This Oberon trades fairy wings for a suit.
In Netia Jones’ version of Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the lovers frolic in a one-tree forest and Puck hops on a trampoline beneath a shining moon.
Opening on Saturday, July 31 at the Santa Fe Opera, it’s the first time the SFO has staged this ode to Shakespeare.
Countertenor Iestyn Davies stars in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Santa Fe Opera. (Courtesy of The Santa Fe Opera)
Countertenor Iestyn Davies plays Oberon, the king of the fairies.
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“He’s malevolent, he’s benevolent, he’s a little bit of both,” Davies said in a telephone interview.
Joshua Kosman March 3, 2021Updated: March 4, 2021, 7:22 am
Mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn performs “Science Fair: An Opera With Experiments.” Photo: Kate Milford
The presenter looks like any number of science popularizers you’ve seen on TV or in person. She’s got the white lab coat, the props oversize molecule models, vinegar and baking soda, a rock and the retractable pointer.
The difference is, she’s singing.
In “Science Fair,” billed as “an opera with experiments,” mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn holds the stage for 80 minutes, with only pianist Erika Switzer for company. In musical phrases as transparent as they are lovely, Chinn explains the Big Bang and the formation of the solar system, explores the structure of sound, and enlists a child volunteer from the audience to help her squeeze DNA molecules out of a strawberry.