Also this issue:

Is There a Left Left?
Finding a place for liberalism in the new America.
-Sam Adams

Making the Video
Doug Aitken's work mixes film, art, social commentary and a dash of MTV.
-Robin Rice

More Than Words
-Sam Adams

Wares House
-Diane Eacret

History Lessons
-Elisa Ludwig

Carmen, and All the Rest!
-Howard Altman

Run and Hyde
-Toby Zinman

Noir Gold
-David Anthony Fox

November 7-13, 2002

artpicks

Sets and Lucia

by Steve Cohen

The Academy of Vocal Arts chose Lucia di Lammermoor to be its 2002 season opener when it expected to perform part of its season in the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center. That deal fell through, when, according to an AVA spokesperson, the Kimmel couldn't provide ample rehearsal time in the Perelman, so the AVA operas are back in the school's lovely mansion on Spruce Street. Lucia is not an intimate opera. The story of doomed Scottish lovers Lucia and Edgardo deals in grand passions, includes a lavish wedding banquet and demands a large chorus. While the Perelman's stage is 80 feet by 40 feet, AVA's stage is 30 feet by 29 feet, and the theater seats only 150, while Perelman would have seated 550.

If Lucia were mounted at the Perelman, the school would have built a larger set and hired supers. But the Spruce Street venue allows everyone in the audience to see the facial expressions of the performers and feel the vibrations of the violin strings. The small setting provides thrills that you can never get in a larger hall.

One of the alternating tenors playing Edgardo is James Valenti, who won the Metropolitan Opera's 2002 auditions but chose to become a resident artist (and a freshman) at AVA. He shares the role with AVA senior Gioacchino Lauro LiVigni, who has performed lead roles here and in Italy. The Lucias are Eglise Gutierrez and Ailyn Perez. Christofer Macatsoris conducts.

Lucia di Lammermoor, Nov. 9-17, 7:30 p.m., $30-75, Helen Corning Warden Theater, 1920 Spruce St.; Nov. 21 and 23, Centennial Hall at the Haverford School, 450 Lancaster Ave. For tickets, call 215-735-1685.