October kicks off a new season of the Met Live in HD series and showcases OperaSLO's fall production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Yeomen of the Guard. Maestro Brian Asher Alhadeff will lead the production of Yeomen in performances Saturday, October 22 at 7:30pm and Sunday, October 23 at 2pm. His exciting pre-concert presentation will begin one hour prior to show time. All performances are in the Clark Center in Arroyo Grande. Tickets are available online at Opera San Luis Obispo or Clark Center at $20-50. This production has been honed by performances in southern California and promises to be a highlight of the fall schedule.
Anna Netrebko from Anna Bolena
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The Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HD" series features an unusual variety of works for the new season, including standards, Baroque opera and a modern opera rooted in Ghandi's philosophy. The dramas begin with Donizetti's compelling Anna Bolena, the tragedy of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, who famously had six wives altogether. The title role will be performed by one of today's leading sopranos, Anna Netrebko. This is a premiere production by the Met, and will be seen here in simulcast on Saturday, October 15 at 10am.
Wagner's Siegfried will be the third in the Met's new cycle of productions of Der Ring des Nibelungen. As I noted in a column last spring, the new Ring cycle makes use of an extraordinary piece of stage machinery, simply referred to as "the Machine," developed as both a framing backdrop and as a flexible series of props, serving as illusions of everything from the Rhine River to the charging steeds of the "ride of the Valkyries." I look forward with great anticipation to seeing its use in Siegfried and to hearing the brilliant Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde and Gary Lehman as Siegfried. The screening of this monumental work begins at 9am on Saturday, November 5.
A side note of a more somber character: Maestro James Levine, who was to have conducted the Ring performances, has been sidelined by an injury to his back, due to a fall while on vacation. This comes on top of numerous and prolonged back problems that have plagued this remarkable, tireless musician and conductor for many years.
The Met's featured modern work is Philip Glass's Satyagraha, an opera about Gandhi during his years in South Africa. It was during this turbulent period (1893-1914) that Gandhi conceived, internalized, and preached his ideas of non-violent resistance. He wanted a term for these ideas that reflected a connection to the struggle of Indians in South Africa against apartheid. The terms Satya (Truth) and Graha (Force) inspired his non-violent struggle and grounded it in Indian culture and philosophy. Glass conveys his ideas about Gandhi and Satyagraha through a vocally beautiful and visually rich opera. The Met's acclaimed production begins at 10am on Saturday, November 19.
A new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni will be seen in an encore presentation on Sunday, November 27 at 2pm. Mariusz Kwiecien stars in the title role, with Luca Pisaroni as his manservant and accomplice Leporello. Mozart advertised Don Giovanni as a "dramma giocoso," a comic opera with serious elements. It was understood as a mixed genre piece and audiences warmed to the antics of the profligate seducer and the buffoonery of his valet-sidekick. But all the hijinks come to a serious end when Don Giovanni is summoned to repentance or damnation, refuses to repent, and is dragged screaming to hell.
Today in the United States, George Frederic Handel is known primarily for his oratorios, especially Messiah, but in his own time he was famous as a composer of Italian operas. Many of these have been revived and are attracting new audiences due to stylish productions capturing some of the Baroque splendor and to the sheer beauty of the music and singing style. The early 18th century is sometimes referred to as the "first great age of bel canto," to distinguish it from the second great surge of Italian opera from about 100 years later. Rodelinda is generally regarded as one of Handel's finest essays in this style. Look for a captivating performance from Renee Fleming as Rodelinda, the queen who resists the attentions of the villain Grimoualdo, who seeks to usurp the throne of her husband, Bertarido. This opera will be seen in an encore performance on January 8, at 2pm.
January 15 follows with one of the great masterpieces of French opera, which is based on a masterpiece of 19th century literature: Gounod's Faust. In the late 1830s Gounod became interested in Goethe's drama Faust Part I, in a French translation by Gerard de Nerval. While the opera differs from the play in many ways, it preserves the essential component: the character of Faust as a man who makes a bargain with the devil not for forbidden knowledge but for continual emotional experience. This is the 19th century's ‘Romantic" Faust, not the medieval figure of legend. Jonas Kaufman will sing the role of Faust, Marina Poplavskaya that of the heroine Marguerite, and Rene Pape, Mephistopheles.
This is the first half of the Met simulcast series. For the complete list see OperaSLO's web site and watch this column for more about the second half of the season.
Tickets are on sale now. For single tickets the price is $25 or $10 for students with ID. Buy the whole series for $225, a savings of $50, or six operas for $125, a savings of $25.
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Opera Lovers Meet
Opera Lovers Meet welcomes OperaSLO's artistic director Brian Asher Alhadeff as October's featured speaker. Maestro Alhadeff will give an exciting media-intensive presentation on OperaSLO's fall production of Yeomen of the Guard.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This month's meeting will take place on Wednesday, October 12. The venue and time remain the same, the Odd Fellows Hall on Dana Street, at 10am. There is no admission charge and the public is invited.
