From this rare Italian work, the season will move to a rare Russian one, Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, in its American premiere. Based on a Gogol fairy tale, the opera involves assorted ghosts and the domestic difficulties of a father and son vying for the same woman. The production, conducted by Valery Ryvkin, opens on March 13.
By Tim Smith, Music Writer, Sun-Sentinel
If you’re interested in supplementing your South Florida opera diet, appetizing fare is just a coast away.
Sarasota Opera opens its 40th season Feb. 13 with a familiar staple, Bizet’s Carmen, starring Jennifer Dudley and Gabriel Gonzalezand conducted by company artistic director Victor DeRenzi.
From this ever-popular tale of the seductive, tuneful gypsy and the men in her life, the season will move into some exotic cuisine.
Puccini’s La rondine, which has never been staged on our side of the state, will open Feb. 20. Commissioned by a theater in Vienna, this work from 1917 was supposed to be an Italian version of a Viennese operetta. It didn’t quite turn out that way. Puccini wasn’t comfortable with the lighter musical style or the libretto he was given, so he made some changes.
The result was neither an operetta nor a full-blown Puccini opera. La rondine (The Swallow) has never been a big hit with the public, except at its premiere in Monte Carlo, but an exquisite aria from the score, Chi bel sogno, became a magnet for sopranos right from the start. In recent years, La rondine has attracted many admirers and stagings are now more common. This one, directed by Stephanie Sundine and conducted by James Meena, features Carol Ann Manzi and Richard Sanchez.
Sarasota Opera has devoted time each season to Verdi for several years now, unearthing some of his rarely produced operas to complement well-known items. This season, the company welcomes Luisa Miller into its repertoire for the first time on March 6, conducted by DeRenzi. Suzanne Balaes and Philip Webb will star in this dark melodrama of love gone awry in 18th century Tyrol, which many consider to be Verdi’s first mature opera.
All operas, sung in their original language, will be performed at the 1,000-seat Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. The season runs from Feb. 13 through March 27, with multiple performances of each work, including matinees. There also will be various concerts featuring cast members, participants in the company’s Studio Artist and Apprentice Artist programs; and previews of each opera with round-table discussions involving singers, conductors, directors and designers.
For more information, call 941-366-8450 or check out the company’s Web site, www.sarasotaopera.org.
Jesters and butterflies
Closer to home, Gold Coast Opera is gearing up for its second production of the season, Verdi’s Rigoletto, which opens Sunday in Coral Springs. James Dietsch, who starred in the company’s staging of Verdi’s Falstaff last season, will sing the title role of the accursed, hunchbacked court jester. The cast also includes Carol Meyer as Gilda, Paul Hartfield as the Duke. Company artistic director Thomas Cavendish will conduct; Malcolm Arnold is the stage director.
Performances are at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Coral Springs City Centre, 2855 Coral Springs Drive (call 954-344-5990); 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at Olympic Heights High School, 20101 Lyons Road, Boca Raton (call 561-297-3737); 8 p.m. Feb. 12 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 14 at Bailey Hall, Broward Community College, 3501 SW Davie Road, Davie (call 954-475-6884). Tickets are $19 to $27, depending on venue.
The New York City Opera National Company — the touring arm of the Lincoln Center-based parent company — is heading to South Florida with a production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. The National Company, now in its 20th season, has been a fertile training ground for some notable opera stars over the years. The current production features Anna Singer in the title role and Armando Mora as Pinkerton.
The opera will be presented by the Concert Association of Florida at 8 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Broward Center, 201 SW Fifth Avenue, Fort Lauderdale. Tickets are $20 to $70. Call Ticketmaster. Additional performances, at 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 16, will be presented by, and performed at, the Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Tickets are $20 to $55. Call 561-832-7469, 800-572-8471.
Russian sounds
Subscribers to the Regional Arts series at the Kravis Center and Concert Association of Florida series at the Broward Center will not find the Radio Symphony of Berlin onstage next week as originally scheduled. That ensemble, led by Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, had to cancel its U.S. tour “due to the unexpected financial turmoil in the German government’s funding of the arts.”
The concerts will go on, however, even with the same soloist who had planned to perform with the Berliners, violinist Vladimir Spivakov. The replacement ensemble will be the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Valery Polyansky.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1999-02-05/entertainment/9902050350_1_la-rondine-suzanne-balaes-puccini