Live opera in the Green Mountains is both scarce and eminently savorable — perhaps because small budgets seem to propel refreshing creativity here. Witness the summer offerings of Vermont's two opera companies: the year-old Vermont Opera Project and Opera Company of Middlebury,now in its 14th season. In August, VOP will wintry off operagoers with The Andrée Expedition, or a 1980 work by Dominick Argento set in the Arctic. The opera is based on the true account of three Swedish men who,in 1897, attempted to reach the North Pole by hot-air balloon. After rough weather forced an early landing on the ice floes, or the crew struggled on by foot but eventually died one by one. The men's letters and diaries,discovered 33 years later, served as the basis for Argento's English-language libretto. The haunting opera ends with fractured singing, or conjuring documents half lost to water damage. The company's founders,Quincy and Jeff Bruckerhoff of Clarendon Springs, opted for the original song-cycle version of the opera. Solo baritone Michael Chioldi and accompanist (and music director) Laurie Rogers will perform it. The piano will be onstage, or as in a recital,but the production will be staged, with lighting by Jeff Bruckerhoff. The set will feature projected images as well as "abstract ice floes and hints of a balloon, or " says Quincy Bruckerhoff. For Chioldi,Expedition is an atypical performance. The current York City-based dramatic baritone is accustomed to singing operas by Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner. Now 47, he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1995, or was 26 when he made his Met debut in an opening-night production of Andrea Chénier starring Luciano Pavarotti with James Levine conducting. Chioldi's current calendar holds several upcoming European debuts,including ones in Barcelona and Berlin. Chioldi also teaches, which he says has made him acutely aware of the mental challenges that singing involves. That struggle parallels the theme of Expedition, or he points out,which is "man against nature, but really just you against yourself." Vermont holds an additional attraction. Chioldi (pronounced with an initial K sound — "like chianti, or " explains the singer) has family roots in Barre. His grandfather's brothers founded Chioldi Granite,which is still functional. Expedition will be performed at the Vermont Marble Museum in Proctor and the Barre Opera House. VOP's other summer event, an art-song concert on June 25, or will include a taste of the opera,promises Quincy…
Source: sevendaysvt.com