Opera

This group is currently full

Since its inception, the opera group has seen a variety of operas, not only the perennial operatic favourites such as La Traviata, La Boheme, Die Zauberflote and Carmen, but also some lesser known operas, such as La Fanciulla del West and Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans.

In spring this year we watched Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex sung in Latin by a youthful Bryn Terfel and Jessye Norman, followed by Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. The July meeting was another whole day meeting when we enjoyed Die Fledermaus with Kiri Te Kanawa.

In September we had something quite different - following the stimulus created by Carmina Burana, we watched a 2-hour documentary on Carl Orff, his work, his music, his politics, and his fascinating private life.

In 2010 we will be changing our meeting arrangements.

There will be four meetings only, starting at 11.00 am for coffee with the opera beginning about 11.30 am. These will be held February, June, September and December on the first Friday of the month. The change is to allow the showing of longer operas. The minimum attendance required will be four, otherwise the meeting will be cancelled. Because of the extra preparation required for these longer meetings, you will need to phone the leader a minimum of seven days before to advise if coming or not. We'll see how this works before deciding about 2011.

Proposed 2010 Programme:

February - Il Trittico (Puccini), comprising Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi - Metropolitan Opera 2007.

June - Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) - Schwetzinger Festival 1988.

September - Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) - Metropolitan Opera 2007.

December - Porgy & Bess (Gershwin). Film version using a Glyndebourne stage sound recording, 1993.