Monteux operas crisp, spunky

Music director David Katz called it a “little theater in the woods,” but the Monteux School in Hancock has some pretty big things going on. One of Maine’s summer standards, the Monteux scene has traditionally presented orchestral music and conducting experience for musicians. For the last three years, Katz, director and conductor at the Adrian Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, has expanded those areas of expertise to include opera. And like all those people you know who have a knack for picking out the tastiest fruit or the right color scheme for wallpaper, Katz has an unerringly good ear for opera.

Over the weekend, Katz presented a particularly mirthful pair of comic operas — “The Telephone” by Gian Carlo Menotti and an adaptation of “The Spanish Hour” by Maurice Ravel. The first tells the story of a traveling man whose proposal of marriage is vexingly interrupted by his girlfriend’s endlessly ringing telephone. The second is about a watchmaker’s wife whose plans for an extramarital tryst get thwarted and then unexpectedly revived on a busy day in the watch shop.

Both performances were carefully crafted and articulately sung with an unusual combination of crisp musicality and spunky theatricality sometimes missing from contemporary opera singers. Cynthia Douglas, as Lucy in “The Telephone,” is not only a bright and vigorous vocalist, but she is also a virtuosic laugher. Her real-life husband, T. Robert Morris, performed with equal eloquence as the lover whose passion is put on hold. No less vivid was Steven Morris on piano. The three pranced through this half-hour piece with verve and humor.

For “The Spanish Hour,” a five-person cast and four-person orchestra, all led by Katz, played up this romantic little ditty with great sophistication. There was not a moment of vocal shirking by Kimberly Gratland, George Wolff, Jason Scarcella, Ross Darlington and John Murelle. At every turn, they showed themselves to be inventive, spirited and skillful. Plus there is a sense of their own delight, which is nearly always infectious — particularly when shaped by such high standards.

Next week, Katz takes on “Tartuffe,” Kirke Mechem’s comic opera based on the Moliere play. The cast includes all the principals mentioned in this review plus several other singers, including the mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Patches, the festival’s only Maine-based singer. It’s tempting to predict Katz will work his magic on this show, too. He’s becoming a known quantity in Maine because his commitment is heartfelt and his dulcet hunches about opera are the very stuff that not only gratifies confirmed opera buffs but attracts new ones.

The Monteux Opera Festival will perform “Tartuffe” 8 p.m. Aug. 15 and 16, and 5 p.m. Aug. 17 at Forest Studio in Hancock. An “Opera Discovery” preview, in which the director and cast will informally discuss the work, will take place 7 p.m. Aug. 11. For information, call 546-4495.