CCM to Celebrate Verdi with "Don Carlos"
Mark Gibson conducting "Don Carlos" at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
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Joe Green gets a big birthday celebration Sunday (Sept. 22) in Corbett Auditorium at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Giuseppe Verdi, that is, and it will be one of the most ambitious projects CCM has ever undertaken.
Not to say huge. Participating in a complete concert performance of Verdi's opera "Don Carlos" will be the CCM Philharmonia and Concert Orchestras, CCM Chamber Choir and Chorale, UC Men's and Women's Choruses and a cast of CCM students, alumni, faculty and guest artists. Several roles are double and even triple-cast.
2013 is the 200th anniversary of Verdi's birth and what better way to observe it than to perform his grandest opera, said CCM's director of orchestral studies Mark Gibson, who will conduct.
"'Don Carlos' is the work he wanted to be heard above all," said Gibson. "There's no other work of Verdi's that passes through such profound emotion, or that gives us such a range, from pageantry to despair."
It will be sung in French in the 1867 Paris Opera version -- every last note of it, said Gibson. The performance will be in two parts, with acts I-III, scene 3 beginning at 2 p.m. and acts III-V beginning at 7 p.m. There will be a two-hour break for dinner (all the better to take advantage of the numerous restaurant opportunities in the area around CCM).
Loosely based on history via the play "Don Carlos" by Friedrich Schiller, the opera is the story of Philip II's son, Don Carlos, who becomes mired in a web of political intrigue and mis-matched love at his father's court in 16th century. Spain. Singing the title role will be tenors Marco Panuccio and Marco Cammarota. Elizabeth of Valois (wife of Philip II and in love with Don Carlos) will be sung by sopranos Helen Lyons and Nicole Spoltore, the Spanish princess Eboli (also in love with Don Carlos) by mezzo-sopranos Leah deGruyl, Adria Caffaro and Stacey Rishoi.
Singing Rodrigue (Carlos' idealistic friend) will be by baritones Corey Crider and Joseph Lattanzi. Philippe (Philip II) by basses Kenneth Shaw and Gustav Andreassen, with bass Kevin Thompson as the Grand Inquisitor.
The opera will be performed in a "dynamic" concert staging by CCM graduate student, Omer Ben-Seadia.
Tickets are $20 per performance, $15 for non-UC students, free for UC students, $30 for the complete opera. Get them at the CCM box office, call (513) 556-4183, or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice.