Karim Sulayman, tenor
Alarm Will Sound
Alan Pierson conducting
Sept. 26, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
David T. Little’s “What Belongs to You,” being introduced at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center (which co-commissioned the work) in performances by tenor Karim Sulayman and the new-music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, is a chamber opera based on the novel by Garth Greenwell, in which an unnamed American recalls his torrid, tortured affair with a Bulgarian male hustler – transactional sex that gave “necessary nourishment from an inadequate source,” feeding long-festering frustration and shame.
For those old enough to recall the previous century, the tormented gay man is a familiar trope. Greenwell’s story, as distilled in Little’s text and score, strips away surface components of that trope, the fevered cheeriness and biting wit that cloaks self-loathing and fear of exposure and rejection. With the cloak off, we see and hear and see into a profoundly naked man whose raw psychic wounds won’t knit.
Little, whose compositional style runs quite a gamut – influences range from Monteverdi, Schubert and Britten to shape-note singing and heavy metal – taps those wildly varied sources to produce an almost forensic sonic realization of what’s roiling the protagonist’s mind and heart. Explicit sexual references are sparse in the text, but readily inferred from vivid effects in Little’s vocal and orchestral scoring.
The composer asks a lot of the performers, especially the singer, who is onstage, moving and urgently vocalizing for most of the opera’s 90-minute duration. (A brief intermission is his only real break). The vocal writing bears some resemblance to traditional operatic recitative, advancing the narrative while revealing the character of the storyteller, but it’s more overtly dramatic than standard-issue recit. And the real drama plays out internally. So what’s called for is an introspective Heldentenor – a most uncommon voice type.
In the first of two performances, Sulayman proved to be a most uncommon vocalist, boasting whisper-to-scream expressive range, tonal malleability, and a knack for transforming the old baroque concept of affectus, or stylized emotional signaling, into something spontaneous and primal. Plus stamina. Plus comprehensible diction. Plus visibly and audibly deep immersion in his character.
Conductor Alan Pierson and Alarm Will Sound (co-commissioner of the opera), a 16-member ensemble (playing way more than 16 instruments, and chanting at a couple of dramatic hinge points), demonstrated consistent mastery of Little’s intricately layered yet propulsive instrumental writing, and keen awareness of the orchestra’s atmospheric and dramatic roles.
The big name on the production’s stagecraft side is Mark Morris, best-known for his dance troupe but long-experienced in other genres of music theater. Morris and Maile Okamura, the show’s set and costume designer, opted for minimal, no-fuss staging – a set seemingly built from what was lying around backstage, stage direction that seemed to boil down to “keep it real,” modest but strategically potent lighting, designed by Nicole Pearce and Mike Faba.
Asked to single out the tech star of the show, I would give the nod to William Stanton, the sound engineer, who managed to amplify Sulayman and the orchestra without distorting their tonal qualities or obscuring the details of the orchestration. Discreet amplification of classical voices and instruments is a rare skill.
This premiere production of “What Belongs to You” is being recorded for future commercial release, and the opera has been booked for further performances at an as yet unannounced time and place.
Its longer-term prospects will depend in part on how many singers are willing to tackle such a physically and emotionally grueling role – could I interest you in a 90-minute mad scene? – and on how many instrumental groups have the chops to play such a demanding score.
Its future also may depend on lived experience. This character and his story will resonate powerfully with those old enough to remember when homosexuality was “deviant” and criminal. Will it pack a comparable punch with a younger crowd that’s coming of age in a less intolerant social climate?
David T. Little’s “What Belongs to You” repeats at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 in Jepson Theatre of the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center. Tickets: $20-$60. Details: (804) 289-8980; http://modlin.richmond.edu