San Diego Opera Podcast: Recent Episodes
Nicolas Reveles
Give us 15 minutes a week, we'll give you the operatic world! Learn all about the music and stories behind this great art form, and explore the San Diego Opera 2008 Season: Tannhauser, Maria Stuarda, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, Aida and The Pearl Fishers.
Blythe Gaissert was last with us in 2017 in our Detour production of Laura Kaminsky's As One, and returns now as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel. In this interview with Nic Reveles, she tells us about the physicality necessary to play this very active role, as well as the vocal resources necessary to carry over Humperdinck's large, Wagnerian style orchestra! Enjoy this fun interview with this delightful artist!
The delightful Sara Gartland is back with us as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, after having performed the role of Musetta for us in La boheme (2015). She's really thought a lot about Gretel and what makes her tick in this operatic version of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale. Listen in as our Nic Reveles interviews her about this charming production and the challenges of the score by composer Englebert Humperdinck!
We've done Humperdinck's wonderful opera Hansel and Gretel a number of times in our history of productions here at San Diego Opera, but we've never had a tenor play the role of the Witch! We're welcoming back tenor Joel Sorensen, who's been with the company a number of times since 1999 (Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men). On top of singing the role, something of a challenge simply from the standpoint of musicality and vocalism, Joel has to manipulate a life-sized puppet as a costume, something that makes this a very special opportunity for him as a singing actor. Listen in as Nic Reveles interviews him about this challenging role!
It’s always great to welcome back friends who’ve sung with us before, and that’s certainly true of tenor Carl Tanner. Last with us as Calaf in Puccini’s Turandot, he now sings the role of Radames in Verdi’s Aida, a role with few parallels in the ‘big’ tenor repertoire! He reflects on his first-ever Radames which he sung with Mobile Opera in Alabama, a production story that includes an elephant, a horse and a python…not an especially good combination! Enjoy!
Check out our latest SDO Podcast as Nic Reveles interviews our Amneris in Verdi’s Aida, Russian mezzo-soprano Olesya Petrova. Born in St. Petersburg, her love for her native city is palpable as she talks about the artistic atmosphere that surrounded her during her vocal studies. She has some wonderfully insightful things to say about the character of Amneris, one of the most challenging roles in the Verdi repertoire for mezzo. Enjoy!
The wonderful young stage director Kyle Lang brought us terrific productions of The Pirates of Penzance and As One in the last couple of seasons. He's back for Carmen, and that's truly something to be excited about! Listen in as he tells us all about his approach to this classic opera and how each of the principal characters fit in the tragic story. Enjoy!
Tenor Robert Watson, our Don Jose in Carmen opening this week, has a lot to say about this character. Jose has one of the most interesting character arcs in all opera, moving from lyrical naif to obsessive lover with all of the musical changes that arc demands. The young singer talks about his beginnings as well, hailing from Kansas City (like colleague co-star Scott Conner, our Escamillo) and coming up through the ranks in the German fest system. Enjoy!
Soprano Sarah Tucker sings the role of Micaela in our production of Bizet's Carmen, a role that fits her very well. Micaela is, of course, Don Jose's childhood friend who has come to Seville to bring memories of home and the love of his mother who awaits him in their village. The character as written is rather straightforward, but Sarah talks about how she will come across as somewhat more complex in this production, and how that complexity comes from Bizet's wonderful score. Enjoy.
Bass Scott Conner sings the role of Escamillo in our production of Carmen by Georges Bizet. Listening to this voice...even his speaking voice...you'll want to hear him let loose in the Civic Theatre with the wonderful Toreador Song, an entrance aria like no other! Scott hails from Kansas City and in this interview he talks about his background, his studies and the roles that he's portraying all over the world. On top of it, he's a delightful guy! Enjoy.
Mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson obviously loves the opera Carmen, and has some definite viewpoints when it comes to the main character she portrays. It all boils down to being fully present, completely focused when playing this volatile character, she says. In this delightful interview she digs a little deeper for us and gives the audience a preview of what her Carmen will be! Enjoy.
Conductor Adam Turner recently became the Artistic Director and Conductor for Virginia Opera, making him one of the youngest AD's in the American opera world. This is his third time at the helm for Jake Heggie's Three Decembers, and in this interview he reflects on the piece, on chamber opera generally, and on his career. Enjoy this fifth and final interview of the principals in this production!
Director Karen Tiller has directed Three Decembers three times now, and obviously loves this opera by Jake Heggie. In this interview she talks about her love for the piece as well as for her deep appreciation for its connection between drama, text and music. At the heart of the matter, she says, the message of this opera is that "life is messy", a direct quote from the libretto. Spend a few minutes with this artist and you'll see why we're so excited to present this opera, opening March 8th!
Soprano Kristin Clayton has had quite an eclectic career so far...singing roles like Mimi and Violetta, plus singing new roles and including working with a circus! She originated the role of Beatrice in Heggie's Three Decembers, and has an affinity for this wonderful character who is searching for memories of her father, being protective of her brother Charlie and dealing with the sometimes present, sometimes absent mother, Maddy. Join us for this fun conversation with a San Diego Opera debut artist!
Baritone Steven LaBrie sings the role of Charlie in Jake Heggie's opera Three Decembers. Charlie is the gay son of Madeline Mitchell (mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade) and brother of Bea (soprano Kristin Clayton) in this intimate family drama. Steven hails from Dallas and has a charming story about his attraction to opera and, eventually, to singing as a career, in this lively interview in which he talks about his career and this wonderful chamber opera. Enjoy!
We already know what a delightful person and great artist Frederica von Stade is. We're welcoming her back to San Diego Opera in the role of Madeline Mitchell, the central character in Jake Heggie's Three Decembers. In this interview she talks about the opera and her role in it, with an additional few words about opera composer Dominick Argento who passed away just a few days before this interview (aged 91) and composed some lovely music for this singer. A wonderful few minutes with a charming lady! Enjoy!
Maestro Steven White is making his debut with San Diego Opera in this production of Rigoletto. (He also happens to be married to soprano Elizabeth Futral who has been with us on several occasions in the past, most notably as Violetta in our 2010 La traviata.) Steven is in love with this Verdi masterwork and has a lot of wonderful things to say about its musical structure in scintillating conversation with Nic Reveles. In fact, they both seem to enjoy "geeking out" over Verdi! Have fun with this dive into the deep end of one of Verdi's greatest works.
This is Canadian stage director Michael Cavanagh's debut with San Diego Opera and he's made quite an impression on the cast and crew working on Rigoletto with his positivity, collegiality and generous support of everyone involved in this important project! Listen in to this conversation with Nic Reveles as he gives us his point of view on Verdi's masterpiece and an inside look at what opera stage directors do. Enjoy!
Get ready for a delightful conversation with tenor, Scott Quinn, singing the role of the Duke of Mantua in San Diego Opera's production of Verdi's Rigoletto. Scott is singing the role of a narcissistic, entitled nobleman who uses women for his own pleasure and has utterly no empathy for them. Yet, Verdi gives this character some of the most beautiful and voluptuous music in the opera! Scott discusses that, as well as his past journey into the opera world and a comment or two about how tenors successfully achieve those high notes! Enjoy!
Soprano Alisa Jordheim is a wonderful young singer making her role debut as well as her company debut with us as Gilda in Rigoletto. In this conversation with Dr. Nic she talks about being a grad student and finding herself in a production of the same opera with Stephen Powell (singing Rigoletto in our production), as well as the challenges of the role. In a fascinating detour, she talks about the importance of breath and where a good singer's breath must emanate from. Listen in and enjoy!
Baritone Stephen Powell is one of our favorite singers here at San Diego Opera, having sung ten productions with us over the years. He's bringing us his very special take on one of the strangest yet most powerful characters in all opera, and a favorite of the composer himself: Rigoletto. It's a role that demands absolutely everything: technique, musicality, a strong voice and physicality. In this conversation with Nic Reveles the singer shares his ideas about this role as well as some of the other Verdi roles that he has sung (and would like to sing!) Enjoy!
Director Alan Hicks is new to San Diego Opera, holding a joint position as Assistant Stage Director for the company and as head of the opera program at San Diego State University. In this interview he shares his preparation for the WWI opera All Is Calm, and brings his insight to this intimate and stunning musical theatre experience. Enjoy!
Juan Carlos Acosta has a long-standing relationship with San Diego Opera, as a student at our Student Dress Rehearsals, as a subscriber, as a member of the San Diego Opera Chorus and now as conductor of our upcoming production: All Is Calm. In this interview he talks about the challenges of keeping a 16-member all-male chorus on track (and on pitch!) without the presence of an orchestra or some kind of instrumental accompaniment. This unique opera has got Juan Carlos and our Dr. Nic very excited about upcoming opening on December 7. Enjoy!
In this fascinating interview, Maestro John Nelson shares his thoughts about Mozart, the brilliant young cast of The Marriage of Figaro, Stephen Lawless' flawless production (which, according to Nelson is the most musically effective production of an opera that he's ever seen), and spirituality as communicated in the famous 'perdono' scene at the end. (No spoilers here!) Enjoy!
Mezzo-soprano Emily Fons is back with us in the trouser role of Cherubino for The Marriage of Figaro. She was last with us as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni, and her contribution to that show was simply fantastic! In this interview with Dr. Nic she talks about the nature of trouser roles (for those of us who don't know what that is or who need a 'brush up'!), about the character of Cherubino and about her experience with playing this fun part. This is an absolutely delightful interview, so tune in and enjoy!
Sopranos Sarah Shafer and Caitlin Lynch sing the roles of Susanna and the Countess Almaviva, respectively, in our production of The Marriage of Figaro. Ms. Lynch catches up on Rosina a few years into her role as the wife of Count Almaviva and Ms. Shafer lets us in a bit on the back story of Susanna, the Count's current target for seduction. The plot thickens in this conversation with two wonderful debut artists in this Mozart classic. Enjoy!
Bass-baritone Evan Hughes and baritone John Moore play Figaro and Count Almaviva, respectively, in our upcoming production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. In this wonderful conversation with Nic Reveles they talk about their careers, their roles and the contributions of the author of the plays that this opera (and Rossini's The Barber of Seville) are based on: Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. These singers also find a lot in this opera for us to think about in terms of current affairs. Enjoy!
Bizet's opera Carmen is right up there with La boheme and Aida in terms of popularity, and so it returns to SDO with a new production for us, and a brilliant new cast of young singers. In this interview with General Director David Bennett, he talks about the return of opera's favorite femme fatale!
Jake Heggie's connection with Frederica Von Stade is well known, and this was the first complete operatic role that he created for her. We are honored that Ms. Von Stade will be with us again, along with this challenging work about family...the relationships we have as opposed to the ones we wish we had. Enjoy this conversation with General Director David Bennett!
One of Verdi's greatest creations, Rigoletto graces our stage again after a ten-year absence. The opera was a real experiment for the composer in that it breaks with so many operatic traditions, like giving the main character an aria or two...what Rigoletto gets are monologues, making him a kind of musical Shakespearean character. Enjoy what Mr. Bennett has to say about the singers and the production of this dynamic piece of musical theatre!
All Is Calm, a production originally conceived by Theatre Latte Da in Minneapolis, is a choral opera about a true story: the Christmas Eve cease fire in 1914, when the Allies and German troops in the trenches spent a few hours at peace, singing their favorite carols, sharing stories and even playing a soccer match. In this interview General Director David Bennett talks about the origins of this production from Bodhi Tree Concerts and the involvement of the choral group Sacra Profana. Enjoy!
