Opera

[bohemian]

A few eyebrows were raised by my enthusiasm for opera, so I thought I would start a thread about it.

 

My wife and I have enjoyed opera live in the opera house, on TV, and on cd.

I particularly enjoy modern operas rather than the classic “fat lady warbling” type.  Among my favourites - which I have on dvd or cd - are:

 

Philip Glass :  Akhnaten (free to view online at metopera.org on Friday 12th from 6.30 eastern) - based on the life of an Eqyptian pharaoh.

                         Satyagraha - based on the life of Ghandi

                         The Perfect American - based on the last days of Walt Disney

                          Appomattox

                          The Fall Of The House Of Usher

                          Kepler

John Adams.: Doctor Atomic - based on the testing of the atomic bomb.

                          Nixon In China

Benjamin Britten : Peter Grimes

Shostakovich : Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Antonin Dvořák : Rusalka

Mozart : Don Giovanni;  The Magic Flute

Rossini : The Barber Of Seville - marvellous comic opera (on metopera.org for free this week).

Smetana : The Bartered Bride

Bartók : Duke Bluebeard’s Castle

Richard Rodney Bennett : The Mines Of Sulphur

 

Is anyone else an opera fan?

Edited February 9, 2021 by bohemian

[Raven]

Oh yes!

 

You forgot to list the people's tenor, Luciano Pavarotti.

 

 

 

[bohemian]

While I do think Pavarotti was the greatest tenor of recent years (I preferred Domingo for his acting ability) I was listing complete operas in my post.

I do have recordings of Pavarotti (La Traviata with Joan Sutherland) but I agree with your mention of him.  I heard him at London ROH many years ago - really memorable.

[Omoyeme]

Puccini's Madama Butterfly; saw it many years ago. It was a wonderful production!

[bohemian]

6:30 pm Eastern tonight on metopera.org and streaming for 24 hours is the perfect introduction to opera.

 

The Barber Of Seville.   Great music, a very funny plot and some well-known pieces like “Figaro”.

A highly-recommended opera for those unfamiliar with this art-form.

 

Just go to www.metopera.org and look for The Barber Of Seville and click WATCH NOW.  It doesn’t matter when you start it will start from the beginning.

[daydream]

Thanks Chris. Watching now. It's excellent. I'm only recently discovered Opera and really am lovin' it. Am looking forward to educating myself from your new thread. 

[bohemian]

6 hours ago, Mclove said:

Thanks Chris. Watching now. It's excellent. I'm only recently discovered Opera and really am lovin' it. Am looking forward to educating myself from your new thread. 

It is one of our favourite operas. Rossini could certainly turn out tunes. And such a funny plot with the ‘drunken soldier’ etc.

[daydream]

The Barber of Seville is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy Le Barbier de Séville (1775).

[booboo]

One of my favorites is Monserrat Caballé. ❣️  what an incredible performance from her heyday.

[bohemian]

I love the way Kathleen Battle sang Rosina’s first aria; the way she sang the word “ma” (but) is the best I have heard with exception of Maria Callas.

I have a cd of Mahler’s 4th Symphony with Kathleen Battle singing the soprano in the last movement (a child’s view of heaven) and she has that sense of childish wonder in her voice which gives me goosebumps! 

[bohemian]

NEXT OPERA:

 

AKHNATEN by Philip Glass

 

Starts Friday 12th at 6:30 pm EST and streams for 24 hours.  You can start at any point and the opera will begin.

 

 

Akhnaten is an ancient Pharaoh who espouses monotheism. His wife is Nefertiti.

The opera is mainly sung in Akkadian and other dead languages, although there is a beginning and end in English.

 

The production is spectacular with acrobats and jugglers - completely amazing.

Philip Glass’ music is highly repetitive and mesmeric and the whole experience is really immersive.

 

It is rightly a modern masterpiece - not the easiest of operas but visually and musically stunning.

 

I have seen the opera twice live, and previously this production on metopera. I also have the cd and a recording of the performance from English National Opera made from the radio. That was the same production as tonight’s.

 

 

[bohemian]

 

[daydream]

metopera.org

[bohemian]

The next favourite operas available free on this streaming service from the Metropolitan Oper are next week.

 

Puccini’s La Bohéme (very popular but not my choice) is on Monday from 6:30 pm Eastern and available for 24 hours.

 

One of my favourites is TOSCA by Puccini.  Great arias and a brilliant story. Placido Domingo too! next Thursday at 6:30 Eastern.

 

If you are up for it on Friday night from 6:30 eastern is Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI. Expect a great comic performance from Leparello too! 

Ferruccio Furlanetto is playing the role (he played Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville the other night).

 

Saturday from 6:30 eastern the perennial favourite Bizet’s CARMEN.  Very popular but not one for me!

