Opera Sunday w/ Friends Of Opera In Canterbury

OPERA SUNDAY will be a perfect way for opera lovers to spend a Sunday afternoon, with favourite arias from much-loved works by Puccini, a 35 minute costumed excerpt from La Boheme, and some items from lesser known operas.

It will also be a great way to introduce newcomers to opera, with arias, duets, ensemble and chorus works to give an excellent range of opera performances with ten soloists and five chorus members.

The Sunday afternoon concert is one of five presented by Friends of Opera this year, following Rossini & Roses in January, and Puccini ~ the musical Lamborghini in Ashburton. There will be Mainly Mozart on 9 September at The Great Hall and Vive L'Opera on 15 September, at The Gaiety, Akaroa as part of the French Festival.

The concerts are produced by Julian Anderson, with musical director Louise Clark, the chorus director for Southern Opera.

Friends coordinator Barbara Cottrell said the concerts were aimed at giving opera lovers the chance to hear local singers performing in short concerts. They were also ideal to introduce a new audience to opera.

"Our experience this year has been that people are really enthusiastic about the short concerts. Of course they don't replace grand opera onstage, but they have an enthusiastic audience, and they are less formal, and at a ticket price that makes them affordable for most people. People also appreciate hearing our local singers, the new younger singers and there's a lot of support for these talented people who enjoy the chance to perform onstage."

"We will have a lovely range of items and I am sure two of the highlights will be the 35 minute excerpt from La Boheme, one of Puccini's most popular works, and the wonderful "Nessum Dorma" from Act Three in Turandot, the famous "no one sleeps" aria which sees the icy Turandot keeping Peking awake to search for the name of her mystery suitor!" Barbara Cottrell said.

"There will also be items from Tosca, Manon and Madame Butterfly, and many of these will be well known and recognized as soon as the music starts. Others are less often performed and may not be as well known, such as Li Villi and Il Tabarro (The Cloak), both tragic operas by Puccini, so there plenty of scope for passionate arias expressing the deepest and most profound of emotions."

The tickets are $30, and available from phone 960 4090 or friendsofopera@pradise.net.nz. Door sales from 1.15 pm, Sunday 29 July.

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Notes for Opera Sunday

OPERA SUNDAY

2.00 - 4.00 pm, Sunday 29 July 2007 The Great Hall, The Arts Centre

Tickets $30.00 Door sales from 1.15 pm (Limited to 260)

Available phone 960 4090

THE PROGRAMME is largely from works by Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924) the Italian composer whose works are amongst the most performed in the world, because of their beautiful music, superb roles (especially for female singers) and their appeal to audiences. There will be several arias, opera's most powerful form of emotional expression, a monologue of emotion and mood.

From Madame Butterfly
Coro a bocco chiusa (Humming Chorus), Un bel vedremo
Set in a Japanese fishing village, the story of a woman awaiting the return of her American naval officer husband/lover, and father of her son - but when Pinkerton finally comes it is with his American wife and a weak heart. Butterfly chooses to die with honour.

From La Boheme
Set in Paris abut 1830
In the Latin Quarter, starving young people love, drink, boast, have jealousies, love at first sight, sickness and death all in four acts. The main roles are the poet Rodolfo, painter Marcello, musician Schaunard, philosopher Colline, seamstress Mimi, and Musette.

There will be a 35 minute arrangement from La Boheme, in costume - although the cast are poor students and dressed in dull rags!

From Tosca
Recondita armonia / Visi d'arte / E luce vandi stele
Set in Rome, 17 June 1800 and dawn the next day, in the sanctuary of a church where a painting is being completed, politics is turning the personal worlds of some people upside down, torture and manipulation, the rule of jealousy over a passionate woman, deception, betrayal and self sacrifice.

Main roles are Floria Tosca, painter Mario Cavaradossi and Police Chief Baron Scarpia.,

From Turandot
Nessum Dorma (no one sleeps)
Set in imperial Peking, the icy princess kills her suitors if they cannot answer three enigmatic questions, until a mystery prince arrives.

