It might be hard to imagine blending together jazz and opera, two esteemed but vastly different musical genres. At the Tel Aviv Museum of Art last week, a unique ensemble of musicians from around the world did just that. The songs were arranged by Mike del Ferro, a renowned Dutch pianist and composer. Del Ferro was joined by drummer Eitan Itzkowitz and bassist Simon Starr. Playing the saxophone was Amikam Kimelman, celebrated saxophonist and head of the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.
Del Ferro doesn’t reinvent the arias as jazz compositions – he rejuvenates them, making familiar operatic characters come to life in a new and surprising way. Kimelman described the concert as a mixture of disciplines and musical approaches, and says that jazz is the only platform where you can “go crazy” with different styles.
Del Ferro’s father was a celebrated tenor in the 1950s, Leonard del Ferro (1921-1992), who recorded with artists such as Maria Callas and Leonard Bernstein, and so del Ferro was exposed to music from an early age. The song that inspired del Ferro to create this program is “Torna a Surriento”, a Neapolitan song that has remained immensely popular for about a century. It took Del Ferro a whole night to compose the new adaptation, which includes a piano solo and jazz arrangement that echoes the instrumental parts of the song as well as the vocal. “Torna a Surriento” is a song of longing, and the listening experience is heightened by the del Ferro’s mesmerizing interpretation, which manages to delve into the emotional depth of the lyrics and melody. The jazz version of the song is not superficial, nor does it seem unnecessary; it feels perfectly natural, even for someone who has heard the original a thousand times.
From traditional Neapolitan songs, the concert’s program moved onto well-loved operatic arias and duets: Verdi’s “La donna è mobile” from Rigoletto and “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici”, the drinking song from La Traviata. Hints of the opera are heard straight away during the introduction, and the high notes are replaced by intense instrumental variations, which are just as much bravura passages as their operatic counterparts. While the jazzy reincarnation gives a different feel to each song, Verdi’s music and del Ferro’s adaptation work their magic and transport the listener to opera itself – you could be listening to Alfredo making his toast in a cool 1930s nightclub.
The arias chosen by Del Ferro are all wildly popular, and some have even been covered by modern musicians of various genres. How does one take an aria like Puccini’s “Vissi d’arte” (Tosca), which has been sung and recorded by the some of greatest singers in the world, and turn in into a jazz piece? This ensemble manages the task beautifully. Amikam Kimelman’s saxophone gives Tosca a new voice, and sings her plaintive, desperate prayer just as clearly as a soprano. The emotions of each song are perfectly delivered in the performance. The jazz version of the touching aria “O mio babbino caro” (Puccini, Gianni Schicchi) retains the sentiments of the original aria, and the saxophone characterizes Lauretta’s character surprisingly well. The concert ended with a fantastic salsa arrangement of Bizet’s Carmen, which had audience members clapping along.
Opera lovers and jazz fans can equally enjoy these fun and cleverly-crafted musical arrangements. Check out Mike del Ferro’s “opera meets jazz” CD, “New Belcanto”, available on Amazon.
