I heartily enjoy all the opera companies in the Chicago area: Lyric Opera; Chicago Opera Theater; Chamber Opera Chicago; Dupage Opera; da Corneto Opera; Light Opera Works and L’Opera Piccola. I have attended productions at all of these.
On Tuesday, April 11, I jumped in my car and drove north to St. Paul, MN. My destination was St. Paul Hotel.
At 6:00 PM I walked from the hotel across a city square to the Ordway Center. This is a new and beautiful center with a 1900 seat opera house. It also has delightful glassed in lobbies with a view of the square, my hotel and all the other neighboring buildings. I sat down in the lobby for a pre-opera lecture. Since the opera being performed was in its U.S. premiere it was an event! People from all over came to see it. The gentleman sitting next to me was from San Francisco. The lecture was given by Dale Johnson, Artistic Director, Minnesota Opera.
The opera Johnson was discussing is the Minnesota Opera production of Orazi & Curiazi which is the U.S. premiere of this opera first performed in Naples, Italy, in 1846. The composer was Saverio Mercadante and the librettist was Salvadore Cammarano. No one hears of this opera or this composer today. It was creative for this opera company to mount this production. The Minnesota audience must be very adventurous for this opera to be staged there.
The opera turned out to be interesting, fun, and creative. It had amazing music that was tuneful but totally new to me. The composer was a contemporary of Bellini and Donizetti. Verdi was younger and borrowed ideas and tunes from Mercandante. The story of this opera described families that were friendly and intermarried from neighboring towns. They got caught up in wartime rivalries between the two towns and sons from both families were picked to battle each other in the battle. Since this story reminds us of the American Civil War, Minnesota Opera used Civil War costumes and staging in this opera. It worked well. The story had a tragic and surprise ending.
The first opera I ever saw in my young life was in Teatro San Carlo, the very theater where this opera was premiered. So, this performance was even more exciting for me.
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