In this conversation with David Bennett, General Director of San Diego Opera, you'll hear all about the singers, the director, the conductor and this wonderful new production of Mozart's masterpiece. Figaro is both a drama and a comedy with some of the most beautiful and engaging music ever written for the stage. Enjoy!
Andrea Catan, the widow of composer Daniel Catan, is a thoughtful and passionate advocate for her late husband's works, especially Florencia en el Amazonas. In this conversation with Dr. Nic, she talks about her husband's legacy, the music, its effect on the audience and her continuing joy in promoting the work of this master composer. We're honored that she took the time to spend with our audience, to give us an idea of what to expect when we see this wonderful piece. Enjoy!
Baritones Hector Vasquez and Luis Alejandro Orozco have both been involved in previous productions of Florencia en el Amazonas. Vasquez created the role of Alvaro at the world premiere at Houston Grand Opera and has since taken on the role of The Captain. Orozco has covered Riolobo (at Washington National Opera) and sung the role at Arizona Opera. These two artists have a lot to say about the opera, its music and its challenges, but overall are just great people to listen to! Enjoy their conversation with Dr. Nic!
Soprano Elaine Alvarez is singing the title role in Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas. In this conversation with Dr. Nic she talks about her exciting operatic debut at Chicago Lyric Opera as Mimi in La boheme, under the direction of renowned diva Renata Scotto, and her approach to the lyrical, challenging music of Daniel Catan. We can't wait to hear and see her at the opening of this wonderful opera on Saturday, March 17th!!
Stage director Candace Evans is making her San Diego Opera debut with Florencia en el Amazonas. In her mind, the characters in this opera are all looking for something that a trip into the river...dark, mysterious, filled with colorful but maybe dangerous creatures...challenges them to find. Every character in the opera comes away from the journey somehow changed, transformed. In a revealing interview with Dr. Nic she shares her excitement for this wonderful piece! Enjoy.
If you want to know more about Daniel Catan's music for Florencia en el Amazonas, GO NO FURTHER! In this brief conversation with the conductor Joseph Mechavich, who will lead the musical forces in this San Diego Opera production, we get a wonderful description of the music as well as the music's role in communicating the 'magical realism' of the story. Enjoy!
While Florencia en el Amazonas is about a primary couple...the opera singer Florencia and her long-lost lover Cristobal...the secondary romantic couple Arcadio and Rosalba are just as fascinating! Sung here by soprano Maria Fernanda Castillo and tenor Paul Montenegro, this young couple spends the opera flirting, philosophizing and then finally connecting romantically as they grow together in love. Listen to these wonderful young singers talk about the opera, their roles, and the wonderful composer Daniel Catan. Enjoy!
Maestro Valerio Galli makes his San Diego Opera debut conducting Puccini's Turandot. The opera is close to Galli's heart because he hails from Viareggio, the neighboring town to the composer's Torre del Lago, and also an area where Puccini built a beautiful villa. In fact, in departing, Galli mentioned that his grandfather had at one point met the composer who was looking for advice on fixing his motorboat (one of Puccini's prized possessions!) Listen in on this conversation with Dr. Nic and enjoy!
Keturah Stickann has been with San Diego Opera for a good amount of time, as a dancer, choreographer, assistant director and now as the stage director of our latest production of Turandot. In this conversation with Dr. Nic, she explores production and costume elements of the show and talks about the ideas that helped her make a deep connection with this story. Again we're acquainted with the Persian roots of the story and the influence of the poet and mystic Rumi who Ms. Stickann found an important influence on her approach to the work. Enjoy!
Tenor Carl Tanner has been singing all the big, hefty Italian tenor roles: Otello, Manrico, Radames, Calaf. Otello has become a go-to role for him, an opera that he's appeared in many times. In this conversation with Dr. Nic he talks about how he got there, the challenges of these roles, how to deal with the ubiquitous sound of Pavarotti singing "Nessun dorma", and a fascinating side-career in jewelry design! Enjoy.
Angel Blue is one of opera's up-and-coming stars and is making her role (and house) debut as Liu in our production of Turandot. As a Southern Californian and University of Redlands graduate, she's practically a 'local' and, as she expresses in this interview, is delighted to be singing at home! She recently made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Mimi and is looking forward to upcoming appearances as Marguerite in Faust and Violetta in La traviata. Enjoy this conversation!
In a free-wheeling conversation with Dr. Nic, soprano Lise Lindstrom discusses Wagner, performance prep, acting challenges, Wozzeck and Persian classical music! Yep, it was one of those conversations: delightful, insightful, fun, and reflective of the committed professional life of one of today's most successful singers, who also happens to be one of San Diego Opera's favorite people! Enjoy!
Baritone Paul La Rosa sings the payador, the minstrel or troubadour who plays many roles throughout the narrative of Maria de Buenos Aires. Normally Paul is singing the standard Italian and French repertoire, but in this conversation he makes a good case for the versatility that every opera singer needs in order to have a successful career. Enjoy!
On Tuesday, January 16, Bruce Stasyna, Chorus Master of the San Diego Opera Chorus and Music Administrator for San Diego Opera, gave a talk to donors and supporters about Astor Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires. In his presentation he talked about the role of a conductor, how he approaches rehearsals with singers and orchestra, the origins of the tango, Piazzolla's role as a composer and why the conductor is relishing the opportunity to play and conduct from the piano in this production. Punctuated by appearances of his dog 'Chewy', some backstage crew members and dancers warming up for an ensuing rehearsal, you'll get a first-hand peek at the musical building blocks for a wonderful opera. Enjoy!
Stage director and choreographer John de los Santos has come up with some terrific ideas about staging Maria de Buenos Aires which, in some ways, can be considered an elusive piece. But he's fashioned a narrative for it that will really help us, the audience, grasp it immediately, just as we will be quickly engaged by the music. Enjoy!
Mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock is singing her role debut in our production of Maria de Buenos Aires. A veteran singer of the role of Carmen, her voice and theatrical personality are perfect for Maria. In this podcast episode she talks about her take on the character and the fascinating libretto of Horacio Ferrer. Enjoy!
Who knew tango...the dance and the music...was so complicated?? The origins of the tango are disputed, confused and floating somewhere in the mists of time. And different styles of tango are so different that it is difficult to come up with a nice, clean definition of the art form. Yet, when we hear a tango we know what it is! Amazing. Check out this latest podcast on how Astor Piazzolla uses the tango in his operita, Maria de Buenos Aires. Enjoy!
If you're new to Turandot, or just want to brush up your knowledge of the music in this beautiful score, here's just the thing for you. In today's podcast Dr. Nic briefly outlines the story and touches on some of the more important musical moments, the 'stand-out' places that we enjoy every time we encounter this special opera. Enjoy!
It's taken awhile for the entrancing, intimate and alternative opera Maria de Buenos Aires to make it to San Diego Opera, but it's finally here and we're all very excited! This opera is infused with the spirit and melodic adventure of the tango, the cultural habitat of Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla. In this informative podcast, Dr. Nic gives you a bit of the story of this interesting artist with some suggestions about recordings that you might want to get in order to prepare for this wonderful work. Enjoy!
Kyle Lang has worked with the company for a few seasons now in the position of assistant director and, for The Pirates of Penzance, associate director. In this conversation with Dr. Nic he discusses his approach to the opera As One, especially the difference between preparing a standard repertoire item like Tosca or La boheme, and a relatively new opera. Enjoy!
Everyone knows that Puccini was an incredible melodist, i.e. a crafter of some of the most gorgeous melodies ever written for opera. Using "Nessun dorma", the big tune from Act III of Turandot, Dr. Nic reveals a little bit about the mystery involved in how a composer creates something so beautiful. Enjoy!
Along with co-cast member Kelly Markgraf, Blythe Gaissert was there at the origin of the opera As One and has some wonderful reflections about having worked on the score and played the role of Hannah After a number of times. As an avid performer of new music she has a lot to say about the evolution of new opera today, something that we're all very excited about!
Baritone Kelly Markgraf plays the role, "Hannah Before" in the opera As One, a story of a person's transition from male to female. The opera presents Hannah as one character, but she is portrayed by two singers...a baritone and a mezzo-soprano. In this conversation with Dr. Nic he describes the opera, the role and some of the challenges that he meets in this piece as a singing actor.
Stage director and choreographer Seán Curran has been here before...San Diego, that is! He had done the principal choreography for Opera St. Louis' Nixon in China and was the director of Salome with Lise Lindstrom a few seasons back. He is the originating director of the current production of The Pirates of Penzance and he has a delightful story to tell about its artistic evolution...from a popular children's book! Enjoy.
What fun to welcome back bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as the Pirate King, and mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee as Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance. (As Luretta points out at the end of this conversation with Dr. Nic, she made her professional debut with San Diego Opera as Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes 1984.) We catch up with this delightful husband-wife team in this wide ranging interview about life, love and opera. Enjoy!
Soprano Maureen McKay is back in San Diego after her wonderful portrayal of Nanetta in Verdi's Falstaff earlier this year. Singing the role of Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance brings her closer to her musical theatre roots. Listen in and enjoy!
If you want to have 12 minutes of fun, listen in to this conversation between baritone Patrick Carfizzi and Dr. Nic as they discuss Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance"! This is comic opera at it's finest and at its most fun. Enjoy!
Daniel Catan's opera, opening March 17th, 2018, is a tale inspired as much by magical realism as by the mysterious and winding path of the Amazon River. In this brief podcast, Dr. Nic introduces the characters and tells us about the opera's main theme: love. Florencia's love of her absent lover, Cristobal, is passionate yet unfulfilled, and it is expressed through music of unusual beauty. Enjoy!
Daniel Catan's opera Florencia en el Amazonaswill a highlight of our season, opening in March, 2018. In this brief podcast, Dr. Nic defines the role of magical realism in the opera, giving us an introduction as a well as a context for its unusual style and story.
When Puccini heard the big, beautiful voice of soprano Rosa Raisa he realized that he'd heard the perfect voice for the title role in Turandot. Unfortunately he died before the premiere of the opera, and although Raisa sang the premiere at La Scala, she was soon to be overshadowed by the young British soprano, Eva Turner. Luckily we have recordings of Turner singing excerpts from the role. Hear them in this brief survey of the beginnings of this opera's history. Enjoy!
The opera As One, coming up at San Diego Opera in November this year, is one of a number of LGBT-themed operas to have premiered since 2000. In this brief discussion, Dr. Nic surveys a few of them and talks about the impact these works have made on the opera industry. An opera version of Brokeback Mountain? Yup! Watch, learn and enjoy!
The musicians at the New York premiere of The Pirates of Penzance threatened to strike because the score was too difficult, too "operatic"! Silly, of course, but perhaps they had a point. There are many allusions and parodies of current opera styles in Sullivan's score. In this podcast, Dr. Nic gives us an idea of just how the composer went about it, and why. Enjoy!
On November 10th, San Diego Opera will open As One, an opera by composer Laura Kaminsky and librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. It's an extraordinary work that will launch this season's Detour Series. In this podcast Dr. Nic talks about the power of opera in an intimate space, giving special attention to this wonderful opera that tackles a difficult and, as of this writing, especially relevant subject: growing up, understanding and living happily as a transgender person in America.
Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance had a complicated birth that was something of a scheduling nightmare. In order to acquire copyright for the U.S. (where there was a notorious history of unauthorized performances of their works), they premiered Piratesin New York. But to acquire a British copyright they had to stage a performance there as well, at virtually the same time. And then, of course, there was the "official" premiere at the Savoy in London, the theatre of their producer Richard D'Oyly Carte. Dr. Nic will try to sort it through for you!
