Day 27: Opera, Crowdsource Style

This beautiful June 13 had among its riches our interactive and one-of-a-kind Aria Jukebox concert. Before the performance, the audience and artists gathered for wine, cheese, banter, and good-natured lobbying for favorite arias. Participants put their tokens, coins and $20 bills in the jukeboxes to choose which pieces each singer would offer. (It’s been suggested that we roll out Apple Pay next time:)) The result was the program below. The audience did such a fabulous job of picking a varied, stimulating and beautiful set of songs that I think I’m going to crowd-source every program I put together from now on!

From the Baroque:

• Monteverdi – “Disprezzata regina” from L’Incoronazione di Poppea, sung by mezzo-soprano Abigail Levis
• Rameau – “Natur, amour” from Castor et Pollux, sung by baritone Morgan Pearse

Mozart, Donizetti & Rossini

• Mozart – “Non mi dir” from Don Giovanni, sung by soprano Melinda Whittington
• Donizetti – “Una furtiva lagrima” from L’elisir d’amore, sung by tenor David Margulis
• Rossini – “La calunnia” from Il barbiere di Siviglia, sung by bass-baritone Thomas Richards

French, Italian & German Romantic/Verismo

• Thomas – “Le Tambour Major” from Le Caïd, sung by bass Christian Zaremba
• Verdi – “Come dal ciel” from Macbeth, sung by bass Evan Boyer
• Verdi – “É sogno o realtá” from Falstaff, sung by Reginald Smith, Jr.
• Wagner – “Dich theure Halle” from Tannhäuser, sung by soprano Alexandra Loutsion
• Wagner – “Winterstürme” from Die Walküre, sung by tenor Frederick Ballentine
• Leoncavallo – “Vesti la giubba” from I pagliacci, sung by tenor Robert Watson
• Puccini – “Tu che di gel sei cinta” from Turandot, sung by soprano Kerriann Otaño

Operetta, 20th Century American Opera & Song

• Romberg – “One Alone” from The Desert Song, sung by bass Tim Bruno
• Korngold – Pierrots Tanzlied from Die tote Stadt, sung by baritone Joo Won Kang
• Floyd – “Ain’t it a pretty night” from Susannah, sung by soprano D’Ana Lombard
• Bernstein – “I am easily assimilated” from Candide, sung by mezzo-soprano Jenni Bank
• Adams – “I am the wife of Mao Tse-Tung” from Nixon in China, sung by soprano Amy Owens
• Rodgers – “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” from The Sound of Music, sung by mezzo-soprano Sarah Larsen
• Gershwin – “Someone to Watch over Me” from O Kay!, sung by soprano Talya Lieberman

At the end of the show, we featured a “Company Choice” selection, in which the artists and staff of WTO requested one aria from among the remaining 57 that weren’t selected by the audience. The result ended up also being an audience favorite: Puccini’s “Nessun dorma” from Turandot (sung by tenor Robert Watson.)

Tomorrow is another busy day, for Figaro gets married (again.)