[FAC] THE CALIFORNIA OPERA FESTIVAL CONTINUES THIS WEEKEND!

[Diane Nixon]

THE CALIFORNIA OPERA FESTIVAL

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF SUMMER OPERA IN FRESNO 

Festival Events are FREE with donations welcome at the door in order to promote a greater interest in, exposure to, and attendance of opera in Fresno -made possible, in part, through the Community Enrichment Program of the Fresno Arts Council, The Bonner Family Foundation, Exxon Mobile, and Bank of the West! 

...What performers...They give us their souls.... Remarkable vocals, heart-stopping suspense, gripping drama and riotous comedy - You will rarely hear more passionate singing...The drama and music is superb...


 


...An exquisite, enjoyable experience - even for my husband who normally does not enjoy opera  - he is actually looking forward to the next performance... 

 

...I took my 14 year old daughter who sat spellbound and amazed... her favorite opera experience to date...  

 

July 31st Friday at 7 PM * Sisters of Manzanar 

and Other Musical Tales of the Japanese American Experience 

Fresno Art Museum, Bonner Auditorium * 2233 North First Street 

(Between Clinton & McKinley)

 

Western opera became popular in Japan during the Meiji era, and by the 1930s a number of home-grown operas had been created in the western style. Before World War II the most important Japanese opera was Yamada's Kurofune (The Black Ships), which was premiered in 1940. After the war, the premiere of Ikuma Dan's opera Yuzuru (1952) led to a renewal of interest in the form, which has continued to develop ever since. Featuring Miwako Isano, Haruna Shiokawa, and Elyse Nakajima, California Opera presents a Night in honor of Japanese-Americans to highlight pre-war through post-war sagas, including The Sisters of Manzanar, a one-act opera by present day New York composer Paul Stuart, which addresses experience of Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. 

 

August 1st Saturday at 2 PM Opera Espanol * Un Dia Caliente

Fresno Art Museum, Bonner Auditorium * 2233 North First Street 

(Between Clinton & McKinley)

 

An annual festival opera favorite, this year's event highlighting the Latino arts and culture will feature  opera artists of Mexico, Brazil and the US performing along with members of the Fresno Brisa Espanola in a fiery melodrama Un Dia Caliente (One Hot Day) featuring contemporary, traditional, and classical Latin and Spanish flamenco music, dance, and song. 

 

August 2nd Sunday at 2 PM Suor Angelica (Puccini) * Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)

SHAGHOIAN CONCERT HALL * 2770 East International Avenue 

(Willow & International in NE Fresno)

 

Suor Angelica is the second installment in Puccini's triptych of one-act operas commonly known as Il trittico. The 1918 opera chronicles the fall, redemption, and final transfiguration of its central character, Sister Angelica (Soprano Samantha Knjoi of Huntsville Alabama). With San Jose conductor Bruce Olstad, Edna Garabedian directs puccini's most adventurous writing. Angelica's aria Senza mamma (Without your mother) is considered one of the most poignant moments in any of Puccini's works. Local and International singers complete an all female cast of ages 6 to 60.

 

Pagliacci, Ruggero Leoncavallo's Opera in Two Acts, cultivated a late 19th-century new Italian literary movement style called verismo, meaning realism or truthful. The story follows actors' loves and jealousies, which spill over into their stage performances. It is explained that the dangers of love will be presented on stage but actors are human too, and have real feelings. Canio (the Pagliaccio portrayed by California Tenor Zachary Sheely) says that stage and life are quite different, but that if his Nedda (portrayed by Fresno Soprano Stephanie Hower) deceived him in real life, he would avenge such treachery. The central figure Canio (Pagliaccio) sings his famous self-pitying lament... laugh Pagliaccio, laugh! Conducted by the great Fresno Opera Association founder Nicola Iacovetti, with chorus direction by Dan Bishop, and special appearance by CSU Fresno professor Anthony Radford as Sylvio and Fresno's mystical miming magician Tony Blanco, the performance will represent an all-star feature of Fresno's own greatest operatic and stage talents. 

 

Bring the kids, friends, and family. Support these international artists arriving from around the world and our own local talent learning their craft and performing for YOU - share Fresno's hospitality and culture through your attendance! Dress comfortably for all the summer opera events. Enjoy the opera-tune-ity to try something new and learn more about this treasured classical and evolving contemporary art form!!! Celebrate with us our 10th year of summer opera in Fresno! For additional information, please visit  http://www.calopera.org/opera_events.html