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“The Falling and the Rising” is a new opera formed from interviews with many soldiers. It is being performed at the Broome County Forum. Tri-Cities Opera General Director John Rozzoni and tenor SFC Ben Hilgert talk about the genesis of the opera and the many veterans services that will be available at the performance.
Photo credit: Tri-Cities Opera
Hear Waterloo, NY native Lindsay Kate Brown sing from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera
A native of Waterloo, NY, mezzo-soprano Lindsay Kate Brown was one of nine finalists in the Grand Finals Concert, out of thousands of singers from around the world. She talks to us by phone from Houston, where she is with the Houston Grand Opera, about the process, and about a dizzying week when she sang in the Metropolitan Opera Grand Finals Concert, and won another competition just two days before.
Photo credit: Kristin Hoebermann
The Opera Workshop of the Binghamton University Music Department presents Engelbert Humperdinck’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’
The Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season opens with Philip Glass’ ‘Akhnaten.’
Tri-Cities Opera presents Giacomo Puccini’s ‘Tosca’
Norman was one of the leading African American opera figures in a time when there were fewer than now. The soprano won four Grammys and the National Medal of Arts.
The opera star, who has been accused by 20 women, was scheduled to perform Verdi’s Macbeth starting on Wednesday night. In an email, he told Met staffers that he will never perform there again.
Tri-Cities Opera presents its annual celebration of song, Opera and Beer
Since August, 20 women have made allegations against the highly influential opera star via reports published by The Associated Press. A spokesperson for Domingo disputed the report.
The Metropolitan Opera suspended, and then fired, Levine after several men came forward with accusations that the conductor had sexually abused them.
The new opera by Tazewell Thompson and Jeanine Tesori tells the story of a couple in Harlem who are forced to confront their teenage son’s sudden death by police violence.
A recent Pop Culture Happy Hour trip to New York took the team to see Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera. A jester in a rat pack? We saw it.
New York City Opera has commissioned Stonewall, a new opera premiering one week before the 50th anniversary of the riots that sparked the modern gay-rights movement.
NYS Baroque presents George Frideric Handel’s pastoral opera ‘Acis and Galatea’.
Tri-Cities Opera is presenting the Gilbert and Sullivan favorite ‘HMS Pinafore.’
The young composer’s opera, which debuted at the Los Angeles Opera, was inspired by her own experience as a survivor of sexual assault.
Binghamton University’s Opera Ensemble is presenting Henry Purcell’s opera ‘Dido and Aeneas’.
Performances of the New York Metropolitan Opera are heard Saturday afternoons, during its season, on WSKG Classical.
Tri-Cities Opera presents Jake Heggie’s 90-minute opera ‘Three Decembers’
ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) – Cooperstown, New York means one thing to baseball fans – the Hall of Fame, And another thing to opera fans – The Glimmerglass Festival, held every summer.
Geneva Light Opera presents Gioachino Rossini’s comic opera ‘The Barber of Seville’ which pairs virtuoso singing with uproarious comedy.
After 22 years away from the Metropolitan Opera, acclaimed soprano Kathleen Battle will return for a November concert of spirituals.
In Dominick Argento’s opera ‘Postcard from Morocco’ everyone has a secret
The Binghamton University Music Department’s Opera Ensemble presents composer John Davies’ 40 minute opera for children, ‘Billy Goats Gruff’. The composer and the Opera Ensemble’s Music Director, Willie Anthony Waters, talk about the opera and their casts of singers. Mr. Davies (pictured) explains how he uses preexisting music from operas where similar situations are encountered. Mr. Waters also gives us a heads-up that he will be on the Metropolitan Opera live Saturday broadcast’s Opera Quiz twice this coming season. http://wskg.org/audio/billygoats.mp3
Photo credit: Binghamton University Music Department
WSKG is proud to partner with Tri-Cities Opera to go behind the scenes of their production of the widely acclaimed ‘Glory Denied’.
Col. Jim Thompson was held nearly nine years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. Tom Philpott’s book about that ordeal and Thompson’s subsequent return to the USA has been adapted into an opera by composer Tom Cipullo. Tri-Cities Opera will offer five performances of it in the Opera Center on Clinton Street in Binghamton. General and Artistic Director Susan Ashbaker and conductor Joshua Horsch talk about this powerful yet lyrical drama, and the events around the performances. The November 11 performance will be free for veterans who reserve tickets through the Vet’s Center. http://wskg.org/audio/gloryhorsch.mp3
Photo credit: Randy Cummings/Bunn Hill Photo
Professors Goodheart and Harder join us to talk about the program and Raul’s career, which has included guest spots on ‘A Prairie Home Companion.’