Gilbert & Sullivan have been missing from our production seasons up til now. No more! In this podcast Dr. Nic shares some background on this most operatic of their works, looking forward to a brilliant production that will open on October 14, 2017! Enjoy!
Conductor David Agler is making his debut with San Diego Opera with this production of La traviata.He is currently the Artistic Director of Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland and shares with us some of the achievements of that company which include the staging of rarely performed operas and the discovery of wonderful young singers. Enjoy!
Stephen Powell has been a company favorite for twenty years, having started with us in a production of Carmenas Dancaire in 1997. Back now for Germont in La traviata,he has much to say in this interview about the role, his career and the state of opera in the United States.
Corinne Winters is making her San Diego Opera debut in her signature role of Violetta in La traviata.In this interview with Dr. Nic she talks about her background, her career and this favorite role of hers.
[Please note that this podcast is audio only]
Listen in to this interview with tenor, Jesus Garcia who is making his debut with us as Alfredo in our production of La traviata. You might be familiar with him as Rodolfo in the Baz Luhrmann Broadway production of La boheme,his first professional role. In this interview he speaks about his upbringing, his career up til now and the challenges of the role of Alfredo. Enjoy!
Please note, this is an audio-only podcast.
Especially for students and teachers coming to the April 20th Student Dress Rehearsal of La traviata, this video features our Director of Community Engagement Nic Reveles introducing this well known masterpiece by Giuseppe Verdi. Enjoy!
The Tragedy of Carmen is not Carmen! Although you'll easily recognize Bizet's music, this is a version of the opera as a musical theatre piece devised by famed director Peter Brook to tell the story in a completely new way...or perhaps, depending on your point of view, the original way. Check out this video...Dr. Nic explains it all for you!
Mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti is one of this company's favorite people! Not only fun to be with and to talk to, she's a wonderful artist who lives inside her characters onstage. Enjoy this conversation with Nicolas Reveles as she talks about her role in Falstaff (Dame Quickly) and gives some advice to young singers.
This is soprano Ellie Dehn's third appearance with our company, now making her role debut as Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff. In this interview with Nicolas Reveles she spends a little time talking about her career, as well as the role and the current rehearsal process. After Mimi and Donna Anna this is a role with rather different challenges! Enjoy.
Baritone Roberto de Candia is making his West Coast debut with the role of Falstaff in our production of the Verdi opera opening on February 18th. This is one of his favorite roles and has the distinction of having coached it with Sesto Bruscantini, one of the great basso buffos of his generation. Roberto has much to say about this wonderful role and the fun he's having rehearsing the opera with this cast. Listen in!
Paris-born stage director Olivier Tambosi is directing his own production of Verdi's Falstaff, a production which originated with Chicago Lyric Opera. In this fascinating interview he gives us his understanding of the essence of this opera, which is a celebration of life and laughter (from the pen of an 80-year-old composer!) Enjoy!
This isn't your grandma's Carmen! This is a version of the Bizet opera devised by eminent director Peter Brook back in the '80s in an attempt to focus intensely on the story and the important relationships in it. More based on the Prosper Merimee novella upon which the Bizet is based, The Tragedy of Carmen brings us much closer to the characters, especially the elemental power of the main character, while still using the great tunes and musical moments that we all know and love. In this conversation with Nic Reveles, stage director Alexander Gedeon gives us a preview of his take on this fascinating piece, complete with sneak peaks at video sequences by Yuki Izumihara and renderings of the costumes that will be used in our production by costume designer Adam Alonso. Enjoy!
Making her debut with San Diego Opera as Cinderella in La cenerentola is mezzo soprano Lauren McNeese. This is her fifth production of the opera and she tells in this revealing interview how she learns something new every time she approaches the role. Enjoy!
Australian native Lindy Hume, Artistic Director of Opera Queensland, is making her San Diego Opera debut as the stage director for La cenerentola. Her delightful production of this Rossini opera has played in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and is now here. We talk about the genesis of the production and why its design is tied to mid-19th century London, a look and feel that seems to match the story perfectly. Enjoy!
It's hard to believe that in her long and distinguished careermezzo-soprano Frederica Von Stade is only just now making her debutat San Diego Opera in Great Scott.But we'remaking up for lost time by sitting down with her to talk about herrole in the opera (Winnie Flato, the founder and director of thefictional America Opera company), a couple of her outstandingrecordings, opera in the U.S. today and a special word ofencouragement for young singers. Enjoy!!
Conductor Joseph Mechavich is back this season after having conducted John Adams' Nixon in China and Jake Heggie's Moby Dick a few seasons back. This new opera, Great Scott,is challenging in its own way but Maestro Mechavich obviously enjoys it and has a lot to say about its music, especially the interplay between two styles...one for the contemporary setting backstage at an opera house, and another for the 19th century opera that is being rehearsed. Enjoy!
American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo plays the role of the stage manager Roane Heckle in Great Scott. In this interview he talks about the countertenor voice type, the role, and his own experience of stage managers in his substantial theatrical career. Enjoy!
Soprano Joyce El Khoury plays the role of Tatiana Bakst in the opera Great Scott. This delightful Canadian artist has a lot to say to young singers about preparing yourself for a career...listen up! She also has a fun, wonderful take on the character she plays in the opera, an Eastern European diva who wants to take over the opera world! Enjoy!
Our Pinkerton for this production of Madama Butterflyis Romanian tenor Teodor Ilincai. In this interview he talks about the role and, most interestingly, where his love of music and singing came from. This delightful young tenor has a budding career in Europe already, and with this production he is making his U.S. debut.
Soprano Latonia Moore, our Aida in the 2013 Season, returns to sing the role of Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly.Here she speaks about her life and career since then as well as her outlook on trends in American opera.
Mezzo-soprano J'nai Bridges plays the role of Cio Cio San's maid, Suzuki, in our production of Madama Butterfly. Her background is fascinating (from sports to opera!), her conservatory training exemplary and her voice is...luscious! Enjoy this interview.
Fresh from the Ryan Center for young artists at Chicago Lyric Opera, Kentucky native Anthony Clark Evans is a singer with a big career ahead of him. He's making his role debut as Sharpless, the American consul, in Madama Butterfly.In this interview with Nic Reveles he talks about his experience as a singer so far and assesses the role in approaching it as a young artist.
Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones has a lot to say about the tenor voice, his lirico-spintoforebears like Gigli and Martinelli, as well as the role of Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca.Enjoy this interview as we look forward to his performances, opening this weekend!
Maestro Zanetti was last with us in 2014, conducting A Masked Ballby Verdi. Some of you will remember, this was a tough time for the company. The maestro reflects on that moment of our history, as well as on the genius of Puccini and his love of Tosca.
Our Tosca this season, soprano Alexia Voulgaridou, has been singing this role to great success all over the world, as well as roles such as Cio-Cio San, Marguerite and Liu. In this interview, she discusses Tosca with a very fresh 'take' on who this character really is.
Stage director Lesley Koenig was last with us when she directed a terrific production of Un ballo in maschera(A Masked Ball) for us in 2014. She's back as the stage director of our current production of Tosca.In this interview she speaks about the piece itself as well as shares a bit of the process that she goes through in order to approach such a well-known opera in a fresh and engaging way.
Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley is back in one of his favorite roles: Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca.In this interview he talks about the character and reflects a bit on what it is that makes this role so fulfilling and downright fun for him to sing!
Our favorite bass-baritone returns for one of his favorite roles: Greer Grimsley sings Baron Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca.Greer has some definite ideas about who this character is, what motivates him and how to sing him. Tune in to our first podcast of the 2016 season!
Fresh from seeing the premiere of Great Scott, the new opera by Jake Heggie and Terrence MacNally that SDO will produce in May, '16, Dr. Nic gives us his impressions and a few more details about it in order to give our audience a bit more information about this exciting "opera about opera"! Enjoy!
The story of Cio-Cio San, Madama Butterfly, is an interesting and controversial tale with roots in actual events that occured as a result of intense interest in Japan in the 19th century. Dr. Nic explores the history, the story and the cultural collision of East and West.
Let's dig a little deeper! Tosca is a fictional character, of course, but her background was painstakingly detailed from history by her original creator, playwright Victorien Sardou. Nic Reveles gives us the low-down on that history, putting the story in a historical context.
The West Coast Premiere of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's new opera, Great Scott, is coming to San Diego Opera in May, 2016! Its World Premiere production at Dallas Opera is currently in rehearsal. In this podcast, Nic Reveles introduces us to the creators, the cast and the story of this wonderful new opera.
The tale of Giacomo Puccini's operatic journey continues with Madama Butterflywhich followed Tosca. Your host Nic Reveles talks about the things that the two operas share, Puccini's 'signatures' as a composer, as well as some of the things that make them different.
In this episode we listen to how Puccini "gets to the point", that there's no needless prelude or overture, that we always get right to the action when it comes to his operas, especially Tosca. Which is odd, because the Sardou play, La Tosca, upon which the opera was based is exactly the opposite of that!
In the first podcast of the season, Director of Community Engagement Nicolas Reveles takes an overall look at the operas coming up: Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Great Scott. We've got a lot to look forward to!
Stage Director James Robinson makes his debut with San Diego Opera as the director of John Adams' Nixon in China. Robinson originated this production, created for Opera Theatre St. Louis, in 2004. Listen to him in this interview with Nicolas Reveles, as he speaks about the challenges of mounting this exciting production.
Conductor Joseph Mechavich debuted with San Diego Opera by conducting Jake Heggie's Moby Dick a couple of seasons back. He's returned to lead John Adams' Nixon in China. In this interview with Education Director Nicolas Reveles he talks about the score as well as about the wonderful San Diego Symphony.
Portraying the role of Pat Nixon in John Adams' opera Nixon in China is soprano Maria Kanyova. She's sung the role many times in her career and takes time during this interview with Nicolas Reveles to talk about the role, the music and the dramatic challenges. Enjoy!
John Adams' brilliant opera Nixon in China is now in production here at San Diego Opera! Rehearsals began this past Tuesday and everything is going really well. Watch as Nicolas Reveles interviews the man in the title role, baritone Franco Pomponi, who is looking forward to his debut with our company in this stunning opera.
Our stage director for Don Giovanni is Nicholas Muni who also happens to have originated and designed this production of the opera for Cincinnati Opera. It is an intriguing look at the opera that will challenge you to think about this fascinating character. Enjoy this interview.
In this episode of the San Diego Opera Podcast, Nicolas Reveles interviews our maestro for Mozart's Don Giovanni, Daniele Callegari. He was last with us for our production of Aida a couple of seasons back. Enjoy this reunion with a wonderful conductor!
Baritone Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is the "go to" singer for the role of Don Giovanni these days and has sung the role to great acclaim throughout the world. Here in San Diego for his company debut, he speaks with Education Director Nicolas Reveles about the role, his career and what he's looking forward to in the future.
Isabella Bywater, a set and costume designer from the UK, is the director of San Diego Opera's production of Puccini's La boheme. In this fascinating, in-depth interview, she talks about her mentor Jonathan Miller (the original director of this particular production) and about her approach to both design and stage direction. This is a wonderful conversation with Education Director Nicolas Reveles and will be a great introduction to this wonderful production, never before seen in San Diego.
Debut artist Harold Meers talks about his background, his experience with the role or Rodolfo and roles he sees for himself in the future in an interview with Nicolas Reveles.
As we look forward to opening night of La boheme, let's hear a few words from our Mimi, soprano Alyson Cambridge, in an interview conducted by our Director of Education and Community Engagement, Nicolas Reveles.
