What's trending today is opera. When I last posted on the Patch , Peach State Opera was about to present Madam Butterfly at Georgia Perimeter College; and had performances scheduled throughout Georgia in Brunswick, Tifton, and Waleska. The overwhelming audience response to this beloved Puccini opera resulted in sold out audiences in Brunswick and Tifton, and the best attendance yet at Georgia Perimeter College in Clarkston.
The company will soon begin rehearsals for their upcoming production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte which will be presented on Saturday , January 11 at 3 p. m in the sanctuary of The Avondale First Baptist Church in Avondale Estates, GA.
Opera has become more accessible to a wider range of audiences because of the popularity of the HD performances from the Metropolitan Opera. Presented in movie theatres on the big screen with subtitles in English, they are shown all over Georgia and throughout the world. The close ups of the singers really captures the emotion and drama of the operas, not to mention the back stage tours and interviews of the stars by established operatic performers such as Joyce Di Donato. The 2012 grammy winner won for her album Diva Divo which featured arias from both the trouser rolls and their corresponding female lead roles in a variety of well know operas. She has many devoted readers of her Yankee Diva blog where she is a vocal advocate for the importance of music in public schools. Here is an excerpt from her recent interview with Rupert Christiansen, opera critic for The London Telegraph. He says:
She has trenchant things to say to the people who run the business too, and has a blast at certain operatic marketing campaigns that she believes are misleading and unhelpful. “Stop apologizing, stop trying to sell our music by dumbing it down. Sell opera on the basis that it is like nothing else on the planet, not on the basis that it’s superficially cool and hip – that is so phoney.”“Recently I performed at the Grammy awards. I felt like a fish out of water surrounded by all these rock and jazz musicians in a huge conference hall environment. But I sang the second half of Cenerentola’s rondo, and it seemed to go down very well.”“What really moved me was an African-American girl who might have been 15. She came running up to find me afterwards and said ‘I don’t know what you call that sort of singing, but it was the most wonderful thing I have ever heard. Where can I find more of it?’ If we do our job properly, people will listen and get it. You see, great music just works."
Be a part of this opera trend, put Peach State Opera's Saturday
Jan. 11 performance of Cosi fan tutte on your calendar and see how great opera works. http://peachstateopera.org/about-peach-state-opera-