From Manon Lescaut
In quelle trine morbide
Set in France and North America, second half 18Century, a lyric drama in four acts about Manon, destined for the convent before fate intervenes, along with palace luxury, gaming tables, prison, deportation to Louisiana, and a penal colony. Not a happy ending! Major roles are Manon, her brother Lescaut, student Chevalier Renato des Grieux, tac inspector Geronte de Ravoir, and student Edmondo.

We will also be presenting items from his short operas

* Li Villi
* Il Tabarro (The Cloak)
* Souer Angelica

And from Gianni Schicchi

* O mio babbino Caro

Puccini was passionate about music, women and cars - he was one of the very first Italians to own a motor car, and was involved in perhaps the first serious car accident in Italy.

The Singers

The performers include

Eleanor Sim
Leisa Falconer
Elizabeth Emeleus
Maree Hawten-Morrow
Rebecca Keegan
Donna Alley
Raemon Greenwood
Ingrid Formison-Nurse
Erin Callanan
Rosalie Allen
Peter Hind
Julian Anderson
Wayne Carter
Albert Bennett
Russell Thomas

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa on Puccini

"Giacomo Puccini's music is generally easier to handle for a performer. Maybe he did not trust his singers, therefore the composer made it very simple for them to remember the melody. He always has the orchestra play the tune along with the voice. As a result, you never really have to find your notes. They are all there for you. Puccini's operas save themselves at every turn. There is no way they could be sung badly, not even TOSCA. The music is stunning, but it takes over. It is out of your control. It just rolls on. If you were to miss a phrase or two when you came on stage, the opera would survive and continue. The performance would not fall to pieces. Perhaps this reflects something in Puccini himself, an unwillingness to take risks. I sometimes think, that originally some of his singers did not read music. If that was the case how were they going to follow the melodic lines unless he provided an orchestral accompaniment that led the way so that they would not falter?

With Puccini you are given what is tantamount to a whole edifice, a whole village, with the washing on the line, the fires all lit, everything in working order. Puccini always paints with realistic and compassionate brush strokes the entire scenario. The scene is set, and all you have to so is look at it.

However, you cannot touch the images; you are not allowed to touch it, because it is complete in itself. It is, I admit, enormously appealing to contemplate. The orchestration, the wonderful crescendos, are the work of someone who knew exactly what he was doing. Puccini above all knew how to create a wonderful fluent phrasing. You do not get that with many other composers." (From Opera for Lovers)

Friends of Opera in Canterbury

There has been a Friends organisation involved with opera since shortly after the establishment of Canterbury Opera 22 years ago.

When Canterbury Opera late last year folded Barbara Cottrell and Christine Negus kept activities going and have since re-established a Friends group which is in the process of becoming aligned to Southern Opera.

They started with Rossini & Roses, and found a ready audience for small opera events, at an affordable price, and now have a programme of five short concerts for 2007 and more planned for 2008.

Their desire is to have local singers given performance opportunities, to bring lovely opera items to both loyal and new audiences, and to provide quality opera at affordable prices.

This has been possible because Julian Anderson took the key role of keeping singers in touch with opportunities and producing the concerts, with musical director/accompanist Louise Clark and MC Peter Hind.

Producer Julian Anderson

Christchurch - born, brought up on a North Canterbury farm, and educated at Waihi School and Christ's College, Julian has been involved with opera since 1991 after beginning training with renowned Christchurch Voice Tutor Mary Adams-Taylor (who trained Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Chris Doig), and Julian joined the Canterbury Opera Chorus for its Merry Widow season. After a few years of ongoing work with Canterbury Opera, and a small Chamber Opera group called "Opera Espresso" he enrolled at the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Arts (NASDA) in 2000.

Since Graduating in 2002 he has worked in Christchurch with Canterbury Opera, The Young Shakespeare Company, Operate Trust and others as well as performing and costume design /co-ordination for the last two years with the Red Rose Dinner Theatre Company.

Since December 2006 and the collapse of Canterbury Opera Julian has been the producer of a number of small opera events to showcase the talent of local singers and to keep opera in front of the Christchurch public.

Julian is also a qualified landscape designer.

ENDS

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