[Raven]

 

[daydream]

Watching Tosco by Puccini now. Friday 19, 10.14 pm (right after the midweek meeting)  What a sensorial feast!

Sumptuous sets, an overall  impressive cast and such beautiful music. 

I watched the movie 'Madame Butterfly' with Placido Domingo but his role there was kind of smaller compared to this. Really adored his acting in this opera. So warm and captivating

 

Thanks for your reminders Brother Chris. I will have to pencil in the dates otherwise it will slip my mind because I'm right in the middle of coaching the  son of a someone's else bible study. The young indigenous 13 year old is atrocious in mathematics. My cup of tea, though.

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Mclove

[Hope]

On 2/12/2021 at 12:53 PM, bohemian said:

NEXT OPERA:

 

AKHNATEN by Philip Glass

 

Starts Friday 12th at 6:30 pm EST and streams for 24 hours.  You can start at any point and the opera will begin.

 

 

Akhnaten is an ancient Pharaoh who espouses monotheism. His wife is Nefertiti.

The opera is mainly sung in Akkadian and other dead languages, although there is a beginning and end in English.

 

The production is spectacular with acrobats and jugglers - completely amazing.

Philip Glass’ music is highly repetitive and mesmeric and the whole experience is really immersive.

 

It is rightly a modern masterpiece - not the easiest of operas but visually and musically stunning.

 

I have seen the opera twice live, and previously this production on metopera. I also have the cd and a recording of the performance from English National Opera made from the radio. That was the same production as tonight’s.

 

 

Rats, I hate I missed this one- a good friend of mine is in it! 😖

[Hope]

 

Our sister is Daria Durisova as Zelina

 

A specific portion of just her parts:

 

 

Her interview:

 

 

[bohemian]

On 2/19/2021 at 5:11 PM, Hope said:

Rats, I hate I missed this one- a good friend of mine is in it! 😖

Good news! Akhnaten is on again on Thursday from 6:30 eastern, streaming for 24hours.

 

@HopeIs sister Durisová the friend you referred to above?

 

The following evening (Friday) another of my favourites: the really funny Barber of Seville, by Rossini.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by bohemian

[Dages]

We may be better than all of them in thousands of years (like Caleb's father  )

Seriously though, I like this very much. This is the art we share with the angels : singing.

[Hope]

19 hours ago, bohemian said:

Good news! Akhnaten is on again on Thursday from 6:30 eastern, streaming for 24hours.

 

@HopeIs sister Durisová the friend you referred to above?

 

The following evening (Friday) another of my favourites: the really funny Barber of Seville, by Rossini.

 

 

Thanks for the update - and yes, Daria is our sister!  ❤️ 

 

Barber of Seville is so fun!  I was privileged to be a supernumerary in the Portland Opera's production in 2019 ❤️ 

[daydream]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/15/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-pandemic.html?searchResultPosition=1

March 15, 2021

 

 

The musicians in the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra, seen here at a rehearsal in 2017, have not been paid for nearly a year.

 

As the months without a paycheck wore on, Joel Noyes, a 41-year-old cellist with the Metropolitan Opera, realized that in order to keep making his mortgage payments he would have to sell one of his most valuable possessions: his 19th-century Russian bow. He reluctantly switched back to the inferior one he had used as a child.

Edited March 17, 2021 by Mclove

[Hope]

Yes - the Met is one of the most reviled opera companies right about now.  It's tragic because they HAVE received federal funds over this past year for support but none of that money has gone to their singers or musicians.  It's pretty awful..  

[Old]

We downloaded 'The Barber of Seville' starring Kathlene Battles. We loved it. 

When I was very young my mother used to tune in to operas playin on Saturday morning radio, I think theyn were sponsored by Standard Oil. Loved 'Tales of Hoffman' and even more when I saw the movie. Sometimes the featured operettas which we would call musicals nowdays. Tthat was the first time I lheard Roger and Hammersteins's Carousel. My wife had no experience with major stage musicals and less with opera. Just not a feture on KRCO Prineville, Oregon. I took her to see the film Carmen Jones, she fell in love with it, later we enjoyed the opers 'Carmen' starrin Placedo Domingo. 

Alas the VHS of 'The Barber of Seville' and the PBS 'Show Boat' have longs since failed. 

When we lived in Eugene we saw great stage produtions of a different musical every year, we were even involved in some sponsership.

Now having gone as far west as we can in Oregon we have no brothers or sisters to share our musical or opera interests. Tried to get a friendly engagement with a sister on this forum to see an event in which she participated in, but no joy. 

Anybody want to go to an opera here in Newport? Call 577 555 1212.   

 

 

[daydream]

 

Quote

 

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Mclove
Mistook the number for a private line