After the success of the previous season’s La calisto, the Company mounted another baroque opera at The Barns in July 1984 – Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea. With its numerous roles, it was a wonderful vehicle for the resident ensemble of young artists. The cast boasted now-General Director of Fort Worth Opera Darren Keith Woods as
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Wolf Trap Opera Company 1983: Overview
Other than a showcase performance at the Meadow Center, the Company’s 1983 activities were exclusive to its relatively new home at The Barns. In addition to full productions of Donizetti’s Tutor’s Dilemma and Cavalli’s La calisto, patrons enjoyed a cabaret-style performance of Kurt Weill – After Dark, which wove materials from Mahagonny and Street Scene.
Read MoreWTOC 1983: La calisto
Cavalli’s La calisto marked the Company’s first return to the baroque since the 1977 L’egisto. The latter was on the big outdoor stage, but the 1983 Calisto enjoyed the intimacy of The Barns. The late Joseph McLellan wrote in The Washington Post, “[Calisto‘s] plot is a running battle between the sublime and the (intentionally) ridiculous…
Read MoreWTOC 1983: The Tutor’s Dilemma
Donizetti came to The Barns in August 1982, in an English version of L’aio nell’imbarazzo. Conducted by WTOC Music Director Ricard Woitach and directed by Robert Darling, this production included a young mezzo named Jennifer Larmore in the role of Leonarda. * *
Read More1982 Wolf Trap Opera Company: Overview
1982 was a difficult summer, for in the wake of the big Filene Center fire, nothing could be taken for granted. Yet the Company had one of its most ambitious seasons to date, with performance in all three venues – ranging from an adventurous sampling of chamber operas in the new Barns at Wolf Trap
Read MoreWTOC 1982: King Roger
Karol Szymanowski’s only full-length opera, King Roger, was performed in a concert version at the temporary Meadow Center in August 1982. it was only the second time this opera had been performed in the U.S., and it was scheduled in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Szymanowski’s birth. (I stumbled onto this dissertation recently –
Read MoreWTOC 1982: Regina
Elizabeth Taylor was quite active at Wolf Trap in these early years*, and she must’ve been thrilled to see the Wolf Trap debut of Blitzstein’s Regina – an opera based on the play in which Miss Taylor had so much success, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes. (*Elizabeth Taylor is still an director emeritus of the
Read MoreWTOC 1982: Cosi fan tutte, Lo speziale, L’histore du soldat, & Dr. Miracle!
The Opera Company moved into its new home at The Barns in the summer of 1982, with productions of Cosi fan tutte and a double bill of Haydn’s Lo speziale (seen at left) and Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat. They also mounted Bizet’s Dr. Miracle at the Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods (photo below) and performed in a production
Read MoreApril 4, 1982
Most people who were in the Washington, D.C. area in the spring of 1982 remember it. In the early morning of April 4, 1982, Wolf Trap’s Filene Center burned to the ground. (It was actually the second time that fire had threatened Wolf Trap, as the original structure had suffered a fire during its construction.)
Read MoreWolf Trap Opera Company 1981: Overview
The Company’s first decade was exhilarating – big guest stars and lots of time on the outdoor stage at the Filene Center. There were high-powered guest conductors and directors generating adrenaline to spare, expensive productions and a world premiere. The 80’s seem to have started off in a more subdued fashion. Adelaide Bishop and Richard
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