By Janelle Gelfand
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bolcom

Malfitano

William Bolcom's Medusa will complete the third piece of the puzzle for Cincinnati Opera's contemporary triple bill this summer, when the company performs its world premiere June 26 and 28.

American soprano Catherine Malfitano will add the title role of the one-act opera Medusa to her one-woman show, which also includes Poulenc's La Voix Humaine and Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins.

"That's what I thrive on. I like the diversity, not only from the character point of view but from the musical standpoint," says Malfitano on Tuesday by phone from New York, where she was working with Cincinnati Opera artistic director Nicholas Muni.

Medusa is Muni's first world premiere in his tenure at Cincinnati Opera. It replaces the previously announced A Virtual Paradise, a planned companion to Weill's Seven Deadly Sins. All three are company premieres.

Because Medusa is a very new work, neither Muni nor Malfitano initially expected it to be ready to mount for the 2003 season. Written for Malfitano by Michigan-based composer Bolcom, with a text by his longtime collaborator Arnold Weinstein, it began life last month as a concert monodrama.

Malfitano premiered it in five well-received concert performances, including its New York premiere March 9 at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. (Carnegie Hall and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra are co-commissioners.)

Bolcom is widely hailed for two other operas commissioned by Lyric Opera of Chicago and starring Malfitano: McTeague (1992) and A View From the Bridge (1999), which was mounted at the Metropolitan Opera in December.

"When we were working on the libretto from A View from the Bridge, I saw (Weinstein's) incredible poem called "Medusa," Malfitano says. "I was so struck by it, I thought this would be an amazing piece for the stage. ... All of us felt it was really an opera. When I told Nic, he was terribly excited about it. It was his idea to mount it, right away."

The opera explores the monster of Greek mythology with hissing serpents for hair, and her origins as a beautiful virgin, in a 42-minute monologue. Malfitano describes it as highly dramatic and difficult to sing.

"Ever since (Bolcom) heard me sing (Berg's) Lulu in Chicago in 1987, I think he's always kept a certain part of Lulu in his head about me (laughs). This time, because he knows me so well, he wanted to give me something really challenging!" she says.

"There's a lot of wonderful singing, from the most delicate to the most dramatic, with rage and fury - a tremendous range of emotions," she says. "In addition to that, he has created a lot of extended speech-song, not really Sprechstimme, but much closer to singing."

In the piece, Malfitano is sometimes Medusa; sometimes the narrator. Reviews have characterized the score as "luridly nightmarish" and "vigorous and colorful." Wrote The New York Times: "The piece suited Ms. Malfitano, who gamely produced both odd character voices and fully focused characterful singing."

Muni will direct the entire triple bill, conducted by Brian Salesky, with choreography by Lucinda Childs. Dany Lyne is set and costume designer, with lighting by Thomas C. Hase. For subscriptions or information about the complete season (June 19-July 19, including Turandot, La Traviata and Norma) call 241-2742 or visit Web site.

E-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com