Playing the roles of Abraham/Moses/Jeremiah is baritone Mark Delavan, a veteran performer who has appeared in the title roles of “Der fliegende Holländer,” “Falstaff,” “Rigoletto.” In the photo, he is seen in the pinnacle role of Wotan in “Der Ring des Nibelungen” at the Metropolitan Opera. (Photo courtesy of Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera)
Kurt Weill's "The Road of Promise" was last performed in 2015 at Carnegie Hall but Elaine Rinaldi, founder and artistic director Orchestra Miami, found the treasure would work well as part of her Discover Miami Through Music event.
It's an ambitious piece, a large cast, numerous moving parts and more than 100 singers making up the chorus.
Performances are Saturday, Feb. 4 and Sunday, Feb. 5 at Miami Beach’s Temple Emanu-El.
This rarely heard oratorio and piece of living history, “The Road of Promise,” is adapted from Weill’s mammoth opera, “The Eternal Road,” by Ed Harsh and received its premiere in New York in 1937.
Originally conceived by European Jewish emigrants in the United States as a way to inform the American public about Adolf Hitler’s persecution and murder of European and German Jews, the pseudo-allegorical work takes place in a synagogue where a group of modern Jews have gathered to escape persecution.
Comforted by the rabbi, who reads from the Torah and tells the stories of Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs including the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, Moses, Ruth, Saul, David, and Jeremiah, the congregants, including the President, the Pious One, the Estranged One, the Adversary, etc., hear they must be prepared for persecution and exile.
LEFT: Cuban-American soprano, Elizabeth Caballero, known for her signature role, Violetta in “La Traviata,” will perform the role of Rachel. RIGHT: Baritone Mark Delavan.
Rinaldi, a Miami native who is also a vocal coach for opera singers in New York City, says she has a mission to bring little-known works to Miami for the community to experience.
“This is a rare opportunity to hear a lost musical masterpiece,” says Rinaldi. Referencing the Carnegie Hall performance, she says "this is only the second professional performance in this country,” she says. “It has never been performed since. It’s a significant occasion, especially for Miami, and we hope to get some music lovers and lovers of Kurt Weil to attend.”
She lists the reasons why she's chosen to present Weill's work.
“First,” she says, “the subject matter is interesting. Second, I love to bring something unique and new to Miami. This piece is not only a musical rarity, but an historical rarity as well. It’s of high-quality and high-caliber.”
“Thirdly, everything is tied in through the music,” Rinaldi explains. “This is a way to raise awareness, but not overtly. It’s musically satisfying and will give audiences an opportunity to experience something they never heard before and an experience to learn something new.”
“I want to bring something to Miami that we can’t experience elsewhere,” she says, adding that she hopes to bring the city together as a community to learn about each other, through the Discover Miami concerts.
Rinaldi has chosen specific “landmark” arenas to host her Discover Miami concert series, including last April’s Orchestra Miami’s concert of Kurt Weill’s “Lindbergh’s Flight,” at the 1932 Coast Guard airplane hangar in Coconut Grove, to honor the 95th anniversary of Pan American World Airways.
There was a 2015 Jazz Age concert in the Granada Ballroom at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables and a performance of “Atonement,” by Marvin David Levy to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day at Temple Israel of Greater Miami in 2017, for which she won The American Prize Ernst Bacon Award, a national award, for the Performance of American Music.
Tenor Alan Glassman is the rabbi in Orchestra Miami's "The Road to Promise. At right, Glassman as Canio in "Pagliacci." (Photos courtesy of the artist)
On her radar for a while, Rinaldi chose Temple Emanu-El, not only for its eclectic Byzantine and Moorish architecture and copper dome, and one of the most beautiful synagogues in the United States, but for its acoustics.
She had conducted there previously with the Miami Classical Music Festival and was familiar with the venue and its sound.
“When the synagogue became available and my opera friends became available, I knew I had to do it,” she says.
At the last minute in mid-January, one of her lead singers, internationally renowned tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, who plays the rabbi, had to step down.
Luckily, Rinaldi’s colleague, tenor Allan Glassman, a veteran of numerous Metropolitan Opera performances, agreed to step in. He has played Herod in a production of “Salome,” appeared in The Met’s productions of “Billy Budd” as Red Whiskers; in “Die Frau ohne Schatten” as The Hunchback Brother and in “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” as The Shabby Peasant.
“Allan is an A-plus artist and a consummate professional,” she says.
Playing the roles of Abraham/Moses/Jeremiah is baritone Mark Delavan, a veteran performer who has appeared in the title roles of “Der fliegende Holländer,” “Falstaff,” “Rigoletto” and has sung the pinnacle role of Wotan in “Der Ring des Nibelungen” to critical acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera.
Cuban-American soprano, Elizabeth Caballero, known for her signature role, Violetta in “La Traviata,” will perform the role of Rachel. She has appeared as Mimi in “La bohème,” Desdemona in “Othello” and performed Donna Elvira in “Don Giovanni” with Florida Grand Opera.
The cast also features David Margulis as Jacob/David, Stephanie Newman as Miriam/Ruth and Philip Kalmanovitch as Saloman.
Stage direction is by Vernon Hartman, accompanied by the 48 musicians of Orchestra Miami, conducted by Rinaldi. The choir of over 100 voices is made up of students from the New World School of the Arts, under the direction of Megan Barrera; students from St. Thomas University, under the direction of Elizabeth Turner; and Broward College, under the direction of Brock Burback, along with volunteer singers from the community.
“Even if you know the music of Kurt Weil, you won’t know this music,” says Rinaldi.
“My wish is to bring people together through a concert and those who might not otherwise go to a classical music concert, to be enthralled with the music and want to come back for more.”
Kurt Weill's "The Road of Promise" with Orchestra Miami. Saturday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. Tickets are $60, $40, $30, $25 and $20 (partial view) and are reserved seating only. A 20 percent discount for seniors is available in Sections A-C. For information, visit www.OrchestraMiami.org, or call (305) 274-2103. Temple Emanu-El is located at 1701 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139.
