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Opera Appreciation Class Offered by Senior College of Greater Des Moines and DMMO There is no more exhilarating way to learn about opera than from people who are making it happen, and are passionate about the work they do! The Opera Appreciation course being offered jointly this summer by Senior College of Greater Des Moines and Des Moines Metro Opera will be led by performers and members of DMMO's staff. Registrations are being accepted now.
Each year, this popular class focuses on the productions for the current season, so there is always something fresh and interesting to carry away, whether you have been enjoying opera for years or are a complete newcomer. Last year, many students saw Verdi's A Masked Ball one evening, then heard two of the principal singers discuss the performance and their singing careers the next morning, exchanging both serious observations and amusing anecdotes.
This year's Opera Appreciation class will meet from 10 a.m. to noon on June 25, July 2 and July 16 at the Simpson College Learning Center in West Des Moines. The cost is $30, plus the optional purchase of tickets. Although Senior College classes are tailored for students age 50 and better, younger persons with an interest in opera are welcome. For more information, call (515) 244-0631 or visit www.myseniorcollege.com.
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"The Met Live in HD" Broadcasts in March Iowa Public Radio is offering discounted ticket vouchers for just $12 each! These discount vouchers are only availailable online and must be presented to the theater box office to be redeemed for a valid ticket (please allow enough time before the opera begins to complete the redemption process). Click here to order your discount vouchers.Des Moines Metro Opera and Iowa Public Radio have teamed up to host the Met's broadcasts in Iowa. We are trying to have a presence at each show at Movies 12 in Ames and at Jordan Creek Mall to share info about DMMO's live performances and IPR's classical music service. If you would like to be a volunteer host at one of the Met broadcasts, please contact McB McManus by email or at (515) 961-6221. Madama Butterfly - Puccini
Saturday, March 7, 2009 (12:00 pm CT)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (7:00 pm CT)
Running time: 3 hours, 23 minutes.
Cristina Gallardo-Domâs returns to the title role of Anthony Minghella's stunning production, a new classic of the Met repertory, opposite Marcello Giordani.
Conductor: Patrick Summers; Production: Anthony Minghella. La Sonnambula (new production) - Bellini
Saturday, March 21, 2009 (12:00 pm CT)
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.
Mary Zimmerman, who directed Natalie Dessay in last season's hit production of Lucia di Lammermoor, underlines La Sonnambula's dual elements of sleep and wakefulness in an intriguing staging set in the present. Bellini's hauntingly lyrical score soars as performed by Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez, back from their sensational run together in La Fille du Régiment.
Conductor: Evelino Pidò; Production: Mary Zimmerman.
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Win a Week of Luxury in New York City! You could be living like a Rockefeller and enjoying autumn in New York! In a special fundraising drive, DMMO is raffling off chances to stay in a luxurious, two bedroom suite at the St. Regis Hotel in the heart of midtown Manhattan, just blocks from Central Park, Broadway and more.The Prize: A week's stay (October 26 through November 1, 2009) in the penthouse at the St. Regis New York, dinner and a show with Dr. Robert Larsen, and an invitation to attend Des Moines Metro Opera's New York auditions. The St. Regis suite is large, with two bedrooms and an additional pull-out in the living room area. It includes 24-hour butler service. (Transportation to and from New York not included. For tax purposes, the total prize value is $27,500.) The raffle will run from February 18 until all 250 tickets are sold. The drawing will be held on June 20, 2009, at the Der Freischütz opening night gala. You need not be present to win.The Cost: Raffle tickets are just $100 each and are available by calling (515) 961-6221 or going to www.desmoinesmetroopera.org.
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Opera Spotlight: Tosca
by Michael Egel No other opera by Giacomo Puccini aroused as much varied response to its first performance as did his Tosca which was first performed in June of 1900. Audiences encored the tenor aria “E lucevan le stelle” and the composer himself was called to the stage six times at the conclusion of the performance for what many in the press denounced as a “shabby little shocker.” Puccini’s own best advocate, Signor Riccordi, also felt troubled by the fact that the great villain Scarpia dies too early in the score to sustain drama into the last act. Amidst both the lavish praise and outright hostility towards the score, the great conductor Toscanini assumed the podium for even more successful performances later that year and put the subject to rest. Tosca soon became a staple of the standard repertory. It was in the late 1880's that Puccini saw the play La Tosca by the French playwright Sardou and starring the great actress Sarah Bernhardt. But Puccini would spend the next decade occupied with other projects, such as the opera that became his first real success, Manon Lescaut and embroiled in a public feud with fellow composer Ruggero Leoncavallo (I Pagliacci) over the rights to the story that became his masterpiece, La bohème in 1896. With those projects finally behind him and with some in the Italian music scene already calling him the rightful heir of Italian music to Giuseppe Verdi, Puccini struggled with several ideas for his next operatic setting. The story of a She-Wolf, settings of American plays and tales from the Far East seemed to occupy his thoughts. Even the play Liliom by the Hungarian writer Ferenc caught his eye – interestingly enough, this play later became the basis of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Carousel.” But eventually Puccini decided that La Tosca, a play of pure melodrama and suspense, was as operatic as it came and would be the perfect basis for his next composition. After essentially stealing the rights to set the play to music from a rival Italian composer, Puccini put in place his favorite librettist team, Illica and Giacosa and work began in earnest. Puccini admired the work that these men did with the text in readying it for a musical setting, even going so far as to admit that their product was better than the original. Puccini’s score combines moments of terse and violent exchanges with his characteristic facility for writing memorable melodies and the resulting opera is a kind of one-two theatrical and emotional punch that is a hallmark of the verismo era in opera. In many ways, Tosca is the culmination and pinnacle of the verismo period. One of the few operas