One of the things on my agenda when we spent a week in New York City last month was photographing “Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required,” an unusual event based on Mozart’s opera. Over the course of four evenings at the Gershwin Hotel in Manhattan, a group of singers and instrumentalists and others revealed much that might otherwise not be apparent the opera by “assembling” a portion of the opera each night. The outline of the event was that each evening would begin with an informal rehearsal of a section of the opera, interspersed with commentary from participants, and then conclude with a straight-through reading of the section that had been rehearsed. Beyond that, many of those participating also “took it online” during the event, tweeting and blogging as it took place. (My wife played principal oboe in the orchestra, and I have to tell you it was very strange to get text messages from her during the “show!”)
Photographing the event presented some interesting opportunities along with some challenges. The challenges were mostly what you might expect – concert venues, especially during a “rehearsal” are often not lit with photography in mind, and the space in the Gershwin Hotel where this took place was a virtual nightmare of photographic problems. The walls are bright red! The lighting was very low. There were columns in the middle of the orchestra. All in a day’s work, right? (I mostly shot natural light, and was very glad to have a 135mm f/2 lens and a Canon 5D2 which produces quite decent images at ISO 3200.) The opportunities, however, were worth the challenges. For one, unlike an actual performance at which the noise of a camera is simply unacceptable and, in addition, one needs to be virtually invisible, because this was an informal event I was not only able to shoot as the performance took place, but I was also able to wander around more or less at will. And while performers can often be quite skittish about being photographed during a performance – it creates an unwelcome distraction for them – these performers were very relaxed about it and even seemed to want to be photographed.
I exposed hundreds of frames during the two nights I was there, and I’m only now finding the time to sort through them. I will almost certainly not post all of the photographs here individually, as I would do with a lot of my other work, but (below the “jump”) I will collect many of them in this post. Note that this work is ongoing – I’m starting with an initial set of ten photographs, but others will be added as I update this post later.
Artist Neke Carson speaking before the start of "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 17, 2010.James Bobick as Guglielmo at "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010James Bobick as Guglielmo, telling stories at "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required - Vocal Ensemble with Brian Anderson (Ferrando), James Bobick (Guglielmo), Jennifer Berkebile (Dorabella), Caroline Worra (Fiordiligi), and Dennis Blackwell (Don Alfonso). Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.
Orchestra, "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.Bassoonist Timothy Emerson, "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.Jennifer Berkebile as Dorabella, "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.Jennifer Berkebile (Dorabella) and Caroline Worra (Fiordiligi), "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.Dennis Blackwell as Don Alfonso, "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.Dennis Blackwell as Don Alfonso, "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.Dramaturg Cori Ellison speaking at "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.Caroline Worra as Fiordiligi, "Così fan tutte - Some Assembly Required" - Gershwin Hotel, New York CityDennis Blackwell (Don Alfonso), Jennifer Berkebile (Dorabella), and Caroline Worra (Fiordiligi) at "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010Photograph in the orchestra including the second trumpet part, "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" - Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.Dennis Blackwell (Don Alfonso) and Jennifer Aylmer (Despina), "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" - Gershwin Hotel, New York City, August 2010.Jennifer Aylmer in the role of Despina in Mozart's "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York - August 2010.James Bobick as Guglielmo and Asitha Tennekoon as Ferrando in Mozart's "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York - August 2010.Asitha Tennekoon (Ferrando), Kerri Marcinko (Fiordiligi), Jennifer Berkebile (Dorabella), and James Bobick Guglielmo) at "Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required" at the Gershwin Hotel, New York - August 2010.
5 thoughts on “Photographs from “Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required””
I came across from the Michael Frye blog. I love a lot of your landscapes, but obviously not a majority voter! The most popular seem, with great respect, overdone and/or saturated, like old Kodachromes. The almost monochromes, the mists and the black & whites are superb in all respects – composition, quality etc but full of emotion to me.
You really appreciate the versatility of the 5DII when you go from landscpaes (I use 2 of the TS-E lenses as well) to musicians, except I do jazz MF etc I fully appreciate but where in one camera do you get the quality also at 3200? I do envy you with singers – have only done a few and they are a delight and not nearly as stressful as instrumentalists, especially if you want them actually playing and the stage is full of microphones.
Thank you indeed for a most enjoyable site.
Yes, the 135mm f/2 really is a fine lens. For purposes like this shoot, it is about as near to perfect as a lens gets, I think. By the way, I also shot the 50mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.8 at this gig – and they can also be great performers, especially the 85mm.
