Don Giovanni

[fajrdrako]

Since I become crazy over opera I've wanted to see a live opera, but there's precious little of it to go to in these parts, and I couldn't afford a ticket to Rigoletto when Opera Lyra did it a month or two ago. I also have issues with Rigoletto that have to do with a grade eight music teacher who didn't like me, but that's another issue. Nor can I afford the train or air fare to Toronto or Detroit or New York or Paris wherever there might actually be a real professional opera going on.

But last night I got to see - and hear - Don Giovanni by Mozart. It was terrific. Funny and smart and the music is - well, it's Mozart. Now, this wasn't a professional production. It was done by the Pellegrini players which, I am told, is a company formed by professional opera singer Maria Pellegrini so her son will have a venue in which to sing. The son, of course, played Don Giovanni and he played it well.

Sang it damn well, too, in my opinion. So that instead of being bored by my first post-conversion taste of live opera, I had a wonderful time. The set was almost no set at all and the costumes were cheesy - though Don Giovanni himself had a rather nice doublet. They needed a good stage director and better blocking but the singing was good - htat is obviously where the expertise and skill went - and it worked far better than a slicker production with poorer singing would have.

So. I wonder when the next opera I can get to will be? This was a nice place to start.

Comments

[dargie.livejournal.com]

one of the best operas I ever saw was "Carmen" mounted by a small company that played it in English on a stage in a local community college. Don Jose was played by White Eagle, a young Native American singer. From a website for the Rosebud Sioux tribe: "White Eagle was the first American Indian to sing lead roles in American musical theater and opera. He graduated from the prestigious Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera and has performed with the Pennsylvania Opera Theatre, Florentine Opera, Cleveland Opera and others. White Eagle was a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. White Eagle lived and worked among his family and friends on the Rosebud until his untimely death in 1995." When I saw him, he was a big, handsome young man with a wonderful voice.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a wonderful performance - and White Eagle's career sounds quite fascinating. I'm interested in Carmen because the opera I started with was "The Pearl Fishers", also by Bizet, and I assume that operas are like books - if I like one thing by a certain composer or author, I'm likely to like his or her other works, too.

And it would be fun to see a really slick, professional production of Don Giovanni now, just for comparison's sake.

[dargie.livejournal.com]

I was sorry to see that there wasn't more about him online. I Googled him in a couple of different ways, and didn't manage to find a single photo of him. I know he was active in his church (his father is a minister) and that he died of AIDS. I think there may be a few recordings of his religious music online, but darned if I can recall now. I meant to check out the links but it was late and I couldn't listen to anything for fear of waking the units.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

If you find more info, let me know, okay? Someone with a life so interesting must be written up somewhere.

[dargie.livejournal.com]

I know there are a couple of videos available. Or I think there are. They benefit a scholarship fund that's available to Rosebud kids.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What are Rosebud kids?

[dargie.livejournal.com]

Kids from the Rosebud Sioux tribe.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'd never heard of it or them, but a quick web search got me info.

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

Very good place to start, indeed. Don Giovanni is a pleasure, and I quite agree that the quality of singing outweighs a slick production.

I second Carmen, ideally, as it is one of my favorites. But your choice are evidently limited, so I suppose it should be based on where you think you'd get good singing, and less on the Opera played. A badly-sung performance of an opera you really wanted to see is a loss on two counts.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Don Giovanni is a pleasure

It certainly is. Lovely music, and how can I resist a sexy hero who wears a cape and uses a sword? I can't, and I can't think why I should try!

A badly-sung performance of an opera you really wanted to see is a loss on two counts.

Good point. Donna was telling me that the Theatre Lyrique de Hull does interesting opera in French - I wonder if they'll change their name, now that Hull's name has been changed to Gatineau. (This is the town right across the Ottawa River.) There is also a good chance of seeing opera in Montreal or even Toronto, so I'll see what I can do about that.

[acampbell.livejournal.com]

I also have issues with Rigoletto that have to do with a grade eight music teacher who didn't like me,

What a pity. I have similar issues with anything Don Quixote, due to a 10th-grade drama teacher who didn't like me. A bad teacher can really spoil the classics for you!

I'm glad you liked the opera. Was it in Italian? Did they have supertitles?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

A bad teacher can really spoil the classics for you!

That's for sure. Too bad we can't go through school without bad teachers.

Was it in Italian? Did they have supertitles?

No surtitles. Most of it was in Italian. But some of it was in English - the recitatives (sp?), according to Donna. (I must look that up.) She said she'd never seen such a thing. It seemed odd at first, but I got used to it.