to center on an actual singer, the heroine Floria Tosca is a celebrated diva in love with the painter, Mario Cavaradossi. Set in and around Rome on June 14, 1800, the plot revolves around the battle of Marengo fought and won on that single day. Rome is occupied by Napoleonic forces and local revolutionaries and freedom fighters, including Cavaradossi himself, find themselves up against the chief of police, Baron Scarpia. One of opera’s most monstrous villains, Scarpia has set his sights on possessing Tosca and will stop at nothing to get her. This antagonistic relationship between Tosca and Scarpia is the basis for the drama of the story and is primarily contained in the second act. Created as a verbal and vocal duel between heroine and villain, the power struggle is musically characterized by Scarpia’s longer and menacing phrasing and Tosca’s rapid-fire and terse retorts to his malevolent advances. A brief respite comes in the short but beautiful aria “Vissi d’arte” but the tension escalates again and the climax comes with the sudden and grotesque murder that ends the act. Tosca has been an important artistic vehicle for some of the last century’s greatest performers including Enrico Caruso, Tito Gobbi, Franco Corelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Claudia Muzio, Birgit Nilsson, Maria Callas and Leontyne Price. The title role is one of the most coveted and difficult roles in the soprano repertory requiring a spinto soprano voice capable of a variety of vocal extremes coupled with musical and dramatic histrionics. Des Moines Metro Opera’s 2009 production will feature the Company debut of soprano Carter Scott. Ms. Scott has been garnering excellent notices for her portrayal of this role as well as the title role in Turandot across the United States. Our production will also feature the return of two other singers, Drew Slatton (Cavaradossi) who was last seen in the title role in The Tales of Hoffmann in 2005 and Andrew Costello, best remembered for his performances of John the Baptist in Salome in 2002.
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Tosca Recordings There are many outstanding videos and recordings of Tosca available. A simple search online or in your local retailer will yield an overwhelming number of options! There are several recordings available on CD that stand out: - A two-disc set from EMI Classics featuring the great Maria Callas in her signature role, with Alvaro Cordova, Angelo Mercuriali, Dario Caselli, Franco Calabrese and the La Scala Theater Orchestra conducted by Victor de Sabata. Many consider this the quintessential recording of Tosca.
- An RCA recording stars Leontyne Price, Sherrill Milnes and Plácido Domingo with the New Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta.
- Decca's two-disc set features Birgit Nilsson, Franco Corelli, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the Roma Orchestra and chorus conducted by Lorin Maazel.
The DVD productions that rise to the top include: - An EMI Classics video includes the second act of Tosca starring Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi, directed by Franco Zefferelli in a Covent Garden production that offers a "textbook demonstration of how Act II of Tosca should be performed."
- Deutsche Grammophon's video, directed by Gianfranco De Bosio, features Raina Kabaivanska, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes and the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Bruno Bartoletti. This video is remarkable because it was filmed on location in Rome at the exact locations specified in the opera.
- Kultur Video offers a version featuring several of today's most famous singers including Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, directed by Denoit Jacquot.
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Getting To Know You: Carter Scott
by McB McManus Soprano Carter Scott will make her DMMO debut in the title role in Tosca. She has previously sung with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dortmund (Germany) Opera, Fort Worth Opera, San Diego Opera, Syracuse Opera, and and many other operas and symphonies in the US and abroad. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was born in North Carolina, but grew up in Florida. I went to North Carolina School of the Arts and University of California, Irvine. My whole music education was as a mezzo-soprano as were all my music festivals, apprenticeships, fellowships and awards. I find it funny that I am making my way as a soprano after having spent all my education as a mezzo. The transition was easy and I have never looked back ... except Amneris's costumes look very inviting!!!!! How did you decide to be an opera singer? What do you love about opera?
When I went to North Carolina School of the Arts, it was the first time I was cast in an opera ... I was hooked!!!! I joked that it was something where I could wear false eyelashes and get paid ... but, really, opera for me is a wonderful combination of many things I love: theater, music, acting, costumes and movement! Oh , AND the false eyelashes! What is your favorite role? What would your dream role be?
It is hard to narrow my favorite role to just one .... I would say Floria [Tosca] is up there .... along with Salome and Abigaille [Nabucco]. My dream role would be Brunnhilde ... I love playing strong women ... How do you prepare each role? How do you get into each character?
I was lucky to have been able to travel to Rome while I was singing in Germany. I visited the three sites in Puccini's Tosca. I was able to see how far she would have had to jump ... not too far ... I think I could have made it ... but I guess that's not the point. It was so nice to see the real places. And Rome, in itself, is a character in this opera. Every role has different types of challenges in preparation. Sometimes the preparation centers on vocal challenges, sometimes character challenges and sometimes physical or endurance challenges.
There is studying of the original play, book or historical character. There is getting the piece "in your voice " and becoming familiar with the text of a foreign language with the help of coaches and teachers and hours of practicing. And there are hours at the gym to be ready for it all. How do you get ready for each performance? Do you have a ritual before going onstage?
I get a good night's sleep, eat an early meal and look over my music. I love to sit in the makeup chair ... it relaxes me. I try to vocalize in little bits and pieces throughout the day. I have a couple (a lot) of superstitions: I like to be backstage for the downbeat and I always cross myself before I venture out onstage. If there were one thing you could tell audience members, what would you want them to know?
In these hard times , let us not forget to continue to contribute to the Arts. What is on your iPod right now (in addition to opera)?
Hip Hop, R & B, 70's disco, some blues and episodes of the TV show "Lost."
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