Kitchen Theatre welcomes Fitz&Startz Production for ‘The Mystery of the Magic Flute’, a re-imagining of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ with music from other Mozart operas for a detective story for kids about a mysterious theatre. “Three American girls–Bettina age 15, Anna age 12, and Suz age 9–are off to Salzburg, Austria with their Uncle Wolfie to see the sights and experience going to the opera in Mozart’s home town. Uncle Wolfie has told his nieces about a mysterious opera house that is on a street with no name and is not on any map. Can they find it? When Uncle Wolfie turns a corner and disappears and a mysterious door appears, the girls decide to enter.
Tri-Cities Opera presents Giacomo Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’ in one performance on Sunday, October 15 in the Forum in downtown Binghamton. Soprano Meroe Khalia Adeeb and baritone Scott Purcell talk about the production, their cast mates, and what makes this opera such a favorite. WSKG’s Natalie Shoemaker streamed the interview and a subsequent question and answer session live on Facebook. You can see that here. http://wskg.org/audio/boheme.mp3
Photo credit: Randy Cummings/Bunn Hill Photo
Opera Ithaca presents Ruggero Leoncavallo’s versimo opera ‘Pagliacci’ at Circus Culture in Ithaca. Director Zachary James joined us via Skype from New York just as the company was preparing to present the opera at The Slipper Room in the East Village in Manhattan. He talks about incorporating circus acts into the commedia dell’arte elements of the opera. http://wskg.org/audio/pagliacci.mp3
Photo credit: Opera Ithaca
Geneva Light Opera presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s dramma giocoso ‘Don Giovanni’. Jimi James, the baritone singing the title role, joins us along with General Manager Gena Rangel to talk about this unique and challenging work that runs the gamut from high drama to slapstick comedy. http://wskg.org/audio/genevadon.mp3
Photo credit: Kevin Schoonover for Geneva Light Opera
Opera Ithaca is presenting Gioachino Rossini’s version the the Cinderella story for two full-length performances and one performance of a short children’s version. General Director Zachary James and hair and make-up coordinator Dorothy Peterson talk about the history of the original version, staging this effervescent comedy with a large cast, and adding choreography. They also tell about their visit to a vast costume warehouse to find appropriate clothing for the cast — and finding some costumes specially made for well-known singers. http://wskg.org/audio/cinderella.mp3
Tri-Cities Opera presents an opera unique in its genesis and format. In ‘Hydrogen Jukebox’ poet Allen Ginsberg and composer Philip Glass collaborated on settings of some of Ginsberg’s most powerful poetry. Stage director Alison Moritz has given the songs shape by adding actor Bill Gorman in the last days of Ginsberg’s life. Maestro Braden Toan leads a chamber orchestra and singers Stacey Geyer, Abigail Smith, Mary Beth Nelson, Jordan Schreiner, Scott Purcell, and Jake Stamatis. http://wskg.org/audio/hydrogen.mp3
Photo credit: Randy Cummings via Tri-Cities Opera
Opera Ithaca is presenting its inaugural Edward M. Murray Competition of Voice on Sunday, March 19 from 2pm to 7pm in the Community School of Music and Arts. It is free and open to the public. Artistic Director Lynn Craver and General Director Zachary James (pictured), both singers themselves, join us to talk about the avalanche of submissions they received from all over the world, and about the legacy of Edward M. Murray himself. http://wskg.org/audio/operacompetition.mp3
Photo credit: Opera Ithaca
Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church welcomes Boston-based tenor Michael Calmes in concert with Trinity’s organist Timothy Smith for two concerts. The First Friday concert at 7pm is ‘Broadway to Hollywood’ with soprano Christina Taylor, and then on Sunday at 7pm they present ‘Canzona’ with arias, art songs, and sacred works. Michael Calmes talks about the programs and how his family’s dairy cows helped him learn to sing. http://wskg.org/audio/calmes.mp3
Photo credit: Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church
WSKG Public Media will again present the New York Metropolitan Opera’s 87th consecutive Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcast season. These live broadcasts commonly begin in early afternoon on WSKG Radio. It kicks off on December 2, 2017 with a live broadcast of Verdi’s Requiem and continues through the May 5 matinee of Roméo et Juliette. The broadcast season will once again be heard live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network. Mary Jo Heath returns for her third season as host and Ira Siff returns for his 11th season as commentator for the broadcasts, which feature a range of dynamic intermission features, live backstage interviews with artists, and the ever-popular Opera Quiz. The Metropolitan Opera’s full 2017-18 season will feature 220 performances of 26 works, including two Met premieres.
