November 2020: Simply Scenes and Arias
If you have trouble playing the video, play it on Google Drive.
After seeing and hearing the student performances, please give us your thoughts and reactions, and please consider a donation toward honoraria for these young artists.
| Time | Content |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | Introduction: Graduate Student Intern Rebeckah Resare |
| 0:56 | Background and plot of Cavalleria Rusticana: Suyoung Lee |
| 1:54 | Cavalleria Rusticana scene “O! il Signore vi manda”: Josianne Dal Pozzo Zuliani and Suyoung Lee |
| 6:52 | Introduction to Le nozze di Figaro: Lylah Field and Yongjae Lee |
| 7:39 | Le nozze di Figaro scene “Crudel! Perche finora”: Lylah Field and Yongjae Lee |
| 10:02 | “Je suis encore” from Massenet’s Manon: Yue Huang, 2020 Marguerite Ough Competition winner |
| 14:37 | “Votre toast je vous le render” from Carmen, by Bizet: Zhong Liu, 2020 Larry Day Competition winner |
| 19:15 | Cast and crew of the video |
During the 2020-2021 academic year we are supporting local opera students and bringing opera to the community in a different and COVID-safe way, since we cannot present our usual live previews of Arizona Opera Co. productions. Our student intern, DMA candidate Rebeckah Resare, under the direction of OGSA Previews Chair Susan Lane Stokes, has produced two videos this semester featuring some of the most talented voice students at UA’s Fred Fox School of Music. These will remain on our website for all to enjoy.
The first video, which we shared with you in October 2020, contains selections from Hänsel und Gretel, developed in Professor Cynthia Stokes’s Opera Workshop class. Now we are delighted to offer our second student project, “Simply Scenes and Arias,” with two more scenes from Professor Stokes’s Opera Workshop, and arias performed by the first-place winners of the Marguerite Ough and Larry Day competitions.
The first selection is the dramatic Easter morning encounter between Santuzza and Alfio from Mascagni’s verismo masterpiece Cavalleria Rusticana. Josianne Dal Pozzo Zuliani, soprano, portrays Santuzza, who has been abandoned by her former lover Turiddu. Suyoung Lee, baritone, is Alfio, whose wife Lola has betrayed him with Turiddu. The scene is preceded by a brief talk by Mr. Lee on the background of the opera. You may recognize the very appropriate outdoor setting as the historic San Pedro Chapel, on East Fort Lowell Road, where we were graciously permitted to record.
Next, Lylah Field, soprano, and Yongjae Lee, baritone, interpret the scene “Crudel! Perchè finora” from Mozart’s enduringly popular Le Nozze di Figaro, in which Susanna pretends to be amenable to the Count’s advances. Ms. Field gives us the background introduction, and again an outdoor location is used.
Then, Yue Huang, winner of this fall’s Marguerite Ough Competition, will sing “Je suis encore” from Massenet’s Manon. Finally, we will hear Zhong Liu, winner of the Larry Day Competition, perform the rousing Toreador Song, “Votre toast je vous le render,” from Carmen, by Bizet.