Karen Keltner is well known to all of us here at San Diego Opera and she's kicking off our 50th Anniversary Season as the conductor of Puccini's La boheme. This also marks her last official duty as Resident Conductor and Music Administrator after announcing that she will step down from those duties at the end of the production's run. But she will definitely still be conducting! Listen to her musings on the opera and 35 years with our company.
This is short and sweet, just a snapshot of the excitement with the arrival of the cast and crew of La boheme and a few words about the music that introduces us to the wonderful characters in this beloved opera.
Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Community Engagement for San Diego Opera, looks forward to the 50th Anniversary Season with a 'thank you' to all of our supporters over the past year.
Composer John Adams is universally acknowledged as one of the great opera composers of our time. We're tremendously excited to be producing his work Nixon In China (1987) in our Fiftieth Anniversary Season in March, 2015. Let's take a look and a listen to his musical style: is he a minimalist in the tradition of composers like Philip Glass and Steve Reich? Nicolas Reveles asks the questions, and perhaps has a few answers for you!
The 2015 Season is a great opera season for strong female roles. Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Musetta in La boheme, and Madame Mao in Nixon in China all fit that description: strong characters, bold music! Dr. Nic spends a little time with these three women in today's podcast.
Mozart and his poet-librettist Lorenzo DaPonte created a true masterwork in Don Giovanni, the story of a libertine nobleman and his constant need to seduce and abandon every woman he meets. A sordid story, sure, but filled with incredible music and drama. Dr. Nicolas Reveles lets you in on a few operatic secrets!
In this introductory podcast to Giacomo Puccini's La boheme, Nicolas Reveles discusses why this opera is such a favorite from the repertoire and gives us a glimpse into Puccini's creative process. This is an opera filled with passion, joy, tenderness, romance and tragedy...it's got everything you could want for a great evening of musical theatre.
Welcome to the first podcast of San Diego Opera's 2015 Season! Let's begin with a introduction to John Adams' brilliant opera, Nixon in China which premiered at Houston Opera in 1987. In this podcast, Nicolas Reveles (Director of Education and Community Engagement) talks about the origins of the opera, you'll hear a bit of the prelude to the first act, and hear about the creators' approach to this fascinating historical event.
"...and we're back!", as Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach says at the beginning of this podcast. And yes, we are! With your help we've been able to announce our 2015 Season with an exciting array of operas and a gala celebration of our 50th Anniversary of serving the San Diego community. Check it out...and join us!
Eduardo Chama is one of those singers that we look forward to having back again and again because he's such a delight to be around, besides being a wonderful artist onstage. In the role of Sancho Panza in Massenet's Don Quichotte, he's perfect as the sometimes comic, sometimes tragic sidekick of the title character. Listen in as Education Director Nicolas Reveles interviews Eduardo about the role and the challenges of the opera.
We've known Keturah Stickann as a choreographer and as assistant director for two San Diego Opera seasons. Now she's back as the stage director for Massenet's Don Quixote. In this revealing interview, Education Director Nicolas Reveles speaks with her about the opera, working with Ferruccio Furlanetto and telling the story through music. Enjoy!
German mezzo Anke Vondung was last with San Diego Opera as Octavian in our production of Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss in 2011. We loved her then, we love her now! She is debuting the role of Dulcinea in our production of Don Quichotte, so we thought it would be interesting to hear her talk about the role itself. Enjoy this interview with an utterly charming and outgoing singer, with Nicolas Reveles.
We welcome our favorite basso, Ferruccio Furlanetto, back to San Diego Opera to sing the title role of Jules Massenet's Don Quichotte. This is one of Furlanetto's favorite roles, along with King Philip in Don Carlo and Boris Godunov. In this interview with Director of Education Nicolas Revlees, he reflects on forty years of working in the opera world (actually to the day when this interivew was conducted!) along with advice to young singers looking to jump into a singing career. Enjoy!
San Diego Opera is delighted to have tenor Piotr Beczala back to sing King Gustav ('Gustavo') in Verdi's A Masked Ball. In this interview with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, he talks about the role, other Verdi characters he sings, 'updated' productions of opera and his recent appearance at The Met in Rusalka. You'll also hear a bit of one of his arias from Ballo. Enjoy!
In a continuation of her conversation with San Diego Opera Education Director Nicolas Reveles, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe turns her attention to the growth of the young singer, focusing on her work with the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar. Working with young artists energizes Ms. Blythe and she has strong opinions about what singers need when they are beginning their careers. This podcast is a must see for voice students looking to connect totally with their art!
Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is well known to opera audiences, especially through the Metropolitan Opera's HD broadcasts. She is making her debut with San Diego Opera in the critical role of Ulrika Arvidson in Verdi's A Masked Ball, one of her favorite roles. In this two-part conversation with Education Director Nicolas Reveles, she discusses the role itself and her connection with the great mezzo/contralto roles of Verdi. Enjoy!
Greek baritone Aris Argiris is making his debut with San Diego Opera in the role of Anckarstrom in A Masked Ball by Giuseppe Verdi. In this conversation with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education, he talks about his career, Verdi's baritone roles and singing with such great maestri as Zubin Mehta. Enjoy!
Soprano Krassimira Stoyanova comes to San Diego Opera for the first time to sing the role of Amelia in Verdi's A Masked Ball. Stoyanova has been receiving accolades for her singing all over the world, at all the great opera houses. In this interview with Nicolas Reveles, you'll hear about her early career, singing Verdi and this wonderful opera.
One of the more delightful characters to grace the stage of San Diego Opera is coming your way in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, and inhabiting this marvelous character is another marvelous character, bass Kevin Burdette. Last with us in the 2013 Season (Sulpice in The Daughter of the Regiment) Kevin is stepping in at the last minute for an indisposed singer. He fits the role like a glove and is welcome company in this interview with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education, as he talks about his career and the role he's singing.
Making her debut with us as conductor of Donizetti's Elixir of Love is Karen Kamensek, Musical Director and Chief Conductor of Opera Hannover in Germany. In this interesting conversation with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, she talks about how she got from her hometown of Chicago to Hannover with little detours to New York, Vienna and Hamburg along the way. Enjoy!
Tenor Giuseppe Filianoti hails from the southernmost tip of Italy (the 'toe' of the boot!) and has been singing his entire life. His operatic career has exploded and he can be heard in the lyric tenor repertoire in all the great opera houses of the world. In this conversation with Education Director Nicolas Reveles he speaks about the role of Nemorino, what a singer needs to be successful in the bel canto repertoire, and the influence of his two great mentors, conductor Riccardo Muti and tenor Alfredo Kraus. Enjoy!
Moldavian soprano Tatiana Lisnic joins San Diego Opera for the first time as Adina in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love. Enjoy this conversation she has with Director of Education & Outreach Nicolas Reveles as they explore her career, her first appearance in the U.S., and the nature of Adina, the heroine in this romantic comedy.
Tenor Frank Porretta was with us last in 2002, singing the role of the Duke in Rigoletto. His repertoire has darkened considerably with roles like Otello, Don Alfaro (La forza del destino), Calaf (Turandot) and Canio in Pagliacci which he's singing for us. Join Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, in a lively conversation with this wonderful artist about his career and the nature of this complicated character, Canio.
Australian native Andrew Sinclair is currently centered in London staging opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. But he is a popular visitor here in San Diego where, most recently, he directed the Zandra Rhodes production of Verdi's Aida. In this interview he talks about his particular view of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, his latest assignment for San Diego Opera, with Nicolas Reveles.
Enjoy this interview with David Adam Moore who will sing the role of Silvio in San Diego Opera's production of Pagliacci opening January 25th. David's musical activities include an upcoming performance of the Schubert song cycle Die Winterreise (Winter's Journey) in Anchorage, in an unusual production including video projections and a set. Nicolas Reveles talks to him about the role, his operatic career and his creative work that keeps this singer on the cutting edge of artistic innovation.
Singing the role of Nedda in our San Diego Opera production of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci is Romanian soprano Adina Nitescu. Here she talks with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, about her career and about the role that she'll be singing with us, opening January 25th. Enjoy!
Dr. Nic takes a look at the upcoming season at San Diego Opera and shares with us the things he's most looking forward to. A great intro for the uninitiated, but maybe you'd like to share what you are looking forward to! E-mail your thoughts to Nicolas.Reveles@sdopera.com.
Tenors, like sopranos, mezzos and basses, come in all types each with their distinctive characteristics. Today we'll introduce you to the lyric, spinto and dramatic voices within the tenor category who'll grace the stage of San Diego Opera this season: Nemorino, Gustavo and Canio. Education Director Nicolas Reveles does the honors. Enjoy!
In a continuation of our series on voice types in the 2014 Season, we focus on the basses and baritones with roles like Dr. Dulcamara, Don Quixote, Silvio, Tonio and Anckarstom. Listen to the differences between lyric voices and voices more suited to the big, dramatic roles. Dr. Nicolas Reveles, Education Director for San Diego Opera, tells it all.
On March 20, 2014, San Diego Opera will present Verdi's Requiem with a cast of soloists that would rival any opera or symphonic organization in the world: Stoyanova, Blythe, Beczala And Furlanetto. Massimo Zanetti will conduct the San Diego Symphony and the San Diego Opera Chorus plus members of other choral organizations in the city. This is a very special event, but we have audiences wondering: just what is a Requiem? Let Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach fill you in! Enjoy.
Did you know that there are many sub-categories within the standard soprano/mezzo/tenor/baritone/bass voice types? And we have many of them on display this coming season, 2014! Watch and listen as Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, surveys the women of the season; and watch for the next installment on the men!
Jules Massenet was a master of scene setting. Just as a scenic designer is responsible for coming up with a theatrical set that matches the location, mood and era of the drama, a composer must do much the same thing, using musical elements as his building blocks. Watch Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach describe how this French master 'paints' the story of Don Quixote through his brilliant music.
Gershwin's famous Tin Pan Alley tune, "I've Got Rhythm" came to mind during the production of this podcast, because Verdi's A Masked Ball (Un ballo in maschera) is ALL about rhythm and how rhythmic choices help to hone in on the personalities and emotions of the characters in this wonderful opera. Join Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for an unusual look at one of the masterpieces of the great Giuseppe Verdi, who turns 200 this week!
Bel canto is a much misunderstood operatic/vocal term. If you're not familiar with the term, you're in luck because today's podcast will help define its meaning. Donizetti, for instance, is considered a bel canto composer; but what does that really mean? Is it just a musical term or does it perhaps have something to do with the text of an opera, it's poetry? Let Dr. Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Director of Education & Outreach for San Diego Opera, explain it all to you!
In a podcast focusing on the music of Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, shows how opera communicates dramatic moments, atmosphere, the emotions of the characters, even the physical environment within which the characters find themselves. A 'must see' for audience members new to opera or those who want to deepen their experience!
How is it that some of the most beautiful and rhythmically infectious 'Spanish' music is by French composers? Think of Bizet's Carmen! Massenet pulls off a similar trick in his beautiful opera Don Quichotte, or Don Quixote. Watch and listen as Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education & Outreach for San Diego Opera, takes you through it. Enjoy!
Verdi is at his best when he's dealing with politics and passion. Throw in a very true historical story (the assassination of Gustav III of Sweden at a masked opera ball in 1792) and you have the makings of terrific opera. Watch and listen as Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education & Outreach for San Diego Opera takes you through the historical background of this great work, A Masked Ball.
The Elixir of Love could well be considered Gaetano Donizetti's ultimate romantic comedy and Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera makes that point (and more!) in this delightful look at San Diego Opera's second offering for the 2014 Season. Enjoy!
