Operatic love potion

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This article was published 14/04/2005 (7450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ITALIAN composer Gaetano Donizetti famously examined the lengths a smitten man will go to woo the woman of his dreams in his 1832 comedic opera The Elixir of Love.

The almost 175-year-old story of a love-struck Nemorino guzzling a bogus love potion to win the hand of the beautiful man-magnet Adina is not as far-fetched in its crazy plot twists as skeptical singletons today might think.

“It can definitely happen,” says coloratura soprano Nikki Einfeld, who plays Nemorino’s object of desire in the upcoming Manitoba Opera production opening Saturday at the Centennial Concert Hall.

“I will be the first one to admit that it takes happening to you before you believe it.

“I went through the same journey of love with my fiancé. We kind of have a similar story.”

Two years ago at a party in San Francisco, the former Charleswood singer came to the attention of a reveller who was quickly over the moon about her.

When the professional web designer discovered she was an opera singer, he decided to surprise her with a Nikki Einfeld website that looked worrisomely like a creepy shrine. The audacity of a virtual stranger was unsettling.

“It was a very bold thing he did,” says the red-haired 27-year-old singer who is stepping up into her first starring role at the MO. “He set it up and sent it to me all proud of himself. His attempt at making a website for an opera singer holding a microphone was funny to say the least.

“It is something we will look back on for many years and laugh about and hear about at our wedding.”

Like the hapless Nemorino who ultimately wins over the fickle Adina by risking his life to acquire more liquid courage, Einfeld eventually fell for her over-anxious but well-meaning suitor, who has since learned that opera singers don’t use microphones. To dig up any dirt there might have been on him, she turned to every dater’s best friend.

“I Googled him,” she says, about the common practice of investigating admirers through the Internet.

“He has a website with all his art on it. It’s amazing what we do these days. I’m sure Nemorino would have Googled Adina to find out what he could do to make her fall in love with him.”

Like Donizetti’s star-crossed lovers, Einfeld and her betrothed John Kraft will have a happy ending. Last August, he surprised her again — this time to her liking — with a marriage proposal in the San Francisco Opera House. In July, they will be married in its lobby to celebrate the stage that brought them together.

 

The Oak Park High graduate followed her voice into opera, getting her name on several trophies at the Winnipeg Music Competition Festival — in 2002, she was the runner-up for the Rose Bowl. In 2001, she made her professional debut in the MO production of Die Zauberflote. Einfeld then won the Eckhardt-Grammatté National Music Competition in 2002 and a recital tour across the country. Last year, she was made an Adler Fellow and began a two-year apprenticeship with the San Francisco Opera. After The Elixir of Love, she will return to reside in San Francisco.

Before they exchange vows, Einfeld will share the concert hall stage with a young cast headed by Canadian tenor Stuart Howe singing the role of the peasant Nemorino, Winnipeg baritone Gregory Dahl as braggart army captain Belcore, American bass-baritone Terry Hodges performing as the travelling charlatan Dr. Dulcamara, along with local soprano Andriana Chuchman in her professional operatic debut as the peasant girl Gianetta.

“It’s about two people who despite their best intentions are going to get together whether they like it or not,” says Ann Hodges, who is directing her first mainstage opera.

“You know at the beginning they are destined for each other. Their pride and stupidity get in the way but they come together.”

Donizetti’s Elixir of Love is considered one of the best date operas due its sharp comedy, heartfelt pathos and ever-relevant rumination on the perils of love.

Written in two weeks, it became his most performed work during his lifetime.

“John gives me trouble about this story all the time because like Adina I wasn’t going to have him,” says Einfeld, her face flushing.

“There was a fleeting moment when I was going to let it go. It’s exactly the path Adina takes. When he finally gets to know her, she realizes he is something special. It just hits you when it’s meant to be.”

kevin.prokosh@freepress.mb.ca

PHOTO BORIS MINKEVICH/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS