Inspired by Le Philtre, premiered at the Paris Opera in 1831, The Elixir of Love uncorks a romantic drama in the Italian countryside. The contemporary libretto is written by Felice Romani and stars a cheap bottle of red wine as the agent to activate affection. Nemorino, roused by the wine and blinded by love, boldly […]
Inspired by Le Philtre, premiered at the Paris Opera in 1831, The Elixir of Love uncorks a romantic drama in the Italian countryside. The contemporary libretto is written by Felice Romani and stars a cheap bottle of red wine as the agent to activate affection. Nemorino, roused by the wine and blinded by love, boldly […]
With an ending more than five years in the making, The Electronic Lover audio opera debuts its ultimate episode in front of a live audience this week. You can be one of the (lonely?) hearts in the crowd as this tragicomedy set in 1980s chat rooms hits “send” on its final installment. Scored for six […]
Tale spin: Miriam Gordon-Stewart and Victory Hall Opera take on Hadyn’s 1784 opera Armida with a fresh perspective. The original is a love story of a crusader and enchantress, and Armida’s mission is to seduce, while the soldier’s is to resist. Gordon-Stewart’s version tells the story of an opera troupe “through the lens of a […]
The word “opera” sometimes comes with some preconceived notions attached. It might bring to mind complex stories fraught with drama and murder, created by long-dead composers. Unless you’re intimately familiar with the art form, it may also seem less than relevant to modern society, a type of entertainment that belongs to previous generations. Such an […]
Since its sold-out premiere in 1851, Rigoletto has been one of the most popular operas of all time. Verdi’s interwoven tragedy follows father and daughter through scandal and curse to a bitter ending. While the Charlottesville Opera sticks to a traditional production, the opera’s themes remain so current it has been reimagined by other companies […]
Thursday 3/23 & Friday 3/24 George Eliot’s novel arrives on stage as Middlemarch in Spring, a chamber opera that premiered in 2015. The musical treatment (part of the Virginia Festival of the Book) offers humor, passion and political upheaval, while serving to commemorate Ash Lawn Opera’s 40th anniversary as it relaunches as Charlottesville Opera. “We’re […]
At Juilliard, up-and-coming opera singers learn the art of method acting: channeling their personal experience into the emotions they express on stage. But for mezzo-soprano Brenda Patterson, the acting never stopped. “As a gay person, that’s sort of what you feel like you are doing a lot of the time in real life. You are […]
The first thing to know about Jay Hunter Morris, one of the world’s leading opera singers, is that he hails from Paris—not the City of Light, but the small town in Eastern Texas. His roots have been an integral part of his musical development from his upbringing in gospel to his current status as a […]