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'TRIUMPH': Festival gives enjoyable 17th-century variety show
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Published: June 22, 2008
Variety has its virtues.
The Magnolia Baroque Festival made that point convincingly last night with an engaging program called "The Triumph of Love." The festival began Tuesday and will wind up with a "Promenade" program this afternoon in Old Salem. It had been solely about instrumental and vocal music until "Triumph," which celebrated the stage music of Henry Purcell (ca. 1659-1695), a famous English composer.
Scenes from the composer's King Arthur and The Fairy Queen (which is based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream) featured not only the Magnolia Baroque Chorus and Orchestra but also principal dancers Paige Whitley-Baugess and Thomas Baird and the New Bern Dancing Assembly. The fine solo singing came courtesy of soprano Ah Hong, soprano Cecilia Leitner, tenor Glenn Siebert and bass Andrew Wentzel.
The presentation, though spare in terms of visuals, gave us a good idea of how semi-opera in 17th-century England was performed, namely like a variety show in which each section differs radically in content and character from the one that preceded it. We were treated to everything from rousing choruses to a very funny "Scene of the Drunken Poet," which began The Fairy Queen, in which Wentzel acted as well as he sang.
Leitner, who used to study at the N.C. School of the Arts, was in excellent voice, and Siebert and Hong, festival veterans, put in sterling work as well.
The dancing was delightful with its stateliness and tasteful restraint (when Baird and Whitley-Baugess performed a duet, for example, they rarely touched). The dancers spun, skipped and hopped, all the while keeping their arms spread out in a statuesque pose.
After hearing last night's fine pit orchestra, one can only conclude that Purcell's music, though certainly not neglected on records, ought to be performed live more often.
Siebert, the festival's director, deserves much praise for the fine team he assembled.
■ The Magnolia Baroque Festival will conclude from 2 to 4 today with "Promenade." Students from the N.C. School of the Arts will play music that would have been heard in Salem from the late 18th century to the Civil War. The performance will take place in Old Salem venues. For tickets, call Old Salem Visitor Center at 721-7350.
■ Ken Keuffel can be reached at 727-7337 or at kkeuffel@wsjournal.com.
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