Fall Opera Class

The Boston Lyric Opera and the New York Metropolitan Opera contribute to this Fall’s spectacular French and Italian opera season. Our class will launch the season with Rossini’s final opera William Tell. Love, freedom and tyranny all come together in this rarely performed opera. The vocal, scenic and orchestral demands of this opera still challenge any opera company. Next we look at Mozart’s opera about sexual fidelity, Così fan tutte. Using lyrical beauty, dramatic intensity and ensemble interaction, Mozart probes the inner strength of two couples’ love. Though frowned upon in the nineteenth century as immoral and frivolous this opera has become more relevant today. We continue with Verdi’s Macbeth, the first of his three Shakespearian operas. The intense and dramatic vocalism for Lady Macbeth was unknown for the time. Using the famous “sleepwalking scene” we will compare different singers’ success in this role. Bizet’s Carmen follows next. Sadly, Bizet died before this opera became world famous. Let’s revel in its famous musical numbers i.e. Carmen’s Habanera, Escamillo’s Toreador Song, Don José’s Flower aria and the Toreador March. We end with Saint Saëns’ biblical opera Samson et Dalila (Samson and Dalilah). The composer uses melody and dance to depict the contrast between the austere Hebrews and the pleasure loving Philistines. The sensuous and seductive Dalilah successively seduces Samson as she sings the famous aria “Mon coeurs’ouvre à ta voix” (My Heart at Your Sweet Voice). Join us as we prepare for an exciting operatic bonanza this Fall. We will use audio and video in this five session zoom class.