(Continuing miamiartzine's season announcements of arts organizations throughout the month of August, we bring you Florida Grand Opera.)
I sometimes have to convince friends why I love opera, let alone get them to accompany me. But, this art form, I explain to them, has everything. It's musical theater to the nth degree: a live orchestra playing some of the most beautiful composed music, costumes, sets, and, of course, superb vocals.
And, as, Florida Grand Opera proves this season, some of the most fantastic roles ever written for females.
Florida Grand Opera’s 2017-18 season takes on the theme “Divas to Die For”—a quartet of operas that portray four women in peril who take emotionally fraught journeys and emerge from them changed forever.
That season opens on Nov. 11, 2017, with Gaetano Donizetti’s Scottish tragedy "Lucia di Lammermoor."
The score features some of the most dramatic music Donizetti ever composed, including the dazzling mad scene, a vocal obstacle course that is considered one of the ultimate tests of coloratura sopranos. Elise Sandell directs FGO's production of "Lucia di Lammermoor."
FGO has cast soprano Anna Christy to play the heroine who is forced by her family into an arranged marriage and winds up slaughtering her bridegroom on their wedding night. Christy has numerous credits to her name, which include Gilda in "Rigoletto" at English National Opera, Marie in "La fille du régiment," and Muffin in William Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein’s "A Wedding" at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Recently she had a great success appearing at the Metropolitan Opera as Sophie in "Werther." Christy shares the role with Haeran Hong, who has appeared on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and is the International Queen Elizabeth Grand Prize winner. Sharing the role of Edgardo, the lover whom Lucia’s family maneuvers out of the way, are tenors Joshua Guerrero and Jesús León, who join the company of Juan Diego Flórez, Javier Camarena, and Marcelo Álvarez as one of today’s outstanding Latino tenors. The conductor is Alexander Polianichko, who returns to FGO after his critically acclaimed leadership of the company’s "Eugene Onegin" last winter.
On January 27, FGO’s production of Richard Strauss’s "Salome" opens. With its steamy and evocative portrayal of the decadence of King Herod’s court in ancient Jerusalem, this 1905 masterpiece retains its power to stun today’s audiences. Starring as the depraved princess is soprano Melody Moore, who performed in Mieczysław Weinberg’s "The Passenger" at Houston Grand Opera, Janáček’s "Kát’a Kabanová" at Seattle Opera, and Stephen Schwartz’s "Seance on a Wet Afternoon" at New York City Opera. She shares the role with Kirsten Chambers, who has played Salome at the Metropolitan Opera and Opera Hong Kong. Filling out the cast are baritone Mark Delavan, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop, and tenor John Easterlin. Leading the orchestra is Timothy Myers, who last autumn scored a significant international success leading Samuel Barber’s "Vanessa" at Wexford Festival Opera.
On March 17, FGO presents the company premiere of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s "Orfeo ed Euridice." This work, which paves the way musically from the Baroque to the age of Mozart, tells of the harrowing journey that the poet and musician Orpheus takes to the Underworld to rescue his beloved wife, Euridice. Anthony Roth Costanzo and John Holiday, two of today’s most talented countertenors, alternate in the role of Orfeo. Euridice is played by Cuban-American soprano Eglise Gutiérrez, who will be remembered by South Florida audiences for singing Massenet’s "Thaïs" at FGO in 2014. Ketura Stickann directs the company premiere.
April 28 brings the season’s final opera: Daniel Catán’s lyrical masterpiece "Florencia en el Amazonas," directed by Jose Maria Codemi. It's a story of a soprano’s emotional journey as she searches for her missing husband, with an imaginative libretto, influenced by the writings of Gabriel García Márquez, coupled with Catán’s lush, Puccini-esque score. Soprano Ana María Martínez, acclaimed as one of the great Madama Butterflys in the recent history of the Metropolitan Opera, shares the title role with Sandra López, whose distinguished résumé includes appearances at the Met and at Venice’s Gran Teatro la Fenice. Heading the supporting cast is a highly talented group of rising singers, including baritone Steven LaBrie, soprano Cecilia Violetta López, and tenor Andrew Bidlack.
“This is the kind of diverse season I have long dreamed of programming,” says Susan T. Danis, general director and CEO of FGO. “I invite our loyal subscribers, as well as those who haven’t joined us in the recent past, to come along and experience our exciting season of ‘Divas to Die For.’”
Schedule:
"Lucia di Lammermoor"
MIAMI ♦ Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, Ziff Ballet Opera House
Saturday, January 27, 2018 at 7 pm
Sunday, January 28, 2018 at 2 pm
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 8 pm
Friday, February 2, 2018 at 8 pm
Saturday, February 3, 2018 at 8 pm
FORT LAUDERDALE ♦ Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Au-Rene Theater
Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 7:30 pm
"Salome"
MIAMI ♦ Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, Ziff Ballet Opera House
Saturday, January 27, 2018 at 7 pm
Sunday, January 28, 2018 at 2 pm
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 8 pm
Friday, February 2, 2018 at 8 pm
Saturday, February 3, 2018 at 8 pm
FORT LAUDERDALE ♦ Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Au-ReneThursday, February 8, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 7:30 pm
"Orfeo ed Euridice"
MIAMI ♦ Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, Ziff Ballet Opera House
Saturday, March 17, 2018 at 7 pm
Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 2 pm
Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 8 pm
Friday, March 23, 2018 at 8 pm
Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 8 pm
FORT LAUDERDALE ♦ Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Au-Rene Theater
Thursday, March 29, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 31, 2018 at 7:30 pm
"Florencia en el Amazonas"
MIAMI ♦ Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, Ziff Ballet Opera House
Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 7 pm
Sunday, April 29, 2018 at 2 pm
Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at 8 pm
Friday, May 4, 2018 at 8 pm
Saturday, May 5, 2018 at 8 pm
To purchase a subscription, visit www.fgo.org or call the box office at (800) 741-1010.
