Sun, 27 December 2009
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Mon, 16 November 2009
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Thu, 5 November 2009
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! |
Mon, 2 November 2009
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! |
Mon, 12 October 2009
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. |
Mon, 5 October 2009
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?? |
Mon, 21 September 2009
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.
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Tue, 15 September 2009
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! |
Tue, 11 August 2009
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Mon, 13 July 2009
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! |
Mon, 29 June 2009
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! |
Mon, 22 June 2009
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. |
Mon, 15 June 2009
Nabucco was Verdi’s third opera and his first true success. But what was the measure of success in opera in 1840s |
Wed, 10 June 2009
Category:podcasts
-- posted at: 2:09pm PST
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Mon, 23 March 2009
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Mon, 16 March 2009
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Mon, 23 February 2009
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!
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