#opera scenes

Tenet (2020)

The Fifth Element (1997)

Pretty Woman (1990)

Roland Scene from Jean-Baptiste Lully's 1685 opera Roland 1693 Engraving (unsigned), probably by Johannes van den Aveele (Dutch; d. 1727) Published: Recueil des opera, Tome III (Amsterdam) The New York Public Library, Dance Collection

Tancrède Engraved by Franz Ertinger (German; 1640–ca. 1710) after Jean Bérain the Younger (French; 1674–1726) 1706 Engraving Published: Recueil général des opéra représentez par l'Academie Royale de Musique (Paris: C. Ballard) The New York Public Library, Dance Collection

I know my musings have been melancholy lately, so I wanted to write a little about the highlight of my singing year: performing the character of Abigail Williams from Robert Ward’s The Crucible for opera scenes in the fall. Amidst a lot of disappointment this was the zenith of everything that made at least my fall semester worthwhile.

Let me preface by saying that while I had never heard of the opera before, I was a huge fan of the play since I was a teenager and an even bigger fan of the history of the Salem Witch Trials in general. History was always my favorite subject in school and I never understood why people thought it was generally boring, especially American history. American history doesn’t fascinate me out of patriotism and a belief in a heroic, pure past - it’s just overall interesting, and the religious roots of the US in general are very intriguing. Plus I’m drawn to the paranormal and the history of witchcraft so....this is really just my jam. (For the record, I don’t believe anything paranormal happened in Salem and please don’t tell me about ergot poisoning, that’s a theory that’s been largely discredited since if it were true there should have been some deaths from it)

Anyway, when we all were gathered into the room to learn what we had been cast in, the moment the director started his preamble about the scene from The Crucible (the finale of Act 1) I was like, “oooooh, what’s this?” And then when he said announced MY name for Abigail Williams I internally started shrieking. “I’m a witch!!!” I actually exclaimed aloud like a giddy 12 year-old.  There were a lot of fun scenes last fall, but I can’t emphasize enough how much Abigail was a dream come true for me and I wouldn’t have traded her to be a character in any of the others. If any other name but mine had been announced for her, I would have been PISSED, especially with how everything else shook down.  Now, I know the opera itself isn’t a total masterpiece, but that scene was so satisfying (probably the most fun musically out of the whole work from an ensemble standpoint). A lot of the satisfaction came from having the different scene - you know what I mean? We were bookended by a lot of Mozart, Handel, operetta, etc, and don’t get me wrong, I like that stuff....but 20 straight minutes of darkness, singing about drinking baby blood, clawing and fighting on my hands and knees on stage, and difficult, borderline atonal music was such a blast that I didn’t care if the audience was like “WTF????” And we had a great sense of camaraderie in our crew - we all really felt that it would be amazing to be able to maybe someday do the whole opera. 

Lastly, it was interesting to me that I have never really been cast as a good person. I don’t believe in black-and-white good-and-evil, but everyone I’ve sung so far (Frasquita, Queen of the Night, and Abigail) doesn’t make conventionally good choices in life to varying extents, and I really get a kick out of that, especially since my voice type is usually the demure maiden. I love those roles, too, but I’d love ride this complex, bad girl wave for as long as I can..

Eugene Onegin ( Melancholy)   -    Anna and Elena Balbusso

Signora sorellina...Le faccio un inchino...

From Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto

Amy Guarino, Elisetta

Mary Abrams, Carolina

True to form, CIM Opera Theater Artist Director David Bamberger has selected a unique and interesting array of Sensational Opera Scenes. Accompanied on piano by Musical Director John Simmons, our singers perform select works from renowned operas grand and light that will thrill and delight!

Join us for an evening performance or the Sunday matinee to enjoy:

Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18 at 7:30pm Matinee on Sunday, April 19 at 3pm Cleveland Institute of Music | Kulas Hall 11021 East Boulevard in University Circle Tickets: $20 | $15 | $10 cim.edu or 216.795.3211 Free parking on a first come, first served basis!

Pieces will be performed from the following operas:

OFFENBACH Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus) MASSENET Werther OFFENBACH La Perichole GLUCK Alceste VERDI Simon Boccanegra MOZART Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) BELLINI Capuleti E Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues) DONIZETTI L'elisir D’amore (The Elixir of Love) WEBER Der Freischütz (The Marksman)