24 Hour Opera Project

5 composers
5 librettists
5 stage directors and 5 musical directors.
20-25 singers.

5 teams: each team is given a theme and 2 props.

Composers and librettists have 12 hours in which to compose an opera.

The following day, musical directors, stage directors and singers have another 12 hours to stage, rehearse and learn their given opera.

At 19:30, on the SCADShow stage, they performed. For our entertainment.

5 operas, composed learned and rehearsed in 24 hours. Each one 15-20 minutes long. It was phenomenal. My vote (there was an audience appreciation winner) was for the Purple team, the first performance. Reasons: their use of props; rather than working them in to a story, they made the story entirely about the props. The music; operatic, highly pleasing and strongly thematic throughout. The performance; flawless on the part of the singers.

As we waited for judges' deliberations, the team staged 3 improv operettas. I had never seen anything like it, and it was simply wonderful. Humorous, of course well sung, highly entertaining. I could watch this every week.

Pirates of Penzance

Atlanta Opera positively knocking it out of the park with this production. Humorous, clever, a good complement to the music. It is clear they had fun with this one.

Kevin Burette - splendid as the Pirate King
Maureen McKay - equally splendid as Mabel
Matthew Newline - Frederic
Curt Olds - Major-General Stanley

Figaro Figaro Figaro Figaro

The Barber of Seville is a bit like Bob Marley, or Norah Jones. One great song played over and over again.

For the record: G is upset with me for holding this view.

The most famous overture in opera closed out the Atlanta Opera 2013/14 season. And I do like this opera very much. Anybody who isn't amused by Largo al Factotum and Una Voce Poco Fa is probably slightly dead. The ensembles in this opera are highly entertaining. It just was written at the height of the use of recitativo, which I find can drag on somewhat.

The staging of the performance was brilliant, and my compliments to the Atlanta Opera artistic department. Stefano de Peppo's Bartolo was well-times and every part was well sung, with Irene Robert's Rosina as a stand out performance. How can she make that look and sound so easy?

I also learned that Rossini stopped writing operas when he was just 37 years old (he lived another 40-odd years). He was considered a genius of his time, in particular for these comedic operas, and one theory is that he was aware of a changing tide and wanted to quit while he was ahead. This was very early 19th century, following on several transforming revolutions and, finally, the French Terror. A little bit, I suppose, like much of Europe in the 50s and early 60s: people were tired of fighting, tired of thinking, and wanted to be entertained more than challenged.
But that was all due to change.