Tri-Cities Opera is presenting a double-bill of Arnold Schoenberg’s early cabaret songs, the Brettl-lieder paired with Maurice Ravel’s effervescent comedy ‘L’Heure Espagnole’. Stage Director James Kenon Mitchell talks about turning the Brettl-lieder into a mini-autobiography of Marilyn Monroe and linking the songs to Ravel’s comedy and its fiery, yet frustrated leading lady, Concepcion. Soprano Stacey Geyer talks about the various sources for the texts used in the Brettl-lieder, and about playing the Marilyn Monroe character. http://wskg.org/audio/brettl.mp3
Photo credit: Randy Cummings of Bunn Hill Photography for Tri-Cities Opera
Opera Ithaca presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s comedy ‘The Abduction from the Seraglio’ in a gala New Year’s Eve performance in the Kitchen Theatre of Ithaca. Artistic Director, soprano Lynn Craver and General Director, bass Zachary James talk about returning to Ithaca to form this young opera company, as well as the challenges of putting together a full opera in just a few days. http://wskg.org/audio/1228seraglio.mp3
Photo credit: Opera Ithaca
Tri-Cities Opera has not been around for a century, but their home started life one hundred years ago as the Lithuanian Social Hall on Clinton Street in Binghamton’s First Ward. The New Year’s party celebrates that heritage with songs associated with 1917. Director of Community Engagement John Rozzoni talks about the celebration, the singers, and the music. http://wskg.org/audio/122616TCO.mp3
Photo credit: Tri-Cities Opera
UPDATE: The venue of the Saturday, December 10 performance has been changed to the Chamber Hall of the Anderson Center. The Binghamton University Music Department’s Opera Ensemble is presenting scenes from Giacomo Puccini’s ‘Suor Angelica’ and Jacques Offenbach’s ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’ in two peformances. Performances are Sunday, December 4 at 3pm in the Ballroom of the Phelps Mansion Museum on Court Street in Binghamton, and again on Saturday, December 10 at 7:30 in Watters Theatre of the Fine Arts Building. the Chamber Hall of the Anderson Center on the Binghamton University campus. http://wskg.org/audio/operascenes.mp3
Photo credit: Binghamton University Music Department
Tenor Timothy Fallon and pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz are presenting a recital at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church on Leroy Street in Binghamton on Saturday, November 26 at 7:30. The program includes music by Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, and Amy Beach. The recital is part of a series of concerts culminating in their debut at Wigmore Hall in London in January. The Bis recording label has just released their recording of songs by Liszt. http://wskg.org/audio/timfallon.mp3
Photo credit: Timothy Fallon
Join WSKG and Tri-Cities Opera for an afternoon of operatic storytelling! Enjoy a twenty minute version of ‘Hansel & Gretel’ as presented by Tri-Cities Opera. Children can also make a craft, try a PBS KIDS ‘Super Why’ activity, and meet opera performers. Sunday, November 6, 2016 | 1:00pm-2:00pm
WSKG Studios | 601 Gates Road Vestal, NY
Space is limited and an RSVP is required using the form below. REGISTER:
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Join WSKG and Tri-Cities Opera for an afternoon of operatic storytelling! Enjoy a twenty minute version of ‘Hansel & Gretel’ as presented by Tri-Cities Opera. Children can also make a craft, try a PBS KIDS ‘Super Why’ activity, and meet opera performers. Sunday, November 6, 2016 | 1:00pm-2:00pm
WSKG Studios | 601 Gates Road Vestal, NY
Space is limited and an RSVP is required using the form below. REGISTER:
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Tri-Cities Opera is presenting Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ in one performance on Sunday, October 16 in the Forum in downtown Binghamton. Director David Lefkowich talks about the non-traditional staging of the opera, with the orchestra onstage. Baritone Timothy LeFebvre, who spent twenty years with TCO as a student and then as a resident artist, returns to Binghamton for the role of Giorgio Germont, a role he first sang with Tri-Cities Opera. Also returning to Binghamton is Meroe Khalia Adeeb in the role of Violetta. http://wskg.org/audio/Traviata.mp3
Photo credit: Pipers Creek via Flickr
Tri-Cities Opera is presenting Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ in one performance on Sunday, October 16 in the Forum in downtown Binghamton. Director David Lefkowich talks about the non-traditional staging of the opera, with the orchestra onstage. Baritone Timothy LeFebvre, who spent twenty years with TCO as a student and then as a resident artist, returns to Binghamton for the role of Giorgio Germont, a role he first sang with Tri-Cities Opera. Also returning to Binghamton is Meroe Khalia Adeeb in the role of Violetta. http://wskg.org/audio/Traviata.mp3
