The 1891 Fredonia Opera House continues the 2012-13 season of Live at the Met high definition opera broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera with Hector Berloiz's grand Trojan War epic, Les Troyens (The Trojans), on Saturday, Jan. 5, at noon.
"This week's Met offering, Les Troyens, is Berlioz's most ambitious work, the summation of his entire artistic career," says Opera House Executive Director Rick Davis, "with a score that ranges from the majestic to the sublime, from stirring ensembles and rousing choruses to inspiring solos and a passionate love duet."
Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads a rare revival of the epic, which Berlioz based on Virgil's Aeneid. Marcello Giordani stars as Aeneas, the Trojan hero whose adventures take him from the fall of Troy to the shores of the North African kingdom of Carthage. Deborah Voigt sings Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess who tries to warn her countrymen of the dangers about to befall them; and Susan Graham makes her Met role debut as Dido, the Carthaginian queen who gives her heart to Aeneas with disastrous consequences.
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Susan Graham makes her Met role debut as Dido, the Carthaginian queen who gives her heart to Aeneas with disastrous consequences, in Les Troyens (The Trojans). Hector Berlioz’s epic opera will be screened live in high definition at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House on Saturday, Jan. 5, starting at noon.
The five-act epic will be seen in Francesca Zambello's critically acclaimed 2003 production, receiving its first Met revival this season. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato hosts the transmission and conducts backstage interviews with the stars. The New York Times notes, "Mezzo-soprano Graham triumphed in her first Met performance as Dido in one of the greatest works in the repertory."
The production lasts five hours, notes Davis. "There are two intermissions," he adds, "during which the Opera House will have snacks and beverages available for purchase in the trustee room on the second floor of Village Hall." No food or beverage is allowed inside the theatre.
Live at the Met opera broadcasts are made possible by Dr. James M. and Marcia Merrins, who funded the purchase of the satellite transmission and projection equipment used in the series. Additional support comes from Bob and Shirley Coon, Bob and Susan Dilks, Steve and Mary Rees and DFT Communications.
Tickets to Les Troyens are $20 ($18 for Opera House and Met members, $15 for students) and are available in advance by calling or visiting the Box Office at (716)679-1891 Tuesday Friday, 1-5 p.m. They also may be purchased online anytime at www.fredopera.org. The Opera House also is offering a new flexible opera subscription consisting of nine tickets that can be used however the patron wants one at a time to nine different operas, all at once for nine people, or anything in between. The flexible opera subscription is $161.
Chautauqua County's only performing arts center presenting its own programming year-round, the 1891 Fredonia Opera House is a member-supported not-for-profit organization located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.
