Two very different operas, performed in repertory,
give full play to themes of love, intrigue and reconciliation.
Eugene Onegin
April 17, 19, 23 and 25
Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto based on the verse novel by Alexander Pushkin
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Director Leon Major on Eugene Onegin
"Eugene Onegin is a young person's story. It is about growing up and learning how to cope with the cruelty and insensitivity of so many. The music is romantic. The story is harsh." Read more...
Synopsis
The first scene opens on the grounds of the Larina estate. Madame Larina is making preserves with her servant Filipyevna. A chorus of reapers present Mme. Larina with a decorated sheaf. The elder Larina daughter, Olga, is in love with, and is to be married to, Vladimir Lenski. Olga's younger sister Tatyana is in love with love. Lenski and Eugene Onegin, their new neighbor, arrive. Tatyana is immediately smitten with Onegin. Read more...
The Cast
Although the production is a chamber opera (described by Tchaikovsky as "lyric scenes"), it features nine main roles and a 33-member ensemble. Read more...
Castmember's Blog:
Ask the Experts
Inside the Opera Studio with Director Leon Major
Inside the Opera Studio with Scenic Designer Misha Kachman
Read the Program Notes
Xerxes
April 18, 22, 24 and 26
By George Frideric Handel
Directed by Nick Olcott
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Director Nick Olcott on Xerxes
"Opera in the early eighteenth-century was something like the movie or television business today: risky, competitive and vicious, mainly because also potentially very lucrative. Handel and his rivals competed for singers, for audiences, for reviews, for royal patronage." Read more...
Synopsis
The opera opens as Xerxes welcomes a new tree to his collection and forces his brother Arsamene to honor it. Found at the site of the bridge the King is building across the Hellespont, this tree represents the Xerxes' absolute rule. Read more...
Xerxes Cast
Serse (Xerxes): Christopher Newcomer
Ancillus: Zain Shariff
Arsamene: Alexis Tantau
Serving Women: Caroline Brent, Gillian Kraus-Neale
Elviro: Andrew Adelsberger
Romilda: Astrid Marshall
Atalanta: Onyu Park
Amastre: Stephanie Sadownik
Ariodate: Stephen Brody
Ask the Experts
Xerxes in Context with Donald Burrows
Handling Handel with Marilyn Horne
Inside the Opera Studio with Director Nick Olcott
