The Academy of Vocal Arts presents Gounod's 'Faust'

The AVA cast was made up entirely of performers in their 20s, and I doubt if many (or any) of them fear being dragged to hell for having premarital sex. Few of today’s youth believe literally in the devil, nor do they believe that God will physically lift them to heaven, as happens to the heroine at the end of the opera. Their ability to convey this supernatural faith was a tribute to the direction of Tito Capobianco and their training by maestro Christofer Macatsoris and the coaches at AVA.

The vocal maturity of the singers is not in question; we know that a good number of AVA grads go on to the stages of the Met and other major opera houses. What’s surprisingly impressive is how these young people persuaded us that they feared Satan and trusted in a celestial being to save them. In this production, they made the sign of the cross to ward off the devil and sprinkled holy water to make dead flowers bloom, with sincerity and conviction reflected in their faces.

Capobianco’s directorial work shows that an opera can be revealed creatively, with provocative action, without the gimmick of changing the intent or the period. This contrasts markedly with, for instance, the Met’s 2011 production by Des McAnuff, which dismissed the religiosity and turned Faust into a deal made with the devil by atomic scientists so they could explode a bomb. Instead, Capobianco’s rehearsals stress attitude and mindset as well as stage movements, and the results are effective.

The orchestra sounded superb under conductor Macatsoris. The singers are all of professional caliber, with exciting promise. The production eliminated choruses and ballet and made some other cuts, but it was so good I would have liked to have seen the whole opera.