Photo credit: Pipers Creek via Flickr
The Franklin Stage Company present ‘The Ophelia Project’ this weekend. In Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’ she is the victim of Hamlet’s feigned madness and a reason for her brother Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a duel. In operatic treatments she gives the composer an excuse to write a mad scene. But what is she really about? Soprano Cree Carrico and director Christopher Mirto present a musical exploration of this familiar, yet enigmatic character. http://wskg.org/audio/ophelia.mp3
Photo credit: Franklin Stage Company
The Franklin Stage Company presents Opera MODO’s production of Bizet’s ‘Carmen’. At its premiere in 1875, ‘Carmen’ challenged audience with title character’s courage, sense of liberation, and her dark sense of humor. This opera company from Detroit has reset this tuneful favorite in a women’s prison, with the title character as a transgender woman sung by a countertenor. http://wskg.org/audio/carmenfranklin.mp3
Photo credit: Franklin Stage Company and Opera MODO
In 1916, Amelita Galli-Curci, an Italian born opera singer, arrived in the United States as a virtual unknown. Galli-Curci had made a small name for herself singing and traveling in Europe and now looked to tackle the American stage. Very quickly Galli-Curci met with great acclaim and rose through the ranks performing at renowned theatres around the country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FruX_F4Z7g
‘Uniquely New York’ is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Links:
Path Through History
WSKG’s Path Through History
Delaware County Historical Association
Photos Courtesy of:
Delaware County Historical Association
Library of Congress
Wikimedia Commons
Conductor Braden Toan is leading Tri-Cities Opera’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical thriller ‘Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street’. With experience conducting long-running Broadway hits and also uptown at City Opera, he is equally at home with opera and musical theatre. He talks about his techniques of working with opera singers and the challenges of those works that straddle the opera/Broadway line. He also talks about his journey from the bassoon section to the podium. http://wskg.org/audio/Bradentoan.mp3
Photo credit: -jre- via Flickr
Tri-Cities Opera is presenting Stephen Sondheim’s musical thriller ‘Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street’. It’s a challenging show in many ways, and we hear from the singers playing Mrs. Lovett, Jenni Bank, and Sweeney Todd, Philip Cutlip. http://wskg.org/audio/jenniphilip.mp3
Photo credit: Ryan Hyde via Flickr
A team of musicians under the direction of Cornell University professor Neal Zaslaw has created a performing edition of Agostino Agazzari’s 1606 pastoral opera ‘Eumelio’. The Cornell Early Music Lab is performing it on March 19 and 20 in the Klarman Hall Auditorium. http://wskg.org/audio/eumelio.mp3
Photo credit: Alexandra Guerson via Flickr
Gian-Carlo Menotti’s comedy ‘The Telephone’ and Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Trouble in Tahiti’ are presented in the round in the Tri-Cities Opera Center, 315 Clinton Street in Binghamton in four performances this weekend. Stage Director Carleen Graham and conductor Warren Jones talk about this innovative production. http://wskg.org/audio/tahiti2.mp3
Photo credit: Bunn Hill Photo and Randy Cummings
Tri-Cities Opera is bringing in the New Year with Midnight in Paris at the Binghamton Club, with Parisian music from the TCO Resident Artists. Then in January, A Walk on the Wide Side with music from new operas, as well as the first public performance of Santino DeAngelo’s recreation of a Roman pantomime with original music, Narcissus. February brings two one-act American operas, Gian-Carlo Menotti’s comedy The Telephone and Leonard Bernstein’s jazz-influenced Trouble in Tahiti. TCO’s John Rozzoni joins us to talk about all of these. http://www.wskg.org/audio/paris.mp3
Photo provided by Tri-Cities Opera: AmArA’s evocation of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”
Theatre Street Productions presents Glitter and Gold: Operatic Jewels of the Gilded Age, music from the era when the Phelps family built their home on Court Street in Binghamton. Soprano Andrea Gregori, mezzo-soprano Kasey Stewart, tenor Steven Nanni, and pianist Margaret Reitz perform selections from opera and Gilbert and Sullivan in the ballroom of the Phelps Mansion. This past summer they performed at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Harrogate, Great Britain. The Mansion is decorated for the holidays, and the singers are in period costumes. The concert is on Sunday, December 20th at 3pm. http://wskg.org/audio/glitterphelps.mp3
