The All-Nighters
Some of the season’s hottest looks are inspired by work clothes with an edgy ’80s vibe. Suit up sexy, work late if you have to, and, by all means, take care of business.
Sep. 19, 2017
AS HOUSTON SLOWLY recovers from last week’s severe derecho, it is strangely serendipitous that on May 25 and 26, a little over a week after that unexpected drama, the Houston Symphony will perform composer John Adams’ critically acclaimed Nativity oratorio El Niño, named after the 1997 meteorological phenomenon and precursor to what we now refer to as “weird weather.”
This weekend’s performances feature soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, bass-baritone Davóne Tines, a trio of countertenors, the Houston Symphony Chorus, and The Treble Choir of Houston at Christ Church Cathedral. American-born, and internationally renowned conductor David Robertson, a longtime advocate and interpreter of Adams’ music, will lead the performances of deeply emotional work.
“I get terribly moved by the piece,” says Robertson, who first experienced El Niño when it premiered in December 2000 at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris. “My biggest concern whenever I’m conducting it is not to become a weeping mess!”
Unlike its Paris premiere, which included an over-abundance of choreography and theatrical busyness, or its current run as an elaborately staged opera at the Metropolitan Opera, the Houston Symphony is presenting El Niño as a straightforward oratorio. Robertson has always conducted the work without additional visual elements. Throughout the work’s 24 sections, there are already plenty of layers in its multilingual libretto and centuries-spanning music that allow the listener to envision several different images at once.
“If you have a grandparent who is a great storyteller, you don’t need pictures when you’re a child,” says Robertson. “They know just how to keep you completely enchanted with the magic of their story, and John does precisely the same thing, uninterruptedly, in El Niño.”
That enchantment begins with El Niño’s energetic first number “I Sing of a Maiden” for chorus and countertenors, who enter singing just single syllables before moving on to complete words and phrases, enveloping the listener in what sounds like a flock of angels, giddy with the news that the word will be made flesh. Meanwhile, the male sopranos infuse the chorus with archaic, Baroque colors, and Adams’ complex, kaleidoscopic rhythms evoke the beats of American pop music as if Handel were DJing a warehouse rave.
When asked about conducting the wide range of solos, duets, trios, and ensemble numbers at comprise El Niño’s complex musical universe, Robertson is quick to emphasize the collaborative nature of his job. “Sounds that are made reverberate in the air for a short period of time, so the real genius of music is the combination of all the souls who happen to be producing those sounds, and how those different people blend their concept of sound,” explains Robertson. “The conductor ends up being the central network of how that happens.”
Without giving too much away, El Niño’s dramatic closing number is surprising and provocative, though no less enchanting than its angelic opening. It features the appearance of a palm tree in the middle of a desert, blending a description of that miracle from the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew — one of several apocryphal texts used in El Niño — with a poem by 20th-century Mexican author, feminist and activist Rosario Castellanos. Such events as they are described in the Bible or writings expunged from that canon remind us that transcendent experiences are part of our everyday, contemporary lives, be it the birth of a child, or a performance by “a combination of souls” that tells the story of that birth through music.
“Things that we take for granted, like a simple palm tree, are already miraculous,” says Robertson.
CELEBRATED CHEF Aaron Bludorn is on a roll. After successfully opening three Houston restaurants including the recent Bar Bludorn, he has set his sights on the boutique Hotel Saint Augustine to open this fall.
From the acclaimed Bunkhouse group, Montrose’s elegant Hotel Saint Augustine will feature all-day restaurant Perseid alongside an intimate lobby bar plus event spaces also helmed by chef-restaurateur Bludorn. The menu will pay homage to the global influences defining Houston’s food through dishes that sit at the intersection of refined comfort and classic technique.
"Perseid is a bistro through the eyes of Houston," Bludorn said in a statement. "Meaning, we are using the ingredients and inspiration from Houston’s diverse population to create a bistro menu that is accessible and exciting. My inspiration is drawn from bistros in Paris and Lyon and their ability to be consistent and timeless. I have always thought, ‘What if we had that, but with Houston as a backdrop?’ and now we will with Perseid."
Meanwhile, at still new but profoundly popular Bar Bludorn in Hedwig Village, things are really heating up. For more on our first visit, see here.
A rendering of Perseid (courtesy of Post Company)
Partners in Bludorn, Cherif Mbodji and Aaron Bludorn (photo by Julie Soefer)