Wheeeeen the moon hits your eye like a big zucca pie…
Danny Johnson
That’s Amore!
Yes, it’s come to that. Imagine, if you will, four up-and-coming opera singers backstage, in their dressing room at a Venetian opera house. What shadowy twists and turns of fate await them before they leave this small stage and exit to the [unseen] large stage for their big chance at stardom. What secrets of passion and trickery simmer just beneath the surface of their professional relationships? After all, divas and divos will be…well, divas and divos!
Join them, for this is the place where reality and the beauty of 100 years of Italian opera meet La Zona Crepuscolo!
More soon!
Danny
That’s Amore: An Early Valentine
Saturday, February 7, 2015 at 8PM
&
Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 3PM
Both performances are at First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX
Single tickets can be purchased by clicking on the button below
and are also available at the door, payable with cash, check, or credit card:
$30 general, $25 senior (age 60+).
Discount prices for students with student ID are available
for purchase at the concert door for $5.
The best opera tells a story that is, if not totally—or even the slightest bit—believable, at least one that we can connect with, either through the characters or the music. We continue our celebration of Italian music with a newly formed opera pastiche using music from the early Baroque (Cavalli & Cesti) and late Baroque (Handel & Vivaldi) in Italy.
Weaving a plot around music from about 100 years of beautiful operas, we seek to entertain and delight you with arias (and only a very few recitatives) from the early Baroque with selections from Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto and Antonio Cesti’s L’Orontea and L’Argia. We have incorporated music of the late Baroque from George Frideric Handel’s Rinaldo, Tolomeo, and Giulio Cesare and Antonio Vivaldi’s Il Giustino, La Fida Ninfa, and Orlando Furioso.
The selections from Cavalli and Cesti are typical of the early Italian Baroque: tuneful, direct, full of harmonic surprises and unmatched beauty. By the mid-18th century, opera was a glamorous and sophisticated activity for the cultured and not quite cultured. Both Handel and Vivaldi are well known, of course, though the casual listener might be surprised at the power and beauty of Vivaldi’s vocal works (he did write more than The Seasons, it turns out…) and the wide range of emotions he creates.
Our lively, witty, and loving pastiche of beautiful music from these four masters contains some of the most popular and should-be-popular works from the world of Baroque opera. Some of the leading lights of early music, rising stars from New York Peter Walker (baritone) and renowned countertenor Ryland Angel, join TEMP core-members Jenifer Thyssen & Meredith Ruduski (sopranos) for this unique production. The accompanying period-instrument ensemble includes German violinist Veronika Vassileva with violinist Bruce Colson (Austin), violist Andrew Justice (Denton), and TEMP regulars Jane Leggiero (cello), Scott Horton (theorbo), and Austin Baroque Orchestra director Billy Traylor on harpsichord.
As an early Valentine present, treat yourself and your sweetie(s) to the beauty, brilliance, and passion from four of the best composers in Italian opera in an intimate setting. We’ll tell a story that will warm your heart, make you laugh, and put your toes to tapping. The passion! The jealousy! The love!
Will there be a happy ending? We aren’t sure, but there will be a minimal amount of recitative, and there will be super-titles!
For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message, or email info@early-music.org.