2024 Susannah by Carlisle Floyd
Susannah is an opera in two acts by the American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending. The story focuses on 18-year-old Susannah Polk, an innocent girl who is targeted as a sinner in the small mountain town of New Hope Valley, in the Southern American state of Tennessee.
The Delaware Valley Opera is a member of Opera American and presents high quality professional performances. Carol Castel is the artistic and staging director for the company. Her directing career has included over 55 opera productions in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Opera can pull you into the story with the action, the music and the singing like nothing else. If you haven't seen a DVO production, treat yourself.
Susannah opens on Saturday August 24 at 7pm and Sunday August 25 at 2pm. The final performances are Saturday August 31 at 7pm and Sunday September 1 at 2pm.
The Delaware Valley Opera Center is located at 6692 St. Rte. 52, Lake Huntington, New York 12752-0124.
CAST
Starring Jessica Sandidge and Jonathan Stinson
with Daniel Kamalic, Ramon Tenefrancia, Robert Flora, Marcus Huber, Christopher Fistonich, Suzann Dvorken, Rebekah Creshkoff, Alexis Mariski, and Meredith Huveneers.
Orchestra Conductor: Martin Yazdzik
Pianist: Christopher Zander,
Stage Director: Carol Castel
2024 The Old Maid and the Thief (Gian Carlo Menotti)
“The Telephone” and “The Old Maid and the Thief” are by the American composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who composed both the music and wrote the libretto. He was only 28 years old in 1939 when the opera premiered in a radio broadcast with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. He was inspired to write the story of "The Old Maid and the Thief" after visiting the family of his partner Samuel Barber. He found that a quaint, cute town actually covered up secrets. It’s tells a twisted tale of morals and evil womanly power. Menotti writes in the libretto “The devil couldn’t do what a woman can – Make a thief out of an honest man.”
The opera is most known for two arias. First, "What curse for a woman, is a timid man (Steal me, sweet thief)", is a full scene, where Laetitia sings of her affection for Bob, the bum. The other popular aria is "When the Air Sings of Summer", where Bob contemplates hitting the road.
CAST
Miss Todd, Janice Meyerson
Miss Pinkerton / Lucy, Brooke Schooley
Laetitia, Veronica Mak
Bob / Sam, Chris Fistonich
Pianist/Music Director Martin Yazdzik
Stage Director, Carol Castel
2024 PINOCCHIO by John Davies
Pinocchio, An Opera for Children by John Davies - June 22 & 23, 2024
Pinocchio - Carson Cook
Geppetto/Cat - Lindell Carter
Blue Lady/Olympia - Dana Kluczyk
Dulcamara/ Wolf - Robby Flora
Music Director / Pianist - Martin Yazdzik
Stage Director - Carol Castel
Stage Manager & Costumes - Aly Galvin-Bliefernich
Costumes - Amy Potter
Make-Up - Lily Skuthan
Mr. Davies has created several children's operas to familiar fairy tales and stories. These delightful pieces are a perfect introduction to the operatic art form because all the music is from popular operatic repertoire, written by the masters of the genre. The music is chosen to be immediately accessible to young ears and introduce the original richness and complexity of the art form without dilution.
Mr. Davies has replaced the original words with his own English ones to tell the stories. “Pinocchio” is one of these charming works. The story is the traditional one about Geppetto, a wood worker, who wishes for a son. He is granted his wish. He is to carve a little boy out of wood. This boy will magically become a real boy in time. Meanwhile, he has one peculiar quality --- if he lies, his nose will grow.
Two One-Act Operas by Gian Carlo Menotti
The Telephone, or L’Amour à trois is an English-language comic opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti, who composed the music and wrote the lyrics. It was his fifth opera and was premiered in New York City in February 1947. A Broadway production took place on May 1, 1947, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre as a prelude to performances of The Medium, his fourth opera. These operas became Menotti’s first internationally successful works, notably receiving critically acclaimed productions in Paris and London in 1949 and later touring Europe in 1955 under the sponsorship of the United States Department of State with musical forces led by Thomas Schippers. The Metropolitan Opera Company presented it once, at the Lewisohn Stadium, on July 31, 1965.
The Old Maid and the Thief is a radio opera in one act, commissioned by NBC in 1939 by Gian Carlo Menotti who composed the music and wrote the libretto. The opera premiered in a radio broadcast on April 22, 1939, with Alberto Erede conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra It was the first of several operas in the English language by the young composer who was just 28 years old at the time. He was inspired to write the story of the opera after visiting the family of his partner Samuel Barber. He found that a quaint, cute town actually covered up secrets. It’s tells a twisted tale of morals and evil womanly power. Menotti writes in the libretto “The devil couldn’t do what a woman can – Make a thief out of an honest man.”
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