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    The Review is In

    Opera great Frederica von Stade triumphs one more time but can't redeem lackluster world premiere

    Theodore Bale
    Mar 16, 2014 | 9:30 am

    Is nonagenarian Myrtle Bledsoe an enduring little old lady or merely an irritating, self-absorbed racist?

    After sitting through Houston Grand Opera’s world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Leonard Foglia’s perplexing A Coffin in Egypt, I am tempted to say it doesn’t really matter. When the 90-minute ruminating chamber opera concluded, I rejoiced that I could hear legendary mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade singing just one more time. Then I lamented that it had to be in such an unfortunate work.

    Von Stade graciously came out of retirement to perform the exhausting role, and her voice is as thrilling as ever.

    How did this happen? Von Stade graciously came out of retirement to perform the exhausting role, and her voice is as thrilling as ever. One needn’t be polite – she might be in her later years, but her instrument remains one of striking magnitude and nuance. Ricky Ian Gordon is one of America’s most vital composers, with a rare gift for vocal composition. The late Pulitzer-winning playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote, who gave usTo Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies, among other masterpieces, was of immeasurable talent.

    This leaves Leonard Foglia, the weak link who provided a clunky libretto and directed A Coffin in Egypt with little imagination. He created the surtitles as well, and this is important. The opera’s only singing character, Myrtle Bledsoe, is given to flashbacks. When she sings of certain events, it is the surtitles that tell us the year in question.

    Of course, great American opera composers such as the late Robert Ashley used projected text as a kind of additional “character” in his groundbreaking television opera Perfect Lives and other operatic works. The technique is nothing new. But it’s strange to have surtitles for an opera sung in English and Foglia’s idea of constantly projecting the date suggests he struggled with how to organize, or one might say, make linear, Foote’s unwieldy narrative.

    When we need more of the back-story, Foglia brings on speaking characters, which severely interrupts the vocal flow. When Myrtle Bledsoe’s beef with the black community gets to be too much (she sings lines like “…the Negroes scattered like partridges” and obsesses continually over her dead husband’s “Mulatto” girlfriend), he introduces a rather staid gospel quartet. Alas, it must be said: Gordon hasn’t much of a gift for composing gospel music. As they say, go with what you know, and this isn’t his strength.

    It’s difficult to imagine re-staging this work with a lesser artist, and the shelf-life of this one-act chamber opera seems short.

    Gospel is devotional music, yes, but it has also been presented as entertainment and as opera. A stunning example of the latter is Lee Breuer and Bob Telson’s 1985 The Gospel at Colonus, based on Sophocles.

    During the evening, as Gordon’s pseudo-melodic phrases climbed and fell like a roller-coaster, I thought of other operas focused on a single character. Oddly, many of them have loose, ruminating narratives. In Schönberg and Marie Pappenheim’s brilliantly atonal Erwartung, a woman frets in a forest, finds her unfaithful lover’s corpse, and then wanders away. In Poulenc and Cocteau’s La voix humaine, Elle argues with her lover on the telephone, makes confessions and then possibly hangs herself with the telephone cord.

    A Coffin in Egypt’s Myrtle Bledsoe is a similar sort of character, she sings of her husband’s infidelities, and about flowers, international travel, and wonders things like, “why does no one ever really die?” She is given to reminiscence, she is a narcissist. At what is perhaps the highpoint of the opera, she sings: “maybe the reason I live on and on is simply to forgive… myself!” And that last word is a loud, emphatic high note.

    Brian Nason, who provided the delectable lighting for HGO’s recent A Little Night Music, has done the best he can with Riccardo Hernández‘s static set, which shows a photographic cotton field behind a few rocking chairs. Hernández has provided simple costumes as well. They don’t distract from von Stade’s lengthy and sometimes repetitive ruminations, but they don’t add much, either.

    The opening night audience gave von Stade a well-deserved standing ovation, but it’s difficult to imagine re-staging this work with a lesser artist, and the shelf-life of this one-act chamber opera seems short.

    ------

    A Coffin in Egypt will be performed on Sunday (March 16) at 2:30 p.m. and Friday (March 21) at 8:00 p.m.

    The Gospel Chorus with Cheryl D. Clansy, from left, Laura Elizabeth Patterson, James M. Winslow and Jawan C.M. Jenkins in Houston Grand Opera's production of A Coffin in Egypt.

    11 Houston Grand Opera A Coffin in Egypt March 2014 Gospel Chorus with Cheryl D. Clansy, Laura Elizabeth Patterson, James M. Winslow, Jawan CM Jenkins
      
    Photo by © Lynn Lane
    The Gospel Chorus with Cheryl D. Clansy, from left, Laura Elizabeth Patterson, James M. Winslow and Jawan C.M. Jenkins in Houston Grand Opera's production of A Coffin in Egypt.
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    Houston's iconic Rothko Chapel receives new grant to restore Beryl damage

    Jef Rouner
    May 12, 2025 | 10:30 am
    Rothko Chapel exterior
    Courtesy of the Rothko Chapel
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    Houston's beloved Rothko Chapel is one step closer to recovery after Hurricane Beryl in 2024. A substantial new grant from Bank of America will fund the restoration of Mark Rothko pieces damaged by the storm.

    “This grant comes at a pivotal moment – not only for the Rothko Chapel, but in the broader context of our changing climate and growing vulnerability to extreme weather events,” said David Leslie, executive director of the Chapel. “The conservation process will require extensive time, specialized materials, and expert technical support to stabilize and restore these works, ensuring they can once again inspire visitors within this sacred space. Bank of America’s support underscores the urgent need to preserve culturally significant artworks like these, especially as we face new environmental challenges that threaten our artistic legacy.”

    The Bank of America Art Conservation Project has been used to fund the preservation and restoration of culturally significant artworks since 2010. In 2021, the project also funded the restoration of an 13th Century Incan textile housed at Houston's Menil Collection. This year's other recipients include the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City, Sir John Soane's Museum in London, and the Sydney Opera House.

    Since 1971, Rothko Chapel has been one of the best meditative spaces in Houston. Commissioned by John and Dominique de Menil in 1964, Rothko designed the space and painted its famous black panels. Rothko himself did not live to see the completion, dying by suicide in New York in 1970. Now, the chapel stands as a non-denominational spiritual center, hosting concerts, mindfulness clinics, and other events designed to promote mental healing in visitors.

    When Hurricane Beryl hit Houston on July 8, high winds and torrential hammered the chapel's roof. Water leakage damaged the walls and one of Rothko's black triptychs on the east side of the building. It took seven months of work before the chapel was reopened to the public in December, but the damaged art was still housed off site for restoration. Bank of America's grant should hopefully speed up the process of returning the iconic pieces back to public view.

    “It is devastating to see the domino effects of an event like Hurricane Beryl, jeopardizing the storied institutions and culturally significant works that provide so much context into the Houston identity,” said Hong Ogle, President, Bank of America Houston. “I am very proud that Bank of America’s Art Conservation Project allows us to support the arts in a unique and impactful way and preserve the works that mean the most to our community.”

    In addition to the restoration, Rothko Chapel recently broke ground on a $42 million campus expansion. Two new buildings to the north with house administrative services and an archive, and a meditation garden dedicated to Kathleen and Chuck Mullenweg. A new program center will follow after.

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