Pagliacci is a terrific piece of musical theatre: exciting, dramatic, suspenseful and overpowering. One can make more than a few connections between the verismo style of this opera and the world of cinema, especially the films of Alfred Hitchcock and giallo specialists like Bava and Argento. Let's have a little fun with those connections as Dr. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera discusses some of his favorite things!
"Homework??", you exclaim, "I didn't sign up for that!" No, you didn't. But Geisel Director of Education and Outreach Nicolas Reveles would like to talk about homework and its place in preparing to see an opera you might not know. Used to be we had to go through all sorts of contortions to go to the opera and understand what we were seeing & hearing because we didn't understand the languages being used. Now, of course, we have the amazing convenience of supertitles. But you can go 'deeper' than simply being able to know what the singers are singing about...
In a kind of expansion of our last episode of Opera 101, let's explore what all those operatic duets (or at least, most of them) are about: Love! Luckily, love is a major theme in all four of the operas that we're presenting in our 2014 Season: The Elixir of (naturally) Love, Pagliacci, A Masked Ball and Don Quixote. Dr. Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Driector of Education and Outreach, discusses how our four different composers...Leoncavallo, Donizetti, Massenet and Verdi...approach love in four very different ways musically. Enjoy!
The duet may seem to be a pretty simple musical form featured in opera that really doesn't need any explanation, right? But there's a little more to it than just "this person sings, then that person sings, then they sing together!" Dr. Nic Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education & Outreach for San Diego Opera, lets you in on what kinds of duets exist in opera and how they communicate the feelings of the characters using the love duet from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, A Masked Ball. Enjoy!
Whenever an opera company prepares to do an important work from the standard repertoire (like Pagliacci for instance) we hear the complaint, "Oh, I've heard (or seen) that opera before. I think I'll pass this time." But WAIT:approaches to the standard rep can be very different, depending entirely on the artistic team that's put together by the management. Let Dr. Nic, our Director of Education and Outreach, explore this issue with you and listen, through examples from Leoncavallo's great opera, how different the same music can sound coming from different singers. Sometimes, the difference is radical!
Continuing our 'summer school series' on opera basics, today we explore the aria, moving very quickly from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo to Verdi's A Masked Ball (Un ballo in maschera). Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education & Outreach for San Diego Opera explains it all for you in a fun and informative way. Enjoy!
Continuing our Summer School for Opera Fans, Dr. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, gives us more information on the intimate connection between two of opera's most potent elements...the words and the music! With generous examples from our first opera for the 2014 season, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Dr. Nic tries to help you make the connection between what the characters are communicating through their words and what we actually hear in the music!
At the end of this week we'll be celebrating the beginning of summer, 2013, and we'll begin getting ready for our exciting 2014 International Season! What better way to do that then to have a few podcasts dedicated to a 'refresher' course in opera? Today Nicolas Reveles, our Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera takes a look at the essence of the art form, how composers approach a dramatic idea and "musicalize" it. We'll explore the connection between what we see on the stage and what we hear from the wonderful music that these composers create. Enjoy!
Join the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, Nicolas Reveles, in a brief exploration of the 2014 from Pagliacci to Don Quixote, The Elixir of Love to A Masked Ball with a dollop of Verdi's Requiem thrown in to the mix. This exciting season has something for everyone, as you'll discover. For each opera Dr. Reveles gives us some of his own personal reasons for looking forward to each of these great masterworks. Enjoy!
San Diego Opera's exciting production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida opens this Saturday night, April 20, and one thing we can say about it: it's not your grandma's Aida! Internationally renowned fasion designer Zandra Rhodes has created this production (sets as well as costumes) and it's a visually stunning, indeed delightful version of this evergreen classic with colors and shapes inspired by ancient Egypt. Join Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education & Outreach, as we explore Zandra's inspiration for this wonderful opera.
Meet Daniele Callegari, a San Diego Opera debut artist who hails from Milan and lives in Barcelona! He has taken the company by storm with his energy, his enthusiasm for music and opera, as well as his positive presence in rehearsals for Verdi's Aida. Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, has a conversation with him about this wonderful opera and what draws it to him again and again.
We all know and love Verdi's great opera Aida. We thought it might be informative for our podcast audience to hear a different 'take' on our production of this wonderful opera to ask mezzo-soprano Jill Grove, our Amneris, about the current state of the opera business. What's it like for singers out there right now? How is the HD operas-at-the-movies effort effecting regional companies? What's it like to be involved in the opera business today? Jill offers her thoughts on these and other subjects in this interview with Nicolas Reveles, the Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera. Enjoy!
We're welcoming back bass-baritone Mark S. Doss after a rather lengthy hiatus: he was last here as Friar Lawrence in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet in 1998. He has since established himself as one of the most exciting Escamillos (Carmen), Mephistopheles (Faust) and Amonasros (Aida) in the world. Watch and listen as Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera discusses his career and the role of Amonasro with this wonderful artist.
We have long awaited the arrival of soprano Latonia Moore (pronounced lah-TAH-nee-yah) since her dramatic debut at the Metropolitan Opera a few years back in the role of Aida. Her performance made front page news in the New York Times and was feted throughout the opera world as being one of the most auspicious debuts in recent Met history. She's delightfully open and forthcoming about that exciting moment and about all things vocal and dramatic in her conversation here with Education Director Nicolas Reveles.
We're hearing lots of folks wondering what the music of Murder in the Cathedral is like. We suspect that they might be just a bit fearful that it may be off-putting or that it sounds like some of those "other" pieces of music from the mid-twentieth century that were so tough on audiences. Fear not! Dr. Nic is here to help you! Watch and listen as he tackles this important subject in a short eleven-minute podcast. Share with your friends!
We're always honored and delighted to have the return to San Diego Opera of one of the world's greatest singers, bass Ferruccio Furlanetto. This season he sings, for the first time in the U.S., the role of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Ildebrando Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral, a role that he thinks compares to the other great roles for bass: Boris, Philip in Don Carlo, Don Quixote. In this wide-ranging conversation with Nicolas Reveles, Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, he talks about this neglected opera and the challenges of the role.
Conducting for San Diego Opera for the first time is Maestro Donato Renzetti, the wonderful Italian conductor who led the La Scala forces for a revival of Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral with Ferruccio Furlanetto a couple of years ago. He comes to us, then, with unique experience of the work. As well, as you'll hear in this interview, he studied conducting with Gianandrea Gavazzeni, the original conductor of the La Scala orchestra, chorus and soloists at the premiere of the work in 1958. Enjoy this delightful conversation with a marvelous new friend of San Diego Opera!
Is it a "star turn" or a "dubious distinction" to be cast as the First Chorister in Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral? Well, however ungracious the name of the character, the music for her is wonderful and she's in the unique position of having the only full aria in the opera. So according to Susan Neves (an Abigaille, Norma, Turandot and Lady Macbeth with stunning qualifications!), this role is a remarkable opportunity to stake claim to an unusual piece of the operatic repertoire. Watch and listen to her delightful conversation with Education Director Nicolas Reveles.
As we look forward to next week's performances of Cruzar la cara de la luna, the first-ever mariachi opera by Jose 'Pepe' Martinez, it's time to get more familiar with mariachi as a musical form. Just what is mariachi, what are its roots, how has it developed and what has it to do with opera? Professor of Mariachi Studies at Southwestern College, classical and mariachi trumpet player Jeff Nevin has some answers for us and we think you'll find entertaining and interesting. Join Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for this wonderful conversation.
The opera Murder in the Cathedral by Ildebrando Pizzetti is unknown to most of our audience members so here's an opportunity to fix that! Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera interviews General & Artistic Director Ian Campbell about why he chose this unusual work for staging and what he expects to do with it as the stage director of the work which goes up on our stage March 30. There's lots of information here, especially designed for those of you who have questions about this wonderful opera!
Heldentenor Clifton Forbis has been here before: as Samson in our last go 'round with the opera in 2007. But he's as fresh as ever, fun to be with, exciting to watch and hear, and delightful to chat with. Join Director of Education and Outreach Nicolas Reveles in an interview with this international opera star.
Welcome to 'old home week', or alumni day as we're calling it! Anooshah Golesorkhi, baritone, is making his debut with San Diego Opera as the High Priest of Dagon in Samson and Delilah which opens this week. But many local folks remember him as an undergraduate student at USD and graduate student at SDSU. As Dr. Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach explains, Anooshah was being trained as a young voice student when Dr. Reveles began teaching at USD, so many memories are shared as well as the excitement of a locally schooled baritone who's making an international career as an opera singer! He also shares how he got his start in the business through a rather roundabout gateway...enjoy!
In a wide-ranging interview with Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, our resident conductor Karen Keltner discusses the music of Samson and Delilah, our exciting next production. The Saint-Saens' sensitivity to the Hebrews as well as his touches of exoticism in the score are discussed, as well as the overall spectacular effect of this French 'grand opera'. Enjoy!
The beautiful Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Nadia Krasteva is making her company debut with us in the role of Dalilah in our upcoming production of Samson and Delilah. Nadia has already impressed the company with her good nature, delightful sense of humor and fantastic (and seductive!) voice. Join Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for a fun interview with this terrific new artist.
Franco-Canadian conductor Yves Abel is our maestro for the first opera in our 2013 Season, The Daughter of the Regiment. In this free flowing conversation with Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, he shares his background, information on his studies in New York and his career. This exciting young conductor has wonderful ideas about music, conducting and theatre. Tune in!
In past seasons tenor, Stephen Costello has appeared on the San Diego Opera stage in the serious roles of Faust and Romeo in Gounod's two masterworks. Opening January 26, he takes on comedy in the role of Tonio in The Daughter of the Regiment for the first time. In this interview Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education & Outreach, talks to Costello about his career and how he's approaching this challenging comic character.
From Thomas Becket to Sergeant Sulpice, from Amonasro to the High Priest of Dagon, we have a parade of exciting lower voices coming to you this season. Watch and listen as Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Director of Education & Outreach for San Diego Opera, reveals it all to you!
Taking a break from our series on voice-types for the 2013 Season, Dr. Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Director of Education & Outreach for San Diego Opera, reflects on the meaning of opera, what it is about this art form that attracts us, why we go to the opera and what is the essence of it, what makes it 'tick'. You're invited to come along on a meditative journey about the artform that transforms us!
Tenors are considered by many audience members as the 'glories' of opera. What they do seems beautiful, athletic, stunning and unreasonable, all at once. Well, we have some wonderful tenor roles this upcoming season: Tonio in The Daughter of the Regiment, Samson in Samson and Delilah, and Radames in Aida. Tune in as Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach opens up the world of the operatic tenor in this week's installment.
There are two major mezzo-soprano roles in this upcoming opera season: Delilah in Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah and the Princess Amneris in Verdi's Aida. Both roles are major dramatic commitments for the mezzo that demand lyricism and declamatory singing. Let Nicolas Reveles, our Director of Education and Outreach, give you a quick review of these two roles!
Starting today, a new series of podcasts about the various voice-types that you'll hear in the 2013 Season. Let's start with the sopranos; we have three stunning roles for soprano this season in Marie from The Daughter of the Regiment, the corifea or 'chorister' from Murder in the Cathedral and Aida in the Verdi opera of the same name. Let Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, introduce you to the lovely music written for soprano by composers Donizetti, Pizzetti and Verdi in this exciting podcast!
As we look forward to the presentation of Cruzar la cara de la luna, the first mariachi opera, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at mariachi style and its history. This is an easy, brief introduction to the style that you may think you know (but probably really don't!) Watch and listen to Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, as he unfolds the style and history of mariachi for you.
