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Steve Solkela warmed up the opera crowd with “Funiculì, Funiculà.” Photo by Jill Fisher. 

Steve Solkela’s production of the comic opera La Serva Padrona (The Maid Turned Mistress) took place on Friday, April 18, at Sacred Heart Music Center. It sought to bring back the vernacular origins of opera as entertainment for 16th century masses and simultaneously update it for the 21st century. 

The setting, costumes, powdered wig and presence of servants harkened back to the 18th century, while cell phones were introduced as props and the dialog translated into current American English idiom/slang. 

This rendition of composer Giovani Battista Pergolesi’s short two-act opera was a perfect vehicle for Solkela’s natural zaniness and fine bass voice. Premiering in 1733 it was created as an interlude or intermezzo to entertain an audience between the acts of a more serious and tragic operatic play. 

The opera was preceded by Solkela playing Sacred Heart’s Baldwin piano as people arrived, then as the stated start time approached he was joined by Shane Nelson on guitar, singing his original songs along with Solkela’s accompaniment. 

But this wasn’t enough, Solkela strapped on his accordion and sang “Funiculì, Funiculà,” a recognizable Neapolitan song composed in 1880.  Then it was on with the show!

Act One: Here is Solkela taking on the role of Uberto, the central character who has nothing but trouble from his two servants, one a sassy and rather insubordinate female housekeeper, the other a mute male. 
Solkela was impressive in his singing of two arias in Italian, which he had translated into English and printed in the program. However, the dialog between the players was in English, allowing the audience to follow the story and get the jokes. 

In response, Jessica Moss in the role of Serpina, the temptress, sang an aria with her beautiful and classic soprano voice. This provided a welcome musical variation from Uberto at this point.  
Then the two of them sang a duet—“Lo consosco, a quegli occhietti” in which she enumerated her charms while he resisted her and called her crazy.  

Intermission: This is when the strangeness really began. Like the function of providing disparate entertainment during breaks that the two-act La Serva Padrona served back when it premiered in 1733, Solkela introduced an idiosyncratic game of bingo, played with the audience, complete with Solkela merch for prizes! Then it was back to Act Two for the completion of the soap-operaish opera, with Solkela displaying another of his talents – juggling.

Act Two: In response to Uberto refusing to fall into her “trap” Serpina concocts a story of having another suitor to make Uberto jealous and change his mind. Moss sang the first aria – half directly to Uberto and half to herself about how her plan was working out. Then it was Solkela’s turn as Uberto to sing an aria that described his conflicting feelings, being torn between his heart and his brain. 

Of course there had to be a light-hearted and romantic ending to the play and indeed the two sang a duet in which each gave themselves over to “Love” but with the qualification that “It seems like a fairy tale – Maybe it is?”

The story is one that has been told myriad times in various ways – a member of a lower class setting his or her matrimonial sights on a member of the upper class, using all the wiles at their disposal. Humor and suggestive language was routinely injected into such a story, one example being Mozart’s Italian opera The Marriage of Figaro. 

In this minimalistic opera, all the tropes were in evidence and duly expressed by the players.
Opera dates back to the Renaissance, when the multidisciplinary genre drew upon theatrical drama, instrumental and vocal music, dance and the visual arts of scenography, costumes, makeup and hairdressing to produce a collaborative creation; it was an entertainment geared to the masses, rather than the elite. 

During the Baroque period it moved from so-called lowbrow entertainment to over-the-top glamourous productions favored and supported by the educated and well-to-do class. (This brings to mind how early rock-and-roll has evolved into high-tech performances that cost an arm and a leg to attend – the Super Bowl half-time show for example.)

Solkela’s background and training in music and opera at Rowan University obviously prepared him for just this kind of production, one fit for those of us who are left cold by the extravagant highbrow opera productions by the likes of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. (The Curmudgeon won’t miss one of its simulcasts!) 

I just wonder whether, in this day and age, a vernacular take on opera can compete with the ever-increasing availability of entertainment aimed at the masses. I also wonder about Solkela’s talents being short-changed by his comedic stunts. Somehow I feel like his tremendous talents as a vocalist (and pianist) could take his career to a wider audience if taken more seriously. Just sayin’.

At any rate, it was another interesting foray into a genre of music that remains a bit beyond my comfort zone. 
As we approach the end of April, “the cruelest month” (especially here in Duluth!) we have had the balm of getting to hear the many forms of jazz regularly at various times and locations thanks to JAM! Duluth (jazz appreciation month). 

The C and I got out to Duluth Cider again on Thursday, April 17, to hear the Denfeld Jazz Band, the Duluth Community Jazz Band and the McNasty Brass Band. The first two named bands gave us some hot swing music (wonderful to dance to) with Randy Lee featured playing clarinet solos, such as Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade” and “Pennsylvania 6-5000.” 

The McNasty Brass Band, based in Minneapolis, was something else again. They started the third hour of jazz with an outrageous cover of Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again.” The 10 musicians that make up the group brought us up-to-date on what jazz incorporates today. 

The instruments played by these guys (all male) included three trumpets, two trombones, two saxophones, one sousaphone and two drums. Talk about a “wall of sound,” we got it in spades with a good deal of funk mixed in. They have been together for 12 years and this year are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their first record. The McNastys played both covers (some of which were by Da Truth Brass Band out of New Orleans) and originals. The last number, written by member Erin Levine, was particularly amazing – a wonderfully discordant, complex and crazy amalgamation of sounds. I just may need to seek them out again, perhaps down in the Twin Cities.

Before the week was over I got back to SHMC on Saturday, April 19, for Maygen & the Birdwatcher, which had the Foxgloves opening for them. Having heard the all-female Foxgloves on two previous occasions last year, I was most interested in seeing them perform again. But guess what, the regular upright bass player was absent and long-time friend and collaborator, Joe Barron, stood in. 

Then there was Jackie Rae Daniels (fiddle) who played with both groups on this evening. The Foxgloves were just as wonderful as I remembered; loved their take on “House of the Rising Sun.” They finished with a lovely rendition of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” (which I generally feel is overdone, but in this case I appreciated it!)

Maygen Lacey (vocals, acoustic guitar) led the headlining group. Backing her up were the aforementioned Barron and Daniels plus Noah Neumann (acoustic guitar, vocals) and Nik Pellinen (banjo and lap steel guitar). Because I hadn’t heard this group previously I was unfamiliar with the original songs they performed, some of which were brand new. They had a bluegrass sound on some of their numbers and maybe “alt-country” on others, the lap steel guitar adding that flavor. 

Maygen’s vocals were clear and on pitch (always a plus in my book!) and the harmonies quite nice. I might like to hear them some more, however, I do think the Foxgloves outshone them in this concert. 
UPCOMING: Don’t look now, but Homegrown starts this Sunday, April 27. Once again it features quite the line-up. Get all the info on this 8-day musical extravaganza at duluthhomegrown.org. But there are some great gigs just before then too. 

One I’ll be checking out is JAM!’s offering at Bent Paddle on Friday, April 25: the Christian Swenson Trio and the Cody Steinmann Trio starting at 6 pm, and maybe The Cameras, Jumpsuit and The Gemstones at Caddy Shack starting at 8 pm that same evening. 

And don’t forget the Lake Effect String Band that will be on the Cosmic Stage at Bent Paddle on Saturday, April 26, 7 pm. See you out there!