Photo courtesy of Angel Zdimal
Binghamton University Music Department presents two Sunday matinees of Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. Originally written for television, Menotti wrote it so that it could be easily staged in a theatre. Stage Director Steven Nanni, Music Director Willie Waters, and Henry Wager, the boy soprano singing the title character, talk about why this short opera is so beloved. http://wskg.org/audio/amahl2015.mp3
Photo courtesy Binghamton University Music Department
Tri-Cities Opera is presenting their first production in Russian with English surtitles. Iolanta was Tchaikovsky’s final opera, a one-act fairy tale, written as a companion piece to The Nutcracker. General Director Susan Ashbaker is your host and Binghamton University professor Paul Schleuse explains the plot of the opera assisted by singers from the cast. Iolanta: Abigail Rethwisch
Marta: Lindsay Kate Brown
Brigitta: Stacey Geyer
Laura: Mary Beth Nelson
Bertrand: Josiah Davis
Almeric: Quinn Bernegger
King Rene: Andrew Hiers
Ibn-Hakia: Jake Stamatis
Robert: John Viscardi
Count Vaudemont: Jordan Schreiner
Music Director and accompanist: Yelena Kurdina
Stage Director: James Kenon Mitchell
Set Designer: Amara Kopakova
Photo provided by Tri-Cities Opera
Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s one-act fairy tale opera Iolanta began as a companion piece to The Nutcracker. It is familiar to Russian audiences, but is only now becoming popular outside of Russia. Tri-Cities Opera has chosen it to inaugurate the recently renovated Savoca-Hibbitt Hall of the Opera Center on Clinton St. in Binghamton. Performed in Russian with English supertitles, it features soprano Abigail Rethwisch in the title role. http://www.wskg.org/audio/iolanta.mp3
Photo courtesy Tri-Cities Opera
WSKG Arts and the Tri-Cities Opera proudly present “Love, Lies and Laughter: A Night at the Opera”. This hour-long program features performances from TCO’s resident artists that run the emotional gamut. WSKG Classical Music Director Bill Snyder hosts and he is joined by Tri-Cities Opera General Director Susan Ashbaker. She discusses the storied history of this long running cultural institution, how the performances for this program were chosen and the recent remodel of the Opera House on Clinton Street in Binghamton. https://youtu.be/1KI8J8bIkkk
SETLIST:
-Abigail Rethwisch “Martern aller Arten”
-Jake Stamatis “Aprite un po’ quegli’ occhi”
-Emily Dalessio “Ah scostati…Smanie implacabili”
-Stacey Guyer & Jake Stamatis “Papageno/Papagena Duet”
-Quinn Bernegger “Un’aura amorosa”
-Lindsay Brown “O Mio Fernando”
-Stacey Guyer “Quel guardo…So anch’io”
-Jordan Schreiner “Una furtiva lagrima”
-Christina Russo “Va!
WSKG Classical Music Director Bill Snyder is joined by Tri-Cities Opera General Manager Susan Ashbaker to discuss their new season. Susan talks about the renovations of the Opera House on Clinton Street in Binghamton and the schedule of performances for the upcoming season. There is also a small performance clip from “Love, Lies and Laughter: A Night at the Opera”, which premieres Thursday, October 22 at 8:00 on WSKG. Please visit tricitiesopera.com for more information about their exciting 2015-2016 season. https://youtu.be/nG5KzmxUBz4
The Friends of Music of Stamford, NY present an afternoon of vocal music at the Stamford United Methodist Church with mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis, baritone Robert Mellon, and pianist Thomas Muraco. Ms. Bryce-Davis lived in Binghamton as a child and was a member of the Treble Choir at Trinity Episcopal Church, and Maestro Muraco recently conducted Tri-Cities Opera’s production of Gounod’s Faust. It’s a wide-ranging program of songs by American composer Amy Beach and German composer Hugo Wolf, along with some Broadway and zarzuela selection, capped by a stormy duet from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. http://www.wskg.org/audio/stamfordfriends.mp3
Photos courtesy Raehann Bryce-Davis
Stage Director Martha Collins and Coordinator of Marketing and Events John Rozzoni speak with WSKG’s Bill Snyder about Tri-Cities Opera’s production of Charles Gounod’s opera Faust. Based on the play by Goethe, it’s the timeless tale of an elderly scientist who sells his soul to the devil, the charmingly deceitful Mephistopheles, in exchange for youth and love. Martha Collins started out as an opera singer — she can be seen in the Cher-Nicholas film Moonstruck as singing the role of Mimi in the production of La Boheme that the couple attends — but finds directing much more fun.