The orchestra is a major element in the presentation of an opera, and is foremost in the establishment of setting, time, emotion, psychological state...creating the 'sonic environment' for the telling of a powerful story. Watch and listen as Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, shares some important orchestral moments from the upcoming 2013 Season!
Every opera has a chorus. Well, not quite every opera: Cruzar la cara de la luna doesn't have an 'official' chorus, although the band (in this case the Mariachi Vargas) joins in enthusiastically with some of the singers in the opera! But Daughter of the Regiment, Murder in the Cathedral, Samson and Delilah and Aida definitely DO have choruses, and great ones at that! Join Dr. Nicolas Reveles as he shares some of that wonderful music with you!
Last week, arias: the solo 'songs' for singers in an opera. Today, duets: compositions or pieces for two singers in an opera. There are some stunning examples of duets this coming season, and Dr. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, gives you some examples for your listening (and educational!) pleasure.
In a series of video podcasts Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, will cover various elements of the operatic artform in order to help us get to know the 2013 International Season. We'll start with the aria, that one thing in opera that so many of us wait for, especially in operas that we know well. What about in operas that we don't quite know as well, like Murder in the Cathedral or Cruzar la cara de la luna? Tune in and find out!
Verdi's sound world for Aida conjures up the ancient environment of the story but never strays far from Italian opera at its grandest. Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education for San Diego Opera, gives you a brief summary of the special music carrying this story of a doomed love.
The wonderful thing about Aida this time around is that it will be sporting a new 'look': the costume and set designs of internationally renowned fashion designer, Zandra Rhodes. Nicolas Reveles, Education Director of San Diego Opera, gives you a preview.
Giuseppe Verdi's Aida is one of the best known repertory items in opera, but that doesn't mean that there aren't people out there who've never seen it! So here is a brief overview of the story which takes place in ancient Egypt during the time of the pharoahs. Education Director Nicolas Reveles takes you there!
Although the story is English, influenced by English history and literature, the opera Murder in the Cathedral is Italian. It was written by Ildebrando Pizzetti and premiere at La Scala in 1958. And although the music is lyrical and quite approachable, it isn't your grandma's typical Italian opera! Listen to this brief overview of the music of this outstanding opera by Education Director Nicolas Reveles.
San Diego Opera is building its own production of Murder in the Cathedral with sets designed by renowned designer Ralph Funicello. Get a brief preview of the look of Murder in this podcast by Education Director Nicolas Reveles.
Based on the historical events surrounding the assassination of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury by knights loyal to Henry II, King of England in 1170, the opera follows the story rather closely. Watch and listen as Director of Education Nicolas Reveles takes you through a brief summary of the story of this brilliant opera.
Grand French Romanticism at its best! That's the finest description that we can think of when trying to capture the essence of the wonderful music in Camille Saint-Saens Samson and Delilah. Hear a few brief excerpts, introduced by Education Director Dr. Nicolas Reveles, in this "fly through" to discover some of the melodic charms in this great biblical drama.
Back by popular demand is the spectacular production from San Francisco Opera that you may have seen a number of seasons back, with the realistic, glitzy and colorful sets and costumes that bring the story of this exciting opera to life. Join Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education, for a few minutes to take glimpse at what's in store for you when you come to see Samson and Delilah.
Here's a brief synopsis of Camille Saint-Saens' biblically based opera Samson and Delilah from Director of Education Nicolas Reveles. This summary is perfect for those of you who don't have a lot of time on your hands to prepare for opening night. Enjoy!
Enjoy this brief description of the sound (the music) that you'll encounter in Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment. For an overview of the 2013 operas with Education Director, Nicolas Reveles, start here!
Here's a brief glimpse of the look for our production of The Daughter of the Regiment by Donizetti which comes from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. For an overview of our 2013 Season with Education Director, Nicolas Reveles, start here!
Here's the first of a brand new series of seriously (!) short podcasts on the story, the look and the music of Donizetti's comedy, The Daughter of the Regiment. For a quick overview of the 2013 operas from Education Director Nicolas Reveles, start here!
Donizetti was a formidable composer in his time and was the toast of Paris in 1840 when he had four operas running simultaneously at the city's largest theatres. Sounds a bit like Andrew Lloyd Webber, eh? Join Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, for an overview of this charming opera which logged 1,000 performances between its premiere and 1900 at the Opera Comique!
Verdi's Aida is certainly the best-known of the operas we're producing in the 2013 Season. But do we really know this opera all that well? Watch and listen as Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, takes another look at this perennial favorite, an opera with great music, great spectacle and great drama.
Ildebrando Pizzetti is not a composer known to most U.S. operagoers, but his opera Murder in the Cathedral which premiered at La Scala in 1958, made quite a splash when it first appeared. Based on the historical assassination of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 and more specifically the T.S. Eliot verse-play about this event, the opera turned out to be a tour de force for bass, along the lines of Boris Godunov and King Philip. Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, explores this unusual and exciting entry in our 2013 season.
Camille Saint-Saens took his time turning his idea for an opera on this biblical subject (originally conceived as an oratorio) into reality and had to have some encouragement from his friend Franz Liszt to bring it to the stage. Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, explains it all for you as we look forward to the return of this sumptuous, brilliant French opera.
Here it is...the summary video podcast of the 2013 Season! Dr. Nicolas Reveles tells it all, an exciting preview of our best season ever with Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment, Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, Pizetti's Murder in the Cathedral, Verdi's Aida and the first mariachi opera ever written, Cruzar la cara de la luna (To cross the face of the moon) featuring Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan! An unbelievable season with extraordinary casts of singers and spectacular productions. Enjoy!
The ultimate independent woman, the most level-headed character in all of opera buffa, is surely Rosina in The Barber of Seville. We have a wonderful Rossini "specialist" in Spanish mezzo-soprano Silvia Tro Santafe who has the personality and the voice (!) for this wonderful role. Listen to Nicolas Reveles' interview with this debut artist who gives us some insight into this brilliant comedy.
The tenor always gets the girl, and The Barber of Seville is no exception. But it takes some wrangling, disguises and subterfuge to finally get Count Almaviva and his beloved Rosina together. Tenor John Osborn is certainly up to the task, a Rossini 'specialist' who is just coming off of a series of critically acclaimed performances of the composer's Otello. Listen in as Nicolas Reveles interviews this talented singer about his career and about the role.
Herb Kellner is directing our upcoming production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville in a production original conceived by John Copley, a longtime guest director here at San Diego Opera. The production is based on the images and motifs that occur in the work of the Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte. Join Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, in a discussion of the Magritte influences on this Barber and its unique look.
Our final installment of the 2012 Season is upon us: Rossini's The Barber of Seville. In a free-wheeling interview with Geisel Director of Education and Outreach Nicolas Reveles, baritone Lucas Meachem talks about his roots, his musical upbringing and his special take on the character of Figaro, the pivotal character in Barber who pulls all the strings and pushes all the plot points. Enjoy!
An old friend to the company, John Del Carlo has been involved with us since his days as a young artist in the mid-seventies. Tune in and hear his views on the basso buffo repertoire, his career and the role of Don Pasquale, a delightful conversation with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach.
Tenor Charles Castronovo was last with us as Nadir in The Pearl Fishers. According to this interview, his voice has darkened and he's been taking on heavier, albeit still lyrical, roles like Romeo (Gounod). In a wide-ranging conversation with Education Director Nicolas Reveles, Castronovo describes the vocal challenges involved in taking on Ernesto in Don Pasquale. Enjoy!
In a fun, fast-paced interview, soprano Danielle de Niese talks about her career and her upcoming performances as Norina in Don Pasquale. Education Director Nicolas Reveles, as always, asks the right questions. Enjoy!
One of the stars of the opera Moby Dick is baritone Morgan Smith who portrays Captain Ahab's first mate, Starbuck. The characters' conflict is at the heart of the opera. In a wide-ranging interview with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, the singer discusses his career and how the role of Starbuck came to him through an earlier work with composer, Jake Heggie.
In this audio-only and very special podcast, we offer an interview with the creators of Moby Dick, composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. They reflect on their work together and on the sometimes daunting task of taking an 800 page book and simmering it down into a piece for musical theatre, a stirring opera that's been exciting audiences since its premiere in 2010. Listen in as Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, questions them about their stunning work.
We've waited a long, long time for this; but we finally have the great Canadian heldentenor Ben Heppner in our cast of Moby Dick, singing the role of Captain Ahab. In this interview with Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, the tenor talks about the creation of the role, its similarity to other roles he sings and the challenges of wearing a peg leg! Enjoy.
Bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu has had a meteoric rise in the opera world. This singer from a Samoan family in New Zealand is a favorite with conductors and audiences because of his natural presence, friendliness and, of course, his sumptuous voice. In this interview with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, Jon talks about his background, his training and the role of Queequeg which he debuted at the world premiere of Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick at Dallas Opera in 2010.
What's it like to be the only woman in a cast literally overrun with men? Find out as soprano Talise Trevigne, who graced our stage last season as Micaela in Carmen, speaks with Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach. Talise talks about the opera Moby-Dick, its overwhelming music and the challenges of taking on a 'pants' role as Pip, the cabin boy of Captain Ahab. Not incidentally, her big moment in this opera is sung from 30 feet in the air!
Tenor Allan Glassman sings all the big lyric Italian roles, roles like Otello and Canio. He comes to San Diego to sing a role often given to 'character' tenors, that of King Herod in Strauss's Salome. What a difference a voice makes! In a role that is often more 'spoken' than sung, Glassman makes a very good point of actually singing the role and stressing its lyrical potential. Enjoy this interivew with Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, Nicolas Reveles.
Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley usually comes to town toting the role of a villain: Pizarro in Fidelio, Telramund in Lohengrin, Scarpia in Tosca, and last season, Mephistopheles in Faust. He returns this season as the one 'good guy', the shining light in Salome, Jochanaan (John the Baptist). In this interview with Nicolas Reveles, our Director of Education and Outreach, he talks about the role, the opera and his career. Enjoy!
Today we welcome back one of our favorite sopranos, Lise Lindstrom, who had such a great success last season as Turandot. In this interview with Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, she talks about her career, her recent debut at La Scala as the "ice princess" in Puccini's opera, and about the role of Salome. Enjoy!
Continuing with our series on the historical/cultural contexts for our 2012 operas, Nicolas Reveles talks about Donizetti's brilliant comedy Don Pasquale, giving you an idea how old Italian theatrical traditions informed the plot and its characters, as well as how lots of current Hollywood and television properties still revere those old traditions. Enjoy!
Continuing with our series (placing our 4 operas in historical and cultural context), here is a look at The Barber of Seville and its roots in the Italian commedia dell'arte tradition. Now that sounds pretty esoteric, right? But no, it has a lot to do with the plot and characters in the Rossini opera and, when you come to think about it, has a lot to do with what passes as nightly entertainment on our multitudinous television networks! (Think situation comedies!) Nicolas Reveles explains it all to you! Enjoy.
Our series continues, putting the four opera productions of 2012 into a historical and cultural context. For the Jake Heggie & Gene Scheer opera Moby-Dick, the context is obvious: 19th century whaling and its influence on the writing of Herman Melville's epic novel which was first published in 1851. Let Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, explain it all to you!
Beginning this week, we'll put all four of our opera productions for 2012 in context of both the eras in which they were originally produced as well as in context of the time and place of their stories. Salome, for instance, is set in first-century Galilee, but the opera has much more to say about the time during which it was written, at the turn of the 20th century. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, explains it all to you!
Dr. Nick explains it all to you: like most German operas written after the extraordinary career of Richard Wagner, Strauss used a leitmotiv system to unify his opera Salome. It's easy to follow and can be quite fun once you get your ears tuned to them. Watch listen and enjoy!
