We spent last evening digging through the repertoire treasure trove in preparation for the end of the audition tour (which is in sight… less than 2 weeks!) For your amusement (and your betting pleasure, if it pleases you), here’s the list of titles we discussed. Alphabetized so as to not show inadvertent favoritism.
Don’t get too attached to any of them… We still have dozens of hours of auditions left to go, and we have been known to change our minds at the last minute. :)
Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)
La belle Hélène (Offenbach)
La bohème (Puccini)
Cendrillon (Massenet)
Cold Sassy Tree (Floyd)
Le Comte Ory (Rossini)
Le docteur Miracle (Bizet)
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart)
La fille du régiment (Donizetti)
The Fortunes of King Croesus (Keiser)
La gazza ladra (Rossini)
The Gondoliers (Sullivan)
Hercules (Handel)
L’ile de Merlin (Gluck)
L’italiana in Algeri (Rossini)
Il matrimonio segreto (Cimarosa)
Il mondo della luna (Haydn)
La pietra del paragone (Rossini)
The Rape of Lucretia (Britten)
Susannah (Floyd)
Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO MY OPINION:
La Belle Helene has a large cast, with lots of acting instructions. Great Idea if you have a tenor who can sing the old Jussi Bjorling Aria.
Gimme me one of the Rossini Operas, any one of the Rossini Opera!
Cendrillon or Entfuhrung or Fille du Regiment would certainly give Amy Owens a better workout than she had lasts Summer. You owe this marvelous artist that! Of these three, Cendrillon certainly has the largest number of lead roles – makes everybody happy.
Please don’t threaten to do La Boheme unless you relegate it to the Feline Center and sell the place out with ticket holders who can name only one opera. Include me out!
I looked up a few of these that I don’t know. I’d like to hear Cold Sassy Tree. I grew up in Georgia and would love to hear opera sung with a southern drawl.
WTOC has already performed Il Matrimonio Segreto” twice in my memory; I think it was done by U MD Opera Studio as well. “Il Mondo del la Luna” was performed at U MD by Opera Lafayette, with Francois Loup in one of the leading roles. I agree with Michael Rogers: ever since I was captivated by the tale by Olive Ann Burns, I have longed to hear this opera (Cold Sassy Tree). It had been rumored that Baltimore Opera was considering this opera, but sadly, all opportunities with that company have vanished. I also love “Susannah.”
“Susannah” “Susannah” “Susannah”
I would love to see Cold Sassy Tree and la belle Helene. I don’t think we could match Jussi, but we have had some good tenors here in the past. I agree that one Rossini opera would be great also. But please not Cendrillon. I know you will present operas that give many young artists a role, and that is wonderful.
Bea Bobotek.
I’m curious, Bea – why not Cendrillon?
I disagree with my good friend, Bea. Cendrillon has a lot going for it, as follows:
1. It is by Massenet, who never seems to have written the same type of opera twice.
2. It has a large cast of lead roles fitting for young voices. Leads usually include two lyric mezzo , one darker voiced mezzo who can also act mean, one light- high soprano and a lyric baritone.
3. And if there are not enough lyric mezzos to go around this coming Summer, when everything else fails a tenor can always sing Le Prince Charmant as Nicolai Gedda once did.
4. It has been a very long time since the WNO did it on two occasions with Frederica von Stade, Ruth Welting & Maureen Forrester, once with Dehlia Wallace and once with Suzzanne Mentzer as le Prince Charmant, so frankly don’t remember how large or small the roles of Noemie & Dorothee are.
5. Depending on how you look at it, there are either seven or nine non-leads. In either case nine other artists will have earned some very valuable rehearsal and performing experience.
6. If Amy Owens returns, she would make an ideal La Fee.
7. If Abigail Levis or Sarah Larson return, either one would make an ideal Cendrillon [or maybe Le Prince Charmant for that matter].
Another word on behalf of Massenet:
If the Annual Auditions ever pick up enough heavy voices, maybe Ms Kim, et al, will consider the Massenet Double Bill of “Therese” & “La Navarraise”. At 65 and 45 minutes, no cuts will have to be made!
It would be wonderful to see at least one really rarely performed opera. Keiser’s Croesus is a gem, and so is Haydn’s Il Mondo della Luna (with its sparkling Goldoni libretto). L’ile de Merlin is an exciting idea; there is no recording of it, as far as I am aware. I can’t wait to see the final list!
Well, we won’t announce until March 3, but I will tell you that although none of the operas you cite ended up on the final rep list, we will have 2 rarely performed operas, one of which (in spite of being 250 years old) has never been performed in the U.S.!