Join Us On Facebook
|
 |
Broadway by the Sea 2013
by Kathryn Bumpass
|
Glorious singing, stunning views, beautiful gardens, wine tasting, painters at work, and a silent auction. It's Broadway by the Sea, presented by Opera San Luis Obispo each summer.
Don't miss this feast of the arts, held at the elegant Chapman estate in Shell Beach, Saturday, August 17. The grounds will open at 1:00pm; a grand concert follows at 2:00pm.
Tickets for concert seating are $45 per person, or $55 per person for table seating. Planning to attend with friends? Reserve a complete table for eight for $440. Gourmet picnic box lunches provided by Salt and Pepper In-home Cuisine are available for purchase at $17 each. To reserve seating and to order your lunch, visit OperaSLO or call 805-541-5369.
This year's show will feature music of George and Ira Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Jerome Kern. There will be special numbers devoted to "movie musicals that never made it to Broadway" and to the question, "Is it Broadway or is it opera?" Pianist Catherine Miller, one of the guest artists who will appear, posed this question in regard to works such as Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess, Bernstein's Candide, The Girl in 14G and The Ballad of Baby Doe.
Gershwin conceived Porgy and Bess as an opera from the beginning. It opened in 1935 to mixed reviews, but, as Ms. Miller notes, it received 124 performances — hardly a flop. Following two revivals in 1942 and 1952, which entailed substantial cuts of most of the operatic elements, the opera languished, due in part, to racial sensitivities surrounding the civil rights movement.
Ms. Miller observes, "It was not until 1976 that the Houston Grand Opera did a new production that restored the original score. Following the Houston revival, the production went again to Broadway. It was not until 1985 that the Metropolitan Opera finally presented a production of Porgy and Bess." Ultimately, "Although I support revivals and revisions made for Broadway that increases its popularity, I will always consider Porgy and Bess to be one of the great American operas," she says.
Similar issues surround Bernstein's Candide. Citing one writer who has called it an "unclassifiable opera-operetta-musical," Ms. Miller notes that she often accompanies opera singers who audition with the aria "Glitter and Be Gay." She credits the Broadway artist Kristin Chenoweth for popularizing it and also the song "The Girl in 14G," which was written specifically for Chenoweth, a singer "who can incorporate both the Broadway and operatic styles in the delivery of the work."
The Artists
Cedric Trenton Berry
|
Artistic and General Director of OperaSLO, Maestro Brian Asher Alhadeff, and Jacalyn Kreitzer, Cal Poly faculty member and Artistic Adviser to OperaSLO, have assembled an impressive array of professional and student talent.
Guest artists Jacquelynne Fontaine, Cedric Trenton Berry and Catherine Miller will lead the performance. Ms. Fontaine has sung leading soprano roles in the US and abroad. These include Violetta in La Traviata, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Ilia in Idomeneo. Also active in musical theater, she has sung Countess Charlotte in A Little Night Music, Elsa Schrader in The Sound of Music, Anna in The King and I, and other prominent roles.
Jacquelynne Fontaine
|
Ms. Fontaine has a number of awards to her credit. These include the Loren Zachary Grand National Finalist in 2011; and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Western Regional Finalist and District Winner. She was cited as "Singer of the Year" by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Los Angeles; and was First Place Winner at the Palm Springs Opera Guild competition.
Bass-baritone Cedric Berry has performed a variety of operatic roles including the lead in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust and Sarastro in Mozart's The Magic Flute. He has performed several times in Europe, including a tribute to Paul Robeson at the Banlieurs Bleues Festival in Paris and a concert version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess staged in Spain.
Catherine Miller
|
As a Resident Artist with the Los Angeles Opera, Mr. Berry has sung in The Barber of Seville, La Boheme, Samson and Dalila, Faust, La Rondine and Billy Budd. He has been the recipient of several awards, among them first place in the Metropolitan Opera Western Region Competition.
Ms. Fontaine and Mr. Berry will be joined by pianist Catherine Miller, whose programming ideas for "Is it Broadway or is it opera?" are discussed above. Active in opera, she has served as a long time music staff member of both Los Angeles Opera and Opera Pacific. She is currently one of the pianist/coaches for the University of California Herb Alpert School of Music, Los Angeles, and has most recently worked with Maestro Gustavo Dudamel on this summer's production of Aida.
In addition to her work as an operatic vocal coach and piano teacher, Ms. Miller is the Artistic Consultant for the Pasadena Opera Guild, and has served as accompanist for the National Children's Choir. She is also the official accompanist for the Metropolitan Opera Competition for the Los Angeles district and the West Coast Auditions.
The Carmen project reaches fruition with performances October 12-13. Tickets go on sale in July. Watch this space for updates. |