Think about it...different operas demand different beginnings. Composers from Handel to Heggie have come up with myriad ways to open their operas...with overtures, preludes or, quite frankly, almost nothing at all! San Diego Opera's 2012 Season offers an object lesson on this subject and shows that the variety of solutions is always fascinating. Watch and listen to Nicolas Reveles, the Education and Outreach Director of San Diego Opera, talk about these "opening statements".
Why go to the opera? Especially in this time of economic hardship, we want our entertainmet dollars to go a long way and opera is no exception: we who are passionate about it have no problem spending money on it. But we don't want to (nor are all of us capable) spend an arm and a leg on it. Watch Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach grapple with this issue and suggest ways to make it less expensive for true opera lovers!
Richard Strauss's opera Salome was written during a cultural, artistic ferment that eventually gave way to the expressionism movement in Germany and Austria. Watch and listen to Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, illuminate for you the special sound-world of this unique opera!
Composers like Rossini wrote their operas for specific singers, often waiting until actual rehearsals to finish the music so that the arias and ensembles could be tailored to that singer's particular gifts. Such was the case for Rosina, the heroine in The Barber of Seville. Listen to Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera talk about how important it is to match the personality of the VOICE with the personality of the CHARACTER in opera.
For our very first video podcast episode, here's a brief discussion by Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, of bel canto, Donizetti, Chopin (!) and Don Pasquale. Watch and listen, especially to the first part of Norina's aria "Quel guardo il cavaliere", a wonderful example of the bel canto style. Enjoy!
Among the unique features of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's opera Moby-Dick is the use of an all-male chorus. That's to be expected, of course, since the story is set entirely at sea on the Pequod, a whaling ship out of Nantucket. The only female voice in the opera is the role of Pip, the cabin boy, which is sung by a soprano. It turns out that there's an interesting tradition of the use of the male chorus in opera. Listen in as our Director of Education, Nicolas Reveles, explores this interesting vocal 'color' in Moby-Dick and other great works.
Tenor Salvatore Licitra died this past weekend at the age of 43 from complications due to a motorscooter accident as well as a possible cerebral hemorrhage. The opera world mourns his passing, as do we here at San Diego Opera where he was due to make his role debut as Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen (a contract he had to cancel due to a back injury) and his appearance as Radames in our 2013 season closer, Aida by Giuseppe Verdi. Join Nicolas Reveles, Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, for a collection of excerpts from some of his wonderful opera recordings.
What do you have to keep in mind if you're and opera director and you're considering a soprano for the role of Salome? Well, quite a bit actually, according to Geisel Director of Education and Outreach Nicolas Reveles. Listen in as we discuss the role's musical and physical demands, and hear the final monologue of Strauss's opera with Cheryl Studer in the title role, Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra.
Last week this podcast reviewed some of the commedia roots of Donizetti's Don Pasquale. This week Education Director Nicolas Reveles does the same thing for Rossini's Barber of Seville, the quintessential opera buffa or comic opera. Enjoy!
We finish our 2012 International Season with two wonderful Italian comic operas, The Barber of Seville by Rossini and Don Pasquale by Donizetti. Let's spend a couple of weeks looking at the influences that created the form we call opera buffa and spend some time with their comic characters. Today, Norina, the star of Don Pasquale, and her delightful entrance aria.
You've got to be sure that one of the first things Jake Heggie did when he sat down to compose Moby-Dick to Gene Scheer's wonderful libretto was that he had to decide what voice-type Captain Ahab was. The choice he made? Heldentenor! You might find that to be an odd choice, or a fortuitous one. You decide, but after you listen to Dr. Nicolas Reveles's podcast this week!
The orchestra is a very active participant in Strauss's Salome, detailing the stage action at every moment in the drama. Just what is it that makes this work so well in the operas of Strauss? Take a listen to Dr. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, as he analyzes three important characters in the opera: Jokanaan (John the Baptist), Herod and Salome herself.
There are 30 to 40 recordings of Rossini's great opera, The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia). How does one choose? Let Dr. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera give you a few suggestions. Along the way you'll hear some of the more significant excerpts from this delightful comic opera!
Dr. Nicolas Reveles, Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, chooses three recordings of Donizetti's comic masterpiece Don Pasquale to help you get to know the opera (with a little help from Beverly Sills, Alfredo Kraus, Gabriel Bacquier and Fernando Corena!)
One of the most exciting things to happen on the cultural landscape of San Diego next season is the West Coast premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's opera Moby-Dick. In this podcast hosted by Nicolas Reveles we'll experience some of the earlier music of composer Heggie, including a couple of art songs and excerpts from Dead Man Walking, his first opera, commissioned by San Francisco Opera. You'll easily hear that this composer's music is readily accessible and melodic, with a dramatic & theatrical sense that attracts audiences of all ages!
Great Recordings of Salome: From Birgit Nilsson to Inge Nielson, from Georg Solti to Giuseppe Sinopoli, there have been terrific recordings of Richard Strauss's thrilling opera based on the play by Oscar Wilde. Let's explore a few of them; maybe there's one that will capture your interest during this survey that you'll want to download to your MP3 player or order from your favorite online store.
It's that time again: the announcement of our new season! This special podcast includes audio clips from the operas Salome by Richard Strauss, Moby-Dick by Jake Heggie, Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti and The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini. With commentary by Dr. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, this hour-long podcast will fill you in on some of the music and the great singing that we have to look forward to next year. Enjoy!
One of the most poignant moments in the score of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier comes towards the end of Act I, the Marschallin's Monologue, "Da geht er hin". Let's explore what makes this monologue so reflective of the experience of being human, aging against our will, and having to watch it happen day by day in our bathroom mirrors. Strauss gets it!
The leitmotifs or "leading motives" in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier are explored by our Education Director, Nicolas Reveles, in a podcast first posted on August 16, 2010. After defining the leitmotif and its use by Richard Wagner, we'll listen to those used by Strauss to help tell the story of this wonderful opera.
Luckily for us, Puccini's opera Turandot premiered in 1926, well after the invention of sound recording. So even though we don't have a recording of excerpts from the opera by the two principals (soprano Rosa Raisa and Miguel Fleta), we do have recordings of some of the sopranos who made history in the role. Let's survey a handful of those sopranos and see if we can get a good sound picture of what Puccini might have expected for the role. Take a listen to this repeat of a popular podcast from June 14, 2010.
Listen in to a revealing interview with soprano Ermonela Jaho who will be singing the role of Liu in Turandot. The Albanian singer made her debut with San Diego Opera in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, standing in for an ailing colleague on opening night. Now she's back, singing the entire run of course, and delighted to be in San Diego!
Dr. Nic spends some time with the wonderful and lovely young soprano Lise Lindstrom who will make her San Diego Opera debut in the challenging role of Turandot. The conversation traverses her recent triumph in the role at the Metropolitan opera as a last-minute replacement and a discussion of the vocal challenges in the aria "In questa reggia". Listen in!
And so we begin with a new element in our San Diego Opera podcasts: interviews with some of the personalities involved with our 2011 productions. Let's begin with a chat with tenor Carlo Ventre, who will be singing the role of Calaf in Puccini's Turandot, opening January 29. In this interview with Nicolas Reveles, Ventre reveals the challenges of the role as well as the physical sensation he experiences in performing great tenor roles like Calaf on stage in front of a large audience.
Well, folks, it's here: 2011, and we open our season in four weeks! Let's take some time to survey the wonderful musical and vocal pleasures that we're about to enjoy in Puccini's Turandot, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, Gounod's Faust and Bizet's Carmen.
One of the things that attracts us all to Bizet's Carmen is his use of the orchestra, especially in those wonderful entr'actes the he places prior to each act. Let's explore and have a listen to them as we look forward to our 2011 International Season!
In olden days (!), Gounod's opera Faust was performed in its entirety. That makes for a very long evening. Having recently caught a Met broadcast on Sirius radio from 1972 with Domingo, Zylis-Gara and Tozzi (as a marvelous Mephistopheles!), I can attest that it took forever, however gorgeous the performance was! The scene that is normally dropped for both time and dramatic reasons is the Walpurgis Night Scene. Let's take a listen to some of the music from that scene.
Did you ever wonder exactly why Richard Strauss uses the waltz throughout his comic opera Der Rosenkavalier? Considering that the story takes place in mid-18th century Vienna (a time when the waltz had not quite developed yet) it seems a bit anachronistic. And yet, Strauss makes it work so well! Listen to a theory proposed by the great conductor Georg Solti and a few choice examples from the score!
One doesn't automatically think of Giacomo Puccini as a "choral" composer, but there are some glorious choral moments in nearly all of his operas as well as a lovely Mass, the Messa di Gloria. The chorus writing in Turandot, however, is masterful and the choristers are busy throughout the entire opera. Let's explore some of this wonderful music.
You're probably aware that there are lots of "danceable" moments in Bizet's opera Carmen. Let's explore some of those moments, one of which might surprise you!
One of the most memorable moments in Gounod's opera Faust is the baritone aria, "Avant de quitter ces lieux". It is probably the most popular aria for lyric baritones to audition with, as well as a key moment in the opera. By the way, it ain't easy! Let's listen to three baritones from three different generations of opera artists apply their mastery to this wonderful piece.
Strauss parodies the "Italianate" style, especially Puccini, in Act One of Der Rosenkavalier with the appearance of the Italian Singer. Let's spend a bit of time with this character who'll be sung in our production this coming season by Stephen Costello, our Faust for 2011.
It's the classic problem with Puccini's Turandot: how do you move the audience's sympathies from Liu to the title character after falling in love with the beautiful young slave girl? It was Puccini's problem, and we're not sure he entirely solved it. Let's explore and listen!
Carmen premiered at the Opera Comique in Paris in March, 1875. The Comique had certain performing traditions that Bizet and his team had to follow, one of them being that dialogue between characters was normally spoken, not sung. In fact it wasn't until after Bizet's death in June of that same year that the fully-sung version of the opera was first presented to the public. Let's briefly explore the difference in these two versions.
If you don't know who Baron Ochs is, take a listen. He's the biggest boor in opera and he's the comic foil to the romance and the waltz atmosphere of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Here's a short introduction.
You mean, there were original cast recordings of Puccini's last opera? Yes, there were. There are also recordings of some of the singers that Puccini wanted to cast in the roles of Turandot and Calaf back in 1926 but who ended up being unavailable. Let's take a listen to some real audio history!
Just as we did last week with Faust, here are some stellar examples of great tenors who made Don Jose in Carmen a signature role. What could be more challenging for a singing actor than to trace the deterioration of a character both musically and dramatically in an exciting evening of opera? Listen in!
There is no dearth of great tenors who have recorded portions or all of the role of Faust in Gounod's opera. Let's listen to a few of them: Caruso, Gigli, Bjoerling, Corelli and Gedda. What fun!
Something common to many operas composed after the death of Richard Wagner is the use of the leitmotif, a musical idea, tune or melodic "germ" used by a composer to unify a complicated score. Richard Strauss was one of the earliest inheritors of the leitmotif system and he uses it with abandon in Der Rosenkavalier. Let's explore some of the leitmotifs used in that opera.
Thanks to an Italian diplomat who'd spent some time in China and gave a Chinese music box to the composer, Puccini was able to discover and then use actual folk tunes within the fabric of his score for the opera Turandot. This podcast will introduce you to those tunes as they are utilized by Puccini in order to help you get to know more about the opera. Have fun!
Some of you might be familiar with the name, some of you may not. But there was a time when, especially in Europe, mezzo-soprano Conchita Supervia was considered the greatest Carmen of all time. Luckily for us, she left some brilliant recordings behind, dating from the 1930s. Take a listen and see if you agree that this singer might just have left a standard of performance that has yet to be surpassed!
