Love Is Blind

by David Shengold

opera

Among Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky's many operas, only two have become common currency in the West: the romantic Eugene Onegin (which OCP regretfully had to cut from this year's season) and the supernatural Queen of Spades, both based on literary works by Alexander Pushkin. The Academy of Vocal Arts offers the local premiere of his short last opera, Iolanta (1892), from the composer's fairy tale mode. It has a lot in common with the ballet Sleeping Beauty: a medieval French setting, a princess hidden from the world, a magic awakening sparked by a handsome aristocratic suitor, plus Tchaikovsky's yearningly romantic melodies. The beautiful princess Iolanta is blind but doesn't know it, living happily in her father's garden and castle where everyone is under pain of death not to reveal her disability to her. Two valiant noblemen sneak into her garden: her arranged fiance, Robert, who loves another woman, and his conveniently unattached friend Vaudemont. Neither knows that Iolanta is blind or about the ban on telling her that. Can a visiting Arabian doctor use the power of Iolanta's love for the (unseen) Vaudemont to restore her sight? (Well, what do you think?) Tchaikovsky wrote splendid arias for all the principal characters, a great love duet, and a stirring final ensemble praising the power of sight. With veteran tenor Peter Kazaras directing and AVA's Russian expert Ghenady Meirson at the piano, this Iolanta should be a major contribution to Philly's operatic life.

Iolanta, Fri., Feb. 25, Tue., March 1, Wed., March 2, and Fri., March 4, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 27 and Sun., March 6, 3 p.m., $35-$45, Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce St., 215-735-1685, www.avaopera.org.