May 25: Don Giovanni in a Brooklyn loft near the Gowanus Canal, presented by a wonderful new group called LoftOpera. Outside it looks like the setting of Il Tabarro, which takes place on a barge in the Seine River. Every few minutes the lights of a passing F train on elevated tracks formed a necklace moving against the dark of night. The loft was largely sound-proofed. One external noise penetrated the walls five minutes after the Commendatore was killed. It was the siren of an emergency vehicle and was the one time I can think of where that sound entering a theater space made perfect sense.

LoftOpera was founded in 2012 by Daniel Ellis-Ferris (the producer, who also sang Masetto) and Dean Buck, the conductor of the performance. Ellis-Ferris’s sister, Brianna Maury, is general manager. They were part of the Brooklyn loft show scene, but realized no one was doing opera. Their program statement says, “LoftOpera is an effort to rebrand opera in the underground music scene in Brooklyn. We use loft venues to create immersion theater, reduced length productions of great operas. The budget is low, the excitement is high, the beer is local brew, and the music is really, really good.” According to Ellis-Ferris, “Opera, when experienced this way, is kind of punk. As in, a whole lot of sound.”

I am down with all of this, except the word “rebrand” for opera. This art form is great and very often edgy. Let’s keep marketing-speak out of it, because that creates a context of looking at opera in ways that don’t benefit it or the people who perform it. The LoftOpera performance of Don Giovanni was sensational precisely because they eschewed any effort at “relevance” and dug deep into the ideas in the words and music and found very fresh, original ways of presenting them in this unusual space, one that became part of the performance. When the Don sang “Deh viene alla finestra” (“Come to the window”) there really was one.

The costuming by Barbara Begley was contemporary but with incredible attention to character. We perfectly understood class distinctions as Leporello’s bedraggled garments set him apart from Masetto’s rustic yellow shirt and suspenders, Don Ottavio’s burgundy vest and Don Giovanni’s very smart black suit with a blood-red handkerchief in his pocket. Comparable distinctions were found in the costumes of Zerlina, Donna Elvira and Donna Anna. Leporello’s catalogue aria was illustrated with a series of women’s underwear drawn from a sack, a brilliantly original idea, brilliantly executed.

The cast was wonderful. There were some notable cuts in arias and other music, recitatives and some dances, but the integrity of the story was not severely affected. Cuts in opera, though regrettable for obvious reasons, are hardly uncommon and many major companies do them all the time.

Here was immersive theater of great originality, presented by talented and serious young people. I have seldom exited an opera performance feeling so happy.

How fitting that May 29 is the centennial of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, which is all about shaking up the status quo. WQXR and Q2 Music are devoting programming to this revolutionary work.

LoftOpera has managed to create a very unique opera recipe. It has blended intimacy and subtlety with world-class voices, and what has resulted is one of the best performances I have seen in recent years. Loft's Don Giovanni, by Mozart, is located in a loft apartment/warehouse in Brooklyn, the performance hall a large room beset by wooden pillars and following an ergonomic use of space. Needless to say, I kept thinking throughout the night how this could only happen in New York City. I'm sure I'm mistaken. 

This is all to say that a specific atmosphere was immediately instilled within the audience's entering of the space. Simple white benches, Brooklyn-brewed beer, and a jovial and enthusiastic audience (young too, rare for opera) set the stage for a memorable experience.

The cast of the opera was helmed by Suchan Kim as Don Giovanni and Pnini Grubner as Leporello, an incomparable duo of immense talent. Kirsten Scott performed as an exquisite Zerlina and Paul Han as a moving and elegant Don Ottavio. These four singers are current students at the Mannes College of Music, and the quality of that institution was made easily apparent yesterday. Evidently, there is great bias in what I say, but it is only to show how proud I am of being able to work alongside these brilliant artists.

Savannah Bisset's powerful timbre carried the role of Donna Anna, whilst Andrea Reichenbach sang an honest and solemn Donna Elvira. Daniel Ellis-Ferris was Masetto and Steven Fredericks the Commendatore.

What resulted was an immensely engrossing experience, equal in parts of comedy and tragedy, due to the great versatility in acting that each performer displayed, as well as their considerable vocal talent. The audience could barely keep up with itself, laughing, gasping, cheering, holding their breath, staying silent. Part of the success of Loft's production was indeed the audience it attracted, who provided a great deal of enthusiasm in response to such a pleasant and palpable experience.

Kim played a chillingly brilliant Don Giovanni, making excellent use of his great versatility as an actor and the gorgeous timbre and power that I have come to expect from his baritone voice. I was not surprised to see him fill the role so perfectly, having seen him perform in Mannes College's production of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, as the terrifying Tarquinius. Last Thursday night, I caught myself staring several times, mouth agape, completely absorbed by his portrayal and performance. I too seemed taken in by the irresistible seduction of the character, and so did the rest of the audience.

Grubner became the perfect foil to Kim's Don Giovanni. The role of Leporello is one my favorite in opera, and Grubner's interpretation was infinitely watchable. He brought great subtlety to the comical nature of the character, especially through his astounding voice, a bass with warm depth and striking brilliance. 

Against this duo, Bisset's Donna Anna was commanding and tragic, displaying a powerful soprano with great presence. Han's Don Ottavio was excellent, especially considering how little time he had to put the role together. Scott's Zerlina was a favorite of mine. She was a pleasure to watch, gliding effortlessly through the role dramatically and vocally, and playing well off of Ellis-Ferris' naive Masetto. 

It was in fact this general comfort and agility the singers displayed that served to make this production so pleasant. To have an audience so up close and personal might have back-fired in some other context; at Loft, it was the crux of the experience. 

The production itself seemed crafted to make the best out of the space. Staging was fluid and organic, acting and singing from different places in the space, with some singers interacting directly with the crowd - Don Giovanni sang his love ballad directly to an audience member. The minimal set design made sure that the story was primarily driven by the singers' acting - a good thing in this case -, with subtle artistic touches filling the gaps. 

A friend of mine kept repeating to me that this was the future of opera. Not some highly profitable venture, not the met-sized productions, but the pinnacle of emotional experience, a near-perfect mix of intimacy and inclusion, leaving space for subtlety and grand gestures. And with stellar voices, of course.

Don Giovanni at Loft Opera has two more performances, one tonight and one tomorrow, both at 8pm (music starts at 9pm, but the ambiance is worth it). I strongly urge you to see it, and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Underground opera might seem like an oxymoron for an art form that’s long been legitimized by mainstream musical purists–it doesn’t get more classical than Mozart–but a new collective of creative types is attempting to make opera less uppity by launching LoftOpera.