“Open your heart, and let the music in”: Allyson McHardy talks Opera Atelier’s online premiere of Handel’s The Resurrection

Opera Atelier’s Canadian premiere of Handel’s The Resurrection, fully-staged and filmed at St. Lawrence Hall, opens online this Thursday May 27, 2021, 7 pm ET. In a tenacious feat of creative problem-solving, this production – emphatically first imagined as a live performance – has been reborn as a dazzling virtual presentation and behind-the-scenes documentary. When the company began working on this production back in 2020, Mezzo-Soprano Allyson McHardy (performing the role of Mary Cleophas), was delighted that the company was doing another Handel work: “Needless to say I was very disappointed when we got shut down. It was a year of waiting and postponements as the virus raged on.” 

Once company members returned to work on the production, new health and safety protocols made for challenging moments, particularly during recording. “As I have said before, COVID is the biggest diva in the room,” smiles McHardy: “Plexiglass shields and distance requirements reminded me of the unique and multifaceted communication that happens when making music.”  During staging, she had to fight the impulse to be physically close to her colleagues. But “it is always our job as performers to ‘find a way’, and that’s what we did.” 

The result is a sumptuous, arresting production, directed by Opera Atelier’s Founding Co-Artistic Director Marshall Pynkoski. Regarded as Handel’s first acknowledged operatic masterpiece, The Resurrection was written for Easter of 1708. It  depicts the events between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, focusing on Christ’s resurrection after his crucifixion and burial. The story unfolds simultaneously across two spheres: in the celestial realm, a combative Angel disputes Lucifer’s claims of victory, while on earth, Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleophas, and St. John the Evangelist struggle to accept the reality of Christ’s death. 

Of her role, McHardy says that Cleophas is a refreshing departure: “So often, the mezzo role is the friend/nurse/mother/aunt that isn’t as complete a character as the soprano lead. Cleophas to me is complete.” Equally compelling is the relationship of Mary Magdalene (Soprano Meghan Lindsay) and Cleophas, as two women who share pain, loss, grief, hope and — ultimately – joy.  McHardy and Lindsay spent the entire rehearsal period wearing masks and eye protection. So the day of filming was the first time they saw each other’s entire faces in a year. The first appearance of Mary and Cleophas together is a moment where Cleophas is pleading with Mary to rest, so she can continue to grieve and do justice to the memory of Jesus. “When Meghan turned to look at me that first time, [the moment] was so raw we both almost burst into tears. It gave all our moments ‘on stage’ a feeling as if it were happening for the first time.” This moment was an “unexpected and wonderful gift”. 

McHardy is a revered Canadian singer with an international presence. She has appeared on opera and concert stages around the world, and has collaborated with some of the world’s most renowned conductors. Canadian audiences remember her noteworthy performance as Julie Riel in Harry Somers’ Louis Riel, a 2017 Canadian Opera Company (COC) production directed by Peter Hinton that was also staged in Ottawa and Québec City as part of Canada’s Sesquicentennial celebrations. She is a Prix Opus Winner for Opéra de Québec’s Der Fliegende Holländer and a Juno Award nominee for the Canadian Art Song Project’s disc, Summer Night, music of Healey Willan. For an artist accustomed to a full performance calendar, the shutdown has been a “challenge” – albeit one that has afforded time to enjoy just being home with her family. “As a singer, protecting my health and mindset has always been part of how I move through life,” McHardy notes. “Staying home,  knowing how to take care of myself  and yes,  even hand washing, is just part of the job.” Although every contract she had booked for the past year was cancelled, she did gain the opportunity to teach singing  at the University of Ottawa: “Spending time with young singers with such passion for the classical vocal repertoire has been wonderful. It was a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Now, there is another light: the Canadian premiere of The Resurrection. In addition to McHardy, the Opera Atelier cast of The Resurrection features other renowned Canadian interpreters of Handel’s music. Soprano Carla Huhtanen plays the role of the Angel, which was originally written for a castrato. In a significant departure from the opera’s first performance, she is costumed as a female Angel who leads the Artists of Atelier Ballet in their guise of supernatural beings who observe and participate in the lives of the opera’s earthly protagonists. Tenor Colin Ainsworth plays the role of St. John the Evangelist,  and Bass-Baritone Douglas Williams plays the role of Lucifer. 

The production includes an innovative, multi-level set that has been reimagined as a contemporary installation in a historic setting by Gerard Gauci. And Film Director / Editor/ Director of Photography Marcel Canzona further enhanced the staging and design for the purpose of capturing the live production on film. Tafelmusik (Elisa Citterio, Music Director) performs the musical accompaniment under the baton of David Fallis. And Co-Artistic Director Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg’s choreography will be performed by Artists of Atelier Ballet. 

Bringing this work to Canadian audiences in these unprecedented times was no small feat. And Opera Atelier invites audiences to experience the Herculean process in a behind-the-scenes documentary The Making of The Resurrection. This engrossing film drives home the significance of this production to each member of the Opera Atelier team who helped to bring it to life. And of course, at the center of it all is the music of Handel, so sublime that it transcends time and remains accessible to all. “Handel is a composer that needs no strategy to enjoy,” McHardy observes. “My advice is simple: familiarize yourself with the text and translation, then open your heart, and let the music in.”   

The Resurrection is available to stream May 27 – June 10, 2021. Click here for ticket information.

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2021