitoes, a badger,
an owl, and the title character whose name,
Vixen, is synonymous with both womanly
shrewdness and seduction.
The large cast comprises nearly three-
dozen adult and child singers plus a 40-voice
chorus, and is headlined by soprano Isabel
Bayrakdarian in the title role; baritone Alan
Opie as the Forester; mezzo-soprano Marie
Lenormand as the Fox; mezzo-soprano Melis-
sa Parks as both the Forester’s Wife and the
Owl; tenor Keith Jameson as the Schoolmas-
ter and Mosquito; bass Wilbur Pauley as the
Parson and Badger; and baritone Joshua
Bloom as Harašta, a poultry dealer. All of them
except Ms. Parks, Mr. Pauley, and Mr. Bloom —
who appeared last season in Ligeti’s Le
Grand Macabre, also directed and designed
by Mr. Fitch and conducted by Mr. Gilbert —
are making their Philharmonic debuts, as are
numerous other members of the large cast.
Because The Cunning Little Vixen, com-
posed in 1922–23, was inspired by a comic
strip and draws musical inspiration from folk-
lore, there is a misconception that it is a work
for children. Despite many moments of light­
hearted fun and an engaging, beautiful score,
the opera’s three acts are shot through with
decidedly grown-up plot twists: roman­tic
longing and rejection; sexual exploitation,
bondage, and murder; death, aging, and
re­gret for love lost. As Alan Gilbert explains:
“Even though many of the characters are ani­
mals, Vixen really is profoundly about the hu-
man condition.”
In such a work — whose setting is mythi-
cal and whose story line is less important than
its underlying themes — the director is free to
draw on a dizzying array of sources, an op-
portunity that Doug Fitch has enthusiastically
embraced. In his earliest sketches he played
with ideas ranging from Japanese kabuki and
Picasso to Lord of the Flies, coming up with
a production that evokes the world of a Mit-
teleuropean fairy tale through the face and
body painting of African tribesmen. “I started
with this book called Natural Fashion, with
wonderful photographs of tribes of people
somewhere near Ethiopia who don’t really
wear any clothes,” he explained. “They paint
360
This article is the
second in Three-Sixty, the
Philharmonic’s online series that
examines topics through various
media platforms.
“The Theatrical Philharmonic” offers
video, audio, and slideshows that the
season’s examples of Visual Transfor-
mation, The Musicians in New Contexts,
Reimagining the Concert Hall, and
how Every Concert Tells a Story.
Join the conversation at
their faces and bodies mostly, and wear
elaborate headdresses created out of ordi-
nary yet amazing things. I loved the way that
this was such a combination between the
animal world and the human world.” He add-
ed: “I also read in the book that they can’t
see themselves because there aren’t any
mirrors, and the murky water doesn’t create
any reflection, so the only way they see them-
selves is through the eyes of others — that is
what the Vixen is thinking when she asks, ‘Is
it possible that I’m beautiful?’ She’s sort of
going through that incredible self-discovery
after she meets the Fox and falls in love.”
Still, this is the New York Philharmonic,
so Mr. Fitch, unlike the director of traditional
opera, is also faced with the challenge of inte-
grating 79 of the Orchestra’s onstage musi-
cians into the action. “One of the things I
continue to enjoy very much,” he said, “is hav-
ing the Orchestra on the stage and having the
music-making really be part of the production
itself.” His previous work with the Philharmon-
ic provides some memorable examples. They
include his 2005 production of Stravinsky’s
Continued on page 40
June 2011 13

Three-Sixty
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Continued from page 13
Three members of the cast,
from left: Isabel Bayrakdarian
(Vixen), Alan Opie (Forester),
and Marie Lenormand (Fox)
A Soldier’s Tale in which the dramatic action,
created in a tiny puppet theater, was project-
ed over the musicians’ heads; and last sea-
son’s performances of Le Grand Macabre,
which mingled musicians, soloists, puppets,
and audience.
Mr. Fitch — who designed the costumes
and, with G.W. Mercier, the sets — explains
that his goal is always to elevate the aural
aspect of concertgoing to something more
all-encompassing: “When we did The Sol-
dier’s Tale,” he said, “making a miniature the-
ater next to those instruments felt very much
like building a visual instrument. In the same
way that a violin is a small object that makes
a big sound, that small theater made a big
image. And that felt like an interesting balance,
to be doing something like that on stage,
with an orchestra.”