I have version II of the 70-200L f/2.8 IS and I can affirm that it is magnificent. That must have taken some doing for Canon because the original version of the lens was outstanding to begin with. I haven’t done tests with charts etc, but in the field I can discern the incremental improvement: the IS is superior and my guess is that the AF algorithms have been upgraded.
But back to your images above – I have seen the 135L described as an instrument “crafted by the hand of God.” I am sure you will agree.
The trade-off between flexibility and the extra stop is always a tricky one, especially when IS may (or may not) compensate and then some for the extra stop of aperture. I have to compromise in a slightly different way, but this is because I have to watch the weight and bulk of the gear than I use for landscape photography, since I’m often doing it on foot and sometimes while backpacking. From everything I hear, that new v.11 f/2.8 70-200mm L zoom is one tremendous lens. It is possible that I’ll eventually pick on up. For now, I use the f/4 zoom and large aperture primes.
This shoot was really a test of both the lens/camera and my ability to work at very low shutter speeds and large apertures. I shot a good portion of this stuff at f/2 and ISO 1600 or 3200 with shutter speeds as low as 1/50 second. That is pushing it for me, but I got a good number of decent images in the end.
I have used both 135L and 70-200L f/2.8 IS for indoor performances in a proscenium setting. Although the latter is a stop slower it has IS and the flexibility of a zoom. The downside is its weight. Since I find it perverse to leave the 135L in the bag at home, I have now taken to carrying 2 bodies and both these lenses. And while the zoom performs admirably, that special image or two of the session usually comes out of the 135L. This gap has narrowed substantially with the Mark II version of the lens. At any rate, these are challenging (and thus all the more enjoyable) outings for a photographer.
The following was made 4 years ago at a music concert (with version 1 of the zoom) –
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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I came across from the Michael Frye blog. I love a lot of your landscapes, but obviously not a majority voter! The most popular seem, with great respect, overdone and/or saturated, like old Kodachromes. The almost monochromes, the mists and the black & whites are superb in all respects – composition, quality etc but full of emotion to me.
You really appreciate the versatility of the 5DII when you go from landscpaes (I use 2 of the TS-E lenses as well) to musicians, except I do jazz MF etc I fully appreciate but where in one camera do you get the quality also at 3200? I do envy you with singers – have only done a few and they are a delight and not nearly as stressful as instrumentalists, especially if you want them actually playing and the stage is full of microphones.
Thank you indeed for a most enjoyable site.
Yes, the 135mm f/2 really is a fine lens. For purposes like this shoot, it is about as near to perfect as a lens gets, I think. By the way, I also shot the 50mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.8 at this gig – and they can also be great performers, especially the 85mm.
Dan
I have version II of the 70-200L f/2.8 IS and I can affirm that it is magnificent. That must have taken some doing for Canon because the original version of the lens was outstanding to begin with. I haven’t done tests with charts etc, but in the field I can discern the incremental improvement: the IS is superior and my guess is that the AF algorithms have been upgraded.
But back to your images above – I have seen the 135L described as an instrument “crafted by the hand of God.” I am sure you will agree.
The trade-off between flexibility and the extra stop is always a tricky one, especially when IS may (or may not) compensate and then some for the extra stop of aperture. I have to compromise in a slightly different way, but this is because I have to watch the weight and bulk of the gear than I use for landscape photography, since I’m often doing it on foot and sometimes while backpacking. From everything I hear, that new v.11 f/2.8 70-200mm L zoom is one tremendous lens. It is possible that I’ll eventually pick on up. For now, I use the f/4 zoom and large aperture primes.
This shoot was really a test of both the lens/camera and my ability to work at very low shutter speeds and large apertures. I shot a good portion of this stuff at f/2 and ISO 1600 or 3200 with shutter speeds as low as 1/50 second. That is pushing it for me, but I got a good number of decent images in the end.
That is great work at the link.
Dan
I have used both 135L and 70-200L f/2.8 IS for indoor performances in a proscenium setting. Although the latter is a stop slower it has IS and the flexibility of a zoom. The downside is its weight. Since I find it perverse to leave the 135L in the bag at home, I have now taken to carrying 2 bodies and both these lenses. And while the zoom performs admirably, that special image or two of the session usually comes out of the 135L. This gap has narrowed substantially with the Mark II version of the lens. At any rate, these are challenging (and thus all the more enjoyable) outings for a photographer.
The following was made 4 years ago at a music concert (with version 1 of the zoom) –
http://www.parrikar.org/music/photogallery/RamrangMehfil/