Opera Season 2012-2013
Tosca - Sunday, October 21 at 2.00 pm.
It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder, suicide and betrayal, yet also includes some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias, full of emotion, and has inspired memorable performances from many of opera's leading singers.
Aida - Sunday, November 18 at 2.00 pm.
First performed in Cairo, Egypt in 1871. It is a heart-rending tragic ancient-Egypt love triangle and it is Verdi’s most popular opera. Pure human passions and spectacle have made it, with over 1100 performances, one of the most popular operas in New York’s Metropolitan Opera history. Aida, an Ethiopian princess, is captured and brought into slavery in Egypt. A military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to the Pharaoh. To complicate the story further, Radamès is loved by the Pharaoh's daughter Amneris, although he does not return her feelings.
Die Fledermaus – Sunday, January 13 at 2.00 pm.
A romantic comedy by Johann Strauss. Most of the humour comes from drunkenness, mistaken identity and that old opera standby, men’s and women’s fickleness. This very popular opera is really an operetta because it contains scenes of dialogue. Strauss junior is also known as the Waltz King and you can feel his bubbly waltzy lilting spirit in every moment of this gem of musical theatre.
La Traviata – Sunday, February 10 at 2.00 pm.
This opera was shown several season’s ago in a version from the Royal Opera House. This production is a very different look staged by another of the world’s great opera companies. La Traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, based on La dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La Traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman Who Goes Astray.
The Mikado – Sunday, March 24 at 2.00 pm.
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic operetta in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on March 14, 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances. Before the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera. The Mikado remains the most popular of Savoy Operas, and is one of the most frequently played musical theatre pieces in history.
Broadway Surprise (Mystery Item) – Monday, April 22 at 7.30 pm.
Part of the series adventure. A show that is a very fine example of the best that New York or London can offer in the popular musical field. Not to be revealed until the night of.
Film Program for 2012 and 2013
