"Winterreise: A Winter's Journey" at The Hive Collaborative

The Hive Collaborative continues their series on concept albums with the original concept album, Austrian composer Franz Schubert's 1828 song cycle Winterreise, setting the poems of Wilhelm Müller to music. I don't think albums existed in 1828, but nevertheless, the idea of a set of songs conveying a common theme or mood did. This "Winter's Journey" is performed by baritone Justin Spenner and pianist Carson Rose Schneider in a unique collaboration with the kind of staging not usually associated with classical music. They're only doing two performances; the final one is this Saturday at 5pm, and with a runtime under 90 minutes, you'll be out in time for dinner at one of the many great St. Paul options.

"Three Decembers" by Skylark Opera Theatre at Jungle Theater

Skylark Opera Theatre is definitely my kind of opera. No offense to traditional opera with large casts in large venues sung in foreign languages. But the kind of opera that Skylark does - always sung in English, usually with smaller casts in smaller or non-traditional venues - is easier for me to connect with. For six performances only they're presenting the new (i.e., written this century) opera Three Decembers, with music by Jake Heggie and libretto by Gene Scheer based on a play by Terrence McNally. Just three performers accompanied by two pianos tell the intimate (and Mother's Day Weekend appropriate) story of a mother and her two adult children. She may not be the best mother, but she loves her children, she just may love the theater more (can you blame her?). I had an almost front row center seat for this gorgeous performance, feeling really connected to the story that's told so beautifully through words and music in the entirely sung-through show. The characters are singing their dialogue instead of speaking it, which only heightens the emotions of love, grief, frustration, disappointment, and betrayal. If you're someone who feels intimidated by opera, or isn't quite sure it's something you'd like, I encourage you to start with the accessible, intimate, English kind of opera that Skylark does (click here for info and tickets).

"Eugene Onegin" by Skylark Opera Theatre

Once again, Skylark Opera Theatre brings us a classic opera in a stripped down, accessible, intimate way. They're performing the 19th Century Russian opera Eugene Onegin (pronounced oh-NYAY-gun) by Tchaikovsky, based on a novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin, at The Museum of Russian Art. In an audience of about 100 arranged along a long corridor stage area, surrounded by Russian art, listening to this unamplified nine-person cast (singing in English) accompanied only by a grand piano is a uniquely satisfying musical experience. Only four performances remain, click here for info and tickets.

"The Most Happy Fella" by Skylark Opera Theatre at the Historic Mounds Theatre

This fall, Skylark Opera Theatre brings us Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella, which is technically a musical, but one with operatic qualities to some of the music. And the fact that some of the songs are in Italian (or mixed English and Italian) also make it feel a little like an opera. It's an unabashedly romantic old-fashioned love story, but not without a few modern tweaks. Skylark's production in St. Paul's Historic Mounds Theatre is charming, intimate, engaging, and gorgeously sung by the 12-person cast.