In Le Grand Macabre the musicians be-
came part of the action, especially during
one memorable melee: “When the Orchestra
members started throwing paper at one of the
characters and at each other, they broke down
the perceived fourth wall of what people can
do on a concert stage,” said Mr. Fitch. “You’re
not supposed to interfere with people who are
playing their instruments.” That’s a rule of con-
certgoing he loves to break in every way pos-
sible: “I think it’s really essential, when we
do these productions, to get the performers
way out into the hall as much as possible
40 New York Philharmonic
360
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because that fourth wall in the concert hall
is a very, very prominent wall, which we don’t
really recognize because it’s so severe.”
With all his interest in visual elements,
however, Doug Fitch is the perfect musi-
cians’ director because he believes fervently
in the communicative power of music. “When
I watch an orchestral performance I think
about the extraordinary invention of it — each
one of those instruments, and how much
effort it takes to learn to play them. It’s just a
wonderful, fascinating, very visual world.”
Which brings us back to what makes
Vixen — or any opera — worthy of exploration
by the New York Philharmonic. “The most im-
portant thing,” says Alan Gilbert, “is to find
pieces that are really driven in an important
way by the orchestra, and The Cunning Little
Vixen is certainly an opera in which the or-
chestra plays an incredibly important role. To
hear the New York Philharmonic play this mu-
sic is really exciting.” Like the other colorfully
theatrical works he has helmed since becoming
Music Director, this production is part of his
larger project — “to make connections and to
bring disparate elements and cultural forces
together. I think that’s very important. To me
that’s a central feature of our artistic vision.”
Madeline Rogers is a creative consultant to non-profit cul-
tural institutions and former Director of Publications
at the New York Philharmonic.
The Buzz
Continued from page 17
Associate Principal Oboe Sherry
Sylar (left) performing with
colleagues on the Philharmonic
Ensembles series at Merkin
Concert Hall on October 22, 2006.
explored, and fit into a season-spanning theme
(the June 5–6 concerts, “Forte and Piano,” are
the final installment of Debussy and Friends).
Each performance features a sophisticated
work from the classical repertoire that is ac-
companied by a story, written by violist Dorian
Rence and illustrated by Marion Schoevaert.
This educational series includes engaging ac-
tivities, about which Ms. Simon says: “Before
each concert we do about 25 minutes of mu-
sical games with the children. We figure out in
advance what concepts we want to get across
to them, such as tempo, pitch, and dynamics.
For example, the kids love playing with the
idea of tempo: after we demonstrate fast and
slow, then the children move to the music
while we change the tempo. Finally, they show
us how fast they want us to play, and we try to
follow them, sometimes with very entertaining
results. It’s such a thrill to see three-year-olds
get it. You see all the little light bulbs going on.”
Then there is the mainstay of the chamber
programs, the Philharmonic Ensembles, also
held at Merkin Concert Hall. Associate Princi-
pal Oboe Sherry Sylar notes that, “With the
Merkin performances, we really let our hair
down and enjoy the audience’s presence. We
often make jokes or address them — there’s a
family atmosphere, where we’re talking to
them and they’re getting to know us person-
ally. You don’t do that in a big orchestra, so in
Michael DiVito
that regard these chamber performances are
a lot of fun. They’re also challenging, of course,
because in the orchestra you’re one voice
of 106 and in a chamber group you’re one,
say, of five, so every note you play stands out.”
Standing out is, in fact, another draw for
the musicians who frequently perform in these
scaled-down settings. “Playing chamber mu-
sic is really the most rewarding and challeng-
ing of all musical experiences for me,” says
Ms. Phelps. “It is so wonderfully intimate, al-
lowing the players to craft their own interpre-
tations. It really creates an atmosphere of give
and take.” Ms. Sylar feels that playing chamber
music with her Philharmonic colleagues en-
hances her performance within the Orchestra.
“We’ve become so familiar with each other’s
playing,” she reflects. “There’s now an instinc-
tive quality to playing symphonic music that
comes from performing solos or duets with
these people for so many years.” Ms. Simon
agrees, noting that immersing herself in cham-
ber music affects her artistry overall. “I’m fortu-
nate that I am a section string player in a great
orchestra with great players,” she says, “but
it’s good to have opportunities to really hear
yourself well so you can keep playing at the
highest possible level.”
Amy Hegarty is the former publications editor of the New
York Philharmonic, and a current writer and editor for Santa
Fean magazine.
June 2011 41