Music & Drama, On & Off the Stage (Jakarta Post)

This time, my article for The Jakarta Post that was published on September 16th was heavily edited that many things became erroneous. Even there are some discontinuities between sentences. That's why I uploaded it here as soon as possible. Here it is. ............................................................................................................................................. On- & Off-stage Drama of the Opera , by Ananda Sukarlan, composer & pianist ............................................................................................................................................. The Jakartans were experiencing it, enjoying it, inspired by it but certainly were not aware of it. Not even the organizers. From September 7th to the 10th we had an exhilarating and intense classical voice festival. There was no official term for these series of concerts, in fact it wasn't planned as such, but we clearly had a festival. If it were publicized as an official festival, fans of classical singing from all over the country (and even other countries) would have come and stayed in Jakarta who could boast an abundance of great voices singing opera arias, folkmusic and "artsongs" as we called it rather snobbishly (aren't jazz or rock songs "art" enough?). Imagine the artistic and economic impact it would have caused. ............................................................................................................................................. This is an inside story from one who was involved in these events as a composer, pianist and friend of all artists. It all started with the Indonesia Opera Society (IOS) celebrating its 10th anniversary with a spectacular showcase of international talents on Wednesday, 7th September. Hosted at the Segara Ballroom of The Dharmawangsa Jakarta, the Opera Gala featured world-class singers from 10 countries: 13 artists (including the conductor) of different languages & cultural background working together for the first time. Just from the financial and organizing aspects, this is a huge if not mammoth undertaking. The impressive line up of artists include sopranos Gayane Vardanyan (Armenia), Anna Dinnah Migallos (Philippines), Evelyn Merrelita (Indonesia) and Amelie Fleetwood (Sweden); mezzosopranos Angelique Noldus (Belgium) and Tamta Tarieli (Georgia); tenors Anando Mukerjee (India) and Francisco Corujo (Spain); baritones Massimo Di Stefano (Italy) and Tim Kuypers (Netherlands); and bass singer Harland Hutabarat (Indonesia). They were accompanied by the Nusantara Symphony Orchestra (NSO) conducted by Hikotaru Yazaki from Japan. They performed 18 numbers, from solos up to the whole ensemble, reaching the peak which was Giuseppe Verdi's "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from the opera La Traviata. Famous arias performed include Puccini's "Nessun Dorma", Delibes' "Flower Duet" and Mozart's "Soave sia il vento". ............................................................................................................................................. Being one of Indonesia’s finest, NSO is now managed under its CEO, Miranda Goeltom. For this event, IOS commissioned me a short orchestral work with piano soloist, so I wrote (which I played myself on an exquisite Bluthner) "Fantasy on Selendang Sutra". I am glad it touched many hearts that it was asked to be performed again at the World Culture Forum next October, and I thank the IOS founder Erza S.T who insisted me on doing it since I was involved in another commission at that time. The original song by Ismail Marzuki is itself very operatic indeed: meaning "Silk Scarf" that was given by a girlfriend of a warrior before he set off to war. It was written in 1946, but I elaborated it into different styles that explore even to the most innovative instrumental colors and rhythms. ............................................................................................................................................. After this colossal celebration which was attended by 600 distinguished invitees, those great singers went on giving recitals organized by the respective Embassies who co-sponsored their visit. It was an unfortunate incident that the pianist who was supposed to perform with the Dutch baritone Tim Kuypers fell sick just the day before the Opera Gala. Tim had prepared 17 highly intense artsongs by German composers Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler (his most famous songs based on poems by F. Rueckert) for this concert. Nobody dared to step in, while time (and budget) made it impossible to fly a pianist from Holland, so I had to do it which now I don't regret it at all; Tim is such a professional that we, in his words, "are in it together and we will pull it through". It turned out to be a happy ending. I prepared my part in the late and early hours before rehearsing with him the whole day, and in the end we performed 14 songs since we squeezed the rehearsal time up to, literally, a few minutes before the concert. I substituted those songs with my own 2 numbers of Rapsodia Nusantara, virtuosic works based on Indonesian folksongs that are always "under my hands". It took place at the Erasmus Huis on the 8th of September. ............................................................................................................................................. "Artsong" (in Indonesian we have a more accurate term, "Tembang Puitik" which means "songs based on poems") is the term we use for those classical songs based on existing poems, pioneered by Franz Schubert who wrote no less than 600 of them. In Indonesia it was Mochtar Embut who pioneered it in the 1950s. ............................................................................................................................................. Earlier that day, Tim together with Amelie Fleetwood and Angelique Noldus gaveopen and free masterclasses as well as a chit-chat to several young vocalists, also organized by, and took place at the Erasmus Huis. This turned out to be so fruitful since the audience were exclusively vocalists. What opened their eyes was that they could listen to 3 different, equally experienced and professional singers, each having distinctive ways of handling vocal techniques and artistic interpretations. What a way to discover that there wasn't only one, but so many different roads less traveled by that could make all the difference. ............................................................................................................................................. But in the midst of the international stars, two recitals were held at Balai Kertanegara by young Indonesian singers. First was mezzosoprano Indah Pristanti, who since winning the Female Voice category of the National Competition Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan (organized by Amadeus Enterprise in Surabaya, 2011) has gone so far, careerwise and musicalwise. At the moment Indah is pursuing her studies at Vienna Conservatory. Curiously enough, her concert (together with pianist Terra Rimba, harpist Rama Widi and other soprano Regina Handoko) took place on September 9th, 5-minute by car from another concert by baritone Massimo di Stefano organized by the Italian Embassy at the Ambassador's residence. I managed to witness both artists' artistry, although arriving rather late at Indah's concert. On the 10th, it was soprano Yosefin Emilia (now studying in Freiburg) performing, which I totally missed since I attended Anna Dinnah Migalos' recital singing arias, artsongs and Filipino folksongs together with pianist April Merced-Misa at Erasmus Huis, too far from Kertanegara. ............................................................................................................................................. This is what I meant by a well-coordinated festival: if only these events were better scheduled ahead, music lovers would have been able to attend each and every one of the concerts, talks and masterclasses, not having to choose which ones they would go. It would also be interesting to hear the same works sung by different singers, though of course we would like an even broader range of repertoire. ............................................................................................................................................. Nevertheless, never have those foreign embassies and private sponsors been so united in making a series of events. Kudos to Erza S.T and the stage director and program coordinator Chendra Panatan for making the impossible possible and contributing in paving the way to make classical music part of Indonesia's creative industry.