Photograph Courtesy barnyz via Flickr
General Manager Susan Ashbaker hosts as Binghamton University professor Paul Schleuse describes the plot of Faust. Hear excerpts sung by cast members from Tri-Cities Opera’s production created by Charles Gounod. We also hear remarks from Conductor Thomas Muraco and Stage Director Martha Collins. Read a synopsis of Faust. http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wskg/local-wskg-1039412.mp3
Faust: Chris Trapani
Marguerite: Rebecca Heath
Mephistopheles: Brandon Coleman
Valentin: Daniel Scofield
Siebel: Meaghan Heath
Martha: Lindsay Brown
Wagner: Josiah Davis
Accompanist: Michael Lewis
Know Theatre presents Donald Margulies’ drama Time Stand Still. Ithaca College composer Dana Wilson premieres his new opera based on the story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, Wolf by the Ears.
The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players bring their revue, A Little Twist, to Geneva. Bill Cowdery talks about romance and lawsuits in the early days of Cornell University set to music in the operetta Jennie’s Will. Binghamton University alumnus Marc Lawrence talks about his film The Rewrite, which has a screening at the Anderson Center this weekend, and about teaching Hugh Grant how to say “Binghamton.” https://youtu.be/WhEVfpHH9Vk
With it’s manic, but pristine music, The Italian Girl in Algiers is an innovation turned classic. General Manager Susan Ashbaker hosts as Binghamton University professor Paul Schleuse describes the plot. Hear excerpts sung by cast members from Tri-Cities Opera’s production of The Italian Girl in Algiers by Gioachino Rossini. We also hear remarks from Conductor William Hobbs and Stage Director Dorothy Danner. http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wskg/local-wskg-1038474.mp3
Isabella: Mary Beth Nelson
Elvira: Rebecca Heath
Zulma: Megan Heath
Lindoro: Rexford Tester
Ali: Steven Stull
Mustafa: Daniel Noyola
Taddeo: Jake Stamatis
Accompanist: Michael Lewis
Follow the tragic story around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed Rigoletto, and Rigoletto’s beautiful daughter Gilda. Conductor Andrew Bizantz and Stage Director David Lefkowich preview Tri-Cities Opera’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto. We also hear from General Manager Susan Ashbaker and Binghamton University professor Paul Schleuse. http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wskg/local-wskg-1037014.mp3
Baritone Guido Lebron was indisposed during the taping and the cast solves that problem ingeniously. Gilda: Meroe Adeeb
Duke of Mantua: Christopher Trapani
Maddalena: Meaghan Heath
Saparafucile: Brandon Coleman
Monterone: Tom Goodheart
Ceprano: Jake Stamatis
Marullo: Codyray Caho
Borsa: Jordan Schreiner
Giovanna: Lindsay Brown
Countess Ceprano: Jenny Gac
a Page:Stacey Geyer
a Palace Usher: Tarek Chams
Accompanist and chorus master: Michael Lewis.
Artistic Director Donald Westwood speaks with WSKG’s Bill Snyder about the production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Belleayre Music Festival. It’s his third production with the Festival for the Michigan-based director. http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wskg/local-wskg-1035375.mp3
Photograph courtesy Dave Connor via Flickr
Carmela Marner and Barbara Paterson speak with WSKG’s Bill Snyder about Francis Poulenc’s one-woman opera which opens the Franklin Stage season. Poulenc based the opera on a play by Jean Cocteau, and worked closely with Cocteau and the soprano Denise Duval while composing it. It depicts the last conversation a woman has with her lover, who now loves someone else.
Photograph courtesy machinate via Flickr