We're lucky in that many of the great sopranos of the past who've sung the role of Marguerite in Gounod's Faust recorded excerpts or were involved in complete commercial recordings of the work. Let's survey them and bask for awhile in the beauty of these voices!
In Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier we have a wonderful example of a hosenrolle or 'trouser role', a female singer portraying a male character in an opera. Strauss and other composers in opera history had a lot of fun with these roles, and it's time to explore how Octavian fits into the tradition.
One of the most exciting male roles in all of Puccini's operas is the role of Calaf, the Tartar Prince who comes to China and falls in love with Turandot. Although Miguel Fleta, who created the role in 1926, did not record anything from the role the tenor whom the composer had in mind all along did. Take a listen to some of the tenors who made the role famous, find out more about Calaf and hear some beautiful music!
Sure, she's the 'star', and yes, she gets all the great, memorable tunes. But did you every think that maybe, just possibly, the opera is really about Don Jose? Musically, at least, I think he's more interesting! Let's take a listen!
In looking forward to bass-baritone Greer Grimsley's performance in our upcoming production of Gounod's FAUST, I thought it would be fun to look more closely at the role of Mephistopheles and the historic basses who sang the role.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered, not terribly long ago, that there were recordings of members of the very first production of Der Rosenkavalier from Dresden, 1911! Here's an introduction to the very first soprano to sing the marvelous role of the Marschallin, Margarethe Siems. Enjoy!
Luckily for us, Puccini's opera Turandot premiered in 1926, well after the invention of sound recording. So even though we don't have a recording of excerpts from the opera by the two principals (soprano Rosa Raisa and Miguel Fleta), we do have recordings of some of the sopranos who made history in the role. Let's survey a handful of those sopranos and see if we can get a good sound picture of what Puccini might have expected for the role.
Announcing San Diego Opera's 2011 International Season! Listen to Dr. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach introduce Puccini's Turandot, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, Gounod's Faust and Bizet's Carmen, operas that will be brilliantly produced and performed at the Civic Theatre. Join Dr. Reveles for an operatic adventure in listening!
Tenors from Caruso to Domingo have sung and recorded music from Verdi's opera La traviata. Here's a survey of some of those famous singers and their recordings for your enjoyment, a benefit of which will be to get more familiar with Alfredo's music before you come see our production!
Poor Alfredo's father: he often gets short shrift in discussions of Verdi's masterpiece La Traviata, and he deserves better! Here's a survey of his role in the opera as well as some wonderful recorded excerpts to help you get to know him better.
Great art is about great choices, and Verdi made great choices in writing operas like Nabucco! I'd like to reflect for a few minutes on just what kinds of choices he made in this exciting opera as we come to the end of this brilliant production!
We all know by now that Verdi's Nabucco is loosely based on the Bible, and the deep background of the story is the Babylonian Captivity, the Exile. Upon looking more closely at the libretto of the opera, one can find all of the different forms of prayer that one can actually find in the Bible, prayer-forms that are actually recognized by Biblical scholars. Did Temistocle Solera, the librettist for Verdi's opera, know the Bible that well? Perhaps, perhaps not. But listen to the examples you'll find in today's podcast and make up your own mind.
In the same spirit as a podcast we posted a few months back about great Rodolfos in the history of recorded sound, here is a brief survey of some of the great sopranos who've sung the role of Mimi, especially created for this week as we open Puccini's La Boheme! Enjoy the sounds of Farrar, Albanese, de los Angeles, Tebaldi and Freni as we look forward to Saturday night's opening.
Since we are going into production on our first opera of the season, let's take another look at a podcast that first ran on June 10, 2009, all about the first act of Puccini's La boheme and how the composer uses musical ideas to tell a great story. This is a great brush-up in preparation for your trip to the theatre, beginning on January 30!
Let's kick off our 2010 San Diego Opera Podcast Season by meeting one of the stars of our first production, Puccini's La Boheme: the young Polish tenor Piotr Beczala! This is first class singing from the lyric tenor that we've all been waiting for!
With the opening of James Cameron's film Avatar last week, I started thinking about moments in opera history that were game-changing, that began revolutions in the art form. Let's take a quick look!
Nabucco might have been Verdi's first success, but it was his third opera. What were the first two like? And how about the two that followed that success in 1842? Let's explore the operas of Verdi, the early years.
San Diego Opera is producing the evergreen standard "La boheme" by Puccini, an opera that all opera lovers know and love. But what about one of his lesser known works? Not terribly long ago, I discovered "La Rondine" and realize what a get this opera is. Let me introduce it to you so that you can come to love it as much as I do!
Maybe you haven't noticed, but recitative is treated differently in different eras of opera history. Earlier operas utilized harpsichord and other keyboard instruments to accompany recitative, later operas used the full orchestra. But are operatic characters treated differently, even within the same opera? Let's explore!
Impress your opera-loving friends with your newly found knowledge of one of the most exciting musical events in most standard repertory Italian operas and that even occasionally shows up in the French and German repertoire! The Concertato…here it is. Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask. Free of charge.
You may well wonder: was there such a thing as a German opera composer before Wagner? His works so outshone every other German composer within his lifetime that we tend to forget about people like Weber, Spohr, Nicolai, Lortzing and Marschner. Who??
Now here's a sample of wonderful music from operas that I'm sure you've either never seen or never WILL see! You'll hear music by such diverse composers as Cilea, Catalani, Auber, Thomas and...Rossini. Enjoy this excursion into the unknown.
Let's take a few minutes to listen to excerpts from our 2010 Season which feature the secondary principal singers, roles like Marcello, Ismaele, Mercutio and Germont. You can have the greatest Rodolfo and Mimi in the world, but you'd better have a Marcello who can match them!
We've thrown this term around a lot in our podcast series. It's time to define it and listen to some worthy examples from the operas of Richard Wagner. It is summer, after all, with Ring festivals going on throughout the world!
Love duets are a part of just about every opera in the standard repertory, so much so that we don’t think about them much. We just luxuriate in their beautiful melodies. But there’s always a reason for those ebbs and flows of passion. Let’s explore some of the love duets in the early periods of opera history and see what makes them tick!
The most fascinating aspect of Verdi’s La traviata is that the story is based on true events in the life of a real, 19th century French socialite, who had many aristocratic, well-connected and famous lovers, went through numerous fortunes and died of tuberculosis at the tender age of 23. Who was this remarkable woman? Listen to this week’s podcast to find out!
One of the more unusual aspects of Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet is the fact that the tenor and soprano who sing the two title roles have four (count ‘em, FOUR) love duets! Let’s take a look at these duets and see what the challenges are in them for the singers as well as for the audience.
Nabucco was Verdi’s third opera and his first true success. But what was the measure of success in opera in 1840s Italy? What were other composers doing at the time? Who inspired Verdi? Let’s explore this opera by placing it in the context of music and drama of that time.
We've covered Puccini's masterpiece La boheme in our 2010 Season Podcast; but let's take a closer look. The composer's sense of drama and his complete mastery of the use of melody make this an unforgettable work. Here's our Director of Education, Dr. Nicolas Reveles, to give you an insight into what makes this opera tick!
And now for your semi-annual Italian lesson: the word is 'tinta', and it means 'color'. Now that you know what it means to us, let's discover what it meant to composer Giuseppe Verdi, especially with regards to our next production, Rigoletto, opening this week!
Verdi's Rigoletto didn't just spring from nothingness: there were a number of baritone roles in his earlier operas that foreshadowed this brilliant creation. Here are examples of two of them from Ernani and Macbeth. Enjoy!
As we look forward to San Diego Opera's production of Verdi's Rigoletto opening in March, let's take a quick tour of the operas that put Verdi on the operatic map!
Let’s explore further a topic that we discussed a few months back, inspired by a recent article in the New York Times by the eminent music critic Anthony Tommasini on the nature of bel canto. Does this elusive Italian term describe a style of musical composition, especially in terms of melodic direction, or a composer’s sensitivity to words? Or both? You be the judge!
We all know that opera and dance have been intertwined since the beginning, and in France they were co-equal arts living in the same space. But have you ever given thought to all of those moments in opera where dance actually moves the drama along, not a tacked on, pretty addition to the opera but an important part of the narrative? Let's talk about it!
In a series of occasional surveys of specialized voice types here are a few words (and a few sound clips) of every opera lover's stratospheric dream...the coloratura soprano. When the composer says 'jump', she asks 'how high?'
Whatever happened to recitative? Did it die with Donizetti or did composers somehow carry on the style? And more importantly, does recitative still have a place in so called modern opera?
Let's continue our discussion of the opera overture by looking at Mozart, Rossini and the composers of our 2009 Season operas. More on the evolution of the overture...
Let's take a little time out to focus on the role of the orchestra in opera, beginning at the beginning: the overture. What is the role of the overture? Since it's the first music you hear, it's pretty important, right? Well, maybe. Here's a brief history.
Are you dreading it? Are you looking forward to it? You're just putting up with it because your wife wants to go? Which opera is good to bring the kids to? Give me 15 minutes, I'll show you how to have a good time at the opera, from dinner before to drinks after!
Britten, the composer of "Peter Grimes" which San Diego Opera will be producing in 2009, was a crucial link to composers today who work in the English language. Let's explore his contribution to the art.
Besides defining just what a cadenza is, let's go a bit further and ask ourselves if there are dramatic or even emotional reasons for cadenzas, or are they just an opportunity for a singer to milk applause from the audience?
In my humble opinion, Massenet and Puccini are speaking essentially the same language and share a similar turn-of-the-century aesthetic. Listen in and see if you agree!
Yes it's a formidable name, but it's one of the most easily recognizable techniques that composers use to pull their operas together. Spend a few moments and let me give you some great examples from our 2009 season!
A little summer diversion: there are so many good recordings of Tosca out there, but which ones are best? I'm not sure, but here are some of my favorites, recordings that you'll be able to find on Amazon.com.
Recitative. It's a word you hear thrown around a lot in operatic circles, but do you know what it really means? Not to worry...here's everything you need to know about recitative and then some. You'll be thanking me when you can use it intelligently during the next intermission at the opera. Your friends will be impressed. Seriously.
What's up with operas like Aida, The Pearl Fishers, Madama Butterfly and Turandot? Nineteenth century opera seemed to corner the market on exotic locales.
OK, OK, I was just trying to get your attention. Nothing salacious here, just a brief overview of the guys at the bottom. No, really!
The old man knew what he was doing: he wanted opera to be real theatre. And if a Verdi opera doesn't come off that way, then something's wrong.
The baritone is the man's man of opera. If George Clooney were an opera singer, he'd probably be one. But he's not. So we won't go there.
Because. A brief history of Italy and its relationship to one of her most glorious exports. Besides limoncello. Say Euridice three times fast.
Mamas, witches and gypsies. And real women with an independent streak. If The Sopranos were an opera, Livia would be one. A mezzo, that is.
A brief history of something you didn't know existed until you started coming to San Diego Opera. Why don't we just call it a song and be done with it?
Maybe it oughta be. But short answer: no. Tune in the long answer. It's got something to do with beautiful singing and we've got it!
...or Carmela or Meadow or Johnny Sack. But if you want to get to know the other sopranos, tune in. Coloraturas, dramatics, lyrics...they're all gorgeous and they're all here.
Something kind of cool happens when words and music meet. You know, your song?? It reminds you of when you met that special person...where you were, what you did, maybe even what time it was. Multiply that by one hundred and you have opera!