Without the choruses, Brook’s Carmen depends on the strong vocals by Sandra Piques Eddy’s Carmen and the discovery of Noah Stewart, the mellow tenor who sings Don Jose. Together with Krenare Gashi’s Micaela and Michael Todd Simpson’s Escamillo, the cast reaches new heights of vocal acumen.
Read MoreMozart’s last opera from 1791, La Cemenza Di Tito, is a high drama of great immediacy featuring the soaring Mozart score under the deft direction of Jane Glover. This story is set in ancient Rome (79 A.D.) where Vitella (Amanda Majeski) wants Emperor Tito assassinated because he doesn’t lover her as he has chosen Berenice. She wants Sesto (played by a female Renata Pokupic) to kill Tito but asks him to delay the murder because Sesto is told by his friend Annio (also played by a female Paula Murrihy) that Berenice will not be the emperor’s consort after all. The two men renew their friendship as the populace hails Tito as a near god.
Read MoreMozart’s 1782 comic opera, The Abduction from the Seraglio, highlights his genius with his fresh spirited score that contains local color from Turkish music containing cymbals, bass drums and the like.From beautiful arias to up-tempo marches and stirring anthems, Mozart’s opera moves from comic delight to deep emotions.
This romantic adventure deals with Konstanze (Erin Wall) a beautiful and spirited Spanish noble woman captured by Turkish pirates. Together with her feisty maid, Blonde (a last minute triumph debut by Angela Mannino), they end up in the harem of Pasha Selim (David Steiger) overseen by Osmin (Andrea Silvestrelli). Of course, the ladies’ trueloves—Belmonte (Matthew Polenzani) and Pedrillo (Steve Davislim) launch a plan to rescue their loves.