Golden Moments

The Latest gala concert performance from “Opera Viva” was called “Golden Moments” and I am happy to say that the evening was true to its title. We, the audience, were treated to some beautiful singing from performers that we knew very well and some unfamiliar faces who were exceptionally talented. The programme included a choice of solo numbers, duets, and chorus numbers from composers Mascagni, Rossini, Puccini, Lehar, Mozart, J Strauss, Tchaikovsky,and Verdi. I would like to mention all who took part in this concert, but unfortunately, it will not be possible, however, I must say everyone sang very well and I enjoyed every performance.

The Concert was in two halves and opened with a beautiful rendition of “The Easter Hymn” from “Cavalleria Rusticana” by Mascagni which included an excellent solo from Katie Cunningham, I would like to mention Kaytie Jones, a young singer with a lovely voice which was entrancing when she performed for us "Doretta’s Aria" from Puccini’s “La Rondine” an opera about romantic love versus a marriage for security and wealth, The main female character, Magda,sings about the dream of Doretta who wishes for romantic love no matter what the consequences. Then we had two well-known songs from the Operetta “The Merry Widow”, by Lehar, the story about a rich young widow, Hanna and the plot by her countrymen led by Baron Zeta to marry her to eligible bachelor Danilo to keep her money in their principality. There was a duet “The Merry Widow Waltz” performed beautifully by Pam Ashcroft and David Palmer,followed by Pat Maitland singing a lovely version of “Vilja”. I really enjoyed the next offering which was the Cat Duet by Rossini performed excellently and comedically by Alison Davies and Katie Cunningham their facial expressions were wonderful. This was followed by the trio “Soave sia il Vento” sung by David, Katie and Kaytie. from Mozart’s comic opera “Cosi fan Tutte” translated from Italian means Thus do all women”. The opera explores themes of love,fidelity, and the fickleness of human emotions. The ladies of the chorus then produced a very enjoyable rendition of the Nuns’ Chorus from “Casanova” by J Strauss with a lovely solo by Bernadette O’Keeffe. The first half concluded with a selection of songs from Die Fledermaus or The Bat, (sometimes called The Revenge of the Bat) also by Johann Strauss and is based on a popular French vaudeville comedy. It is an operetta focusing on mistaken identity, flirtation and a practical joke that has unforeseen consequences. Carla Hey sang Prince Orlovsky’s “Chacun à son Goût”, followed by “Homeland” sung by Pam Ashcroft and chorus, and, to close the first half, Steve Riordan gave us a very enjoyable performance of the lovely song “Brother Mine” with the help of the chorus.

The second part of the concert began with The Waltz Scene from “Eugene Onegin” by Tchaikovsky a tale of heartbreaking regret for a missed opportunity, and Peter McColgan sang Triquet’s Aria also from Eugene Onegin.This was followed by the wonderful dramatic duet from “The Masked Ball” by Verdi performed by David Palmer and Katie Cunningham, “Marro ma Prima in Grazia” Renato has found out his wife Amelia is in love with his best friend the king, in this piece Renato has told Amelia that he is going to kill her, but before he carries out his threat, she begs to be allowed to see her son which Renato allows. David then performed again along with Kaytie Jones singing a Duet from Don Giovani by Mozart. The evening concluded with a choice of excellently sung pieces from one of Mozart’s most famous operas“The Marriage of Figaro” which is considered one of the best operas written. It is the wedding day of servants Figaro and Susanna, and the opera tells us how they succeed in getting married against the odds while foiling the efforts of their employer Count Almaviva, to seduce Susanna, teaching him a lesson at the same time. Jen Sutton gave us lovely renditions of the arias, “Porgi Amor” and then “Dova Sono” sung in the opera by the countess. Steve Riordan sang Doctor Bartolo’s aria “La Vendetta”, and Susanna’s aria “Deh, Vieni, Non Tardar” was nicely sung by Bernadette O’Keefe, then Jenn joined her to perform the duet “Sull’aria”.  The concert concluded with a chorus number from the opera.

The chorus which included all the soloists sang very well, producing a lovely Sound, and were conducted by Musical Director Ben Draper, and the exceptionally talented Robert Chester accompanied all the songs and arias on the piano.

This was a well thought out program, a very enjoyable concert, and a wonderful advert for Opera, I am sure anyone whether knowledgeable or not about Opera, would have enjoyed this concert. Thank you very much for inviting us my friend and I had a lovely evening.

 

 

 

 

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