The Opera Company of North Carolina

Subject: Future operas

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Future operas

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[quote]Posted By n/a on 07/14/2008 6:18 PM

Some HANDEL, please, PLEASE! We have the intimate Fletcher Auditorium where we saw OUR TOWN and LUCIA last year, and this would be absolutely perfect for Handel's operas, too. Handel's operas are some of the hottest works being done in houses large and small all around the world. Virginia Opera has recently done GIULIO CESARE and AGRIPPINA. I drove all the way to Richmond for the AGRIPPINA and it was a very good production with a fine cast. I wish I had been able to see their GIULIO CESARE, because I have it on CD and it's very good as well! I just came back from San Francisco where I saw a stunning ARIODANTE, and a month before that a riveting TAMERLANO in Washington. And last November I saw a superb GIULIO CESARE in Chicago. Later this month, I'll be headed to Santa Fe for RADAMISTO. I'm pointing this out to make folks here aware that Handel's operas are being done nearly everywhere, and in most cases they are the hottest tickets of the season.  
  
 While there are a paucity of great singers for Verdi, Puccini and Wagner these days, there are many, many fine and exciting singers of baroque opera. If regional companies like Virginia Opera, San Diego Opera and Arizona Opera can perform Handel, there is no reason why Raleigh can't! Some possibilities  include: SEMELE, GIULIO CESARE, RODELINDA, RINALDO, AGRIPPINA, ARIODANTE, ALCINA, and TAMERLANO. I'm sure you're aware that David Daniels (one of the greatest countertenors of all time) is from South Carolina, and I'll bet he would absolutely love performing here in the Carolinas. I hope, hope, hope that the Opera Company of NC will try to expand its rep and not only do the ABC operas year after year. Handel is in such demand these days, and every place they are performed has been an "event." The Opera Company of NC, if it hopes to become a strong regional company, must expand its rep. I would suggest looking at your competitors, especially in Charlotte and Richond/Norfolk. By the way, I was told by someone at Opera Carolina that they definitely plan on performing Handel operas in their new, smaller auditorium that should be completed, I believe this year.  
  
 In addition to Handel, I'd love to see MANON, ROMEO ET JULIETTE, WERTHER, TROVATORE, BALLO IN MASCHERA, OTELLO, MARIA STUARDA, DON PASQUALE, IDOMENEO, DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL, CLEMENZA DI TITO, COSÌ FAN TUTTE, ELEKTRA, ORFEO ED EURIDICE, IPHIGINIA IN TAURIS, DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER, LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES, HOFFMANN, and FANCIULLA DEL WEST.  
  
 Now I realize that the Opera Company of NC is a young company. I also realize that the "bread and butter" opeas are guaranteed to fill more seats. That said, I think it's time to bring to the Triangle more variety than we're getting. I've lived here 15 years and each year I feel the area is becoming increasingly sophisticated regarding the arts. We deserve more than BOHEME, CARMEN, TRAVIATA and TOSCA every year! These are great operas, of course, but unless they have great casts, they don't always live up to their name recognition. If the Opera Company of NC is going to do 3 operas a season, at least have ONE of them be something that's beyond the basic rep--PLEASE!!!!  Yes, it's important to perform operas for newbies and for people who only want to see the dozen or so operas they're familiar with, but it's equally important to perform operas for those of us who don't want to see the same works again and again. Please don't treat the Triangle audience as either a bunch of newbies or "opera lovers" that will only come out for AIDA, BOHEME and CARMEN! We're much more sophisticated that that!  
  
 Finally, as much as I love Wagner, and operas like DON CARLOS and BORIS GODUNOV, I think those are realistic at this time. Also, I hope that something can be done about Memorial Auditorium, which everyone seems to hate. I see operas all over this country, in national as well as regional companies, and Memorial Auditorium has the worst acoustics of all. In fact, it's the only hall I'm aware of where miking the opera singers (which I HATE!) takes place. [/quote]

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