The Fall Lecture Series of the San José Opera Guild is almost upon us. We have a terrific line-up of events all of which will be at 10 AM on a Tuesday at the LDS Church in Los Gatos (15985 Rose Ave.). There will be six lectures on operas that will be presented by San Francisco Opera and two season previews by Opera San José and West Bay Opera, respectively.
The season begins, earlier than in the past, on August 24th with a lecture on Verdi’s Aida by Phillip Gossett. Aida, one of the ultimate spectacles, the grandest of grand operas, is set in Egypt. It tells the story of a bitter love triangle among the Egyptian Princess Amneris, her Ethiopian slave Aida, and the heroic Ramfis, captain of the guard. The lecturer is Phillip Gossett, who is a world renowned scholar on Verdi and Rossini. He last lectured to us on Verdi’s La Forza del Destino in 2005. He is the Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Music at The University of Chicago where he has been since 1968. He has produced critical editions of a number of operas used in performance by many of the world’s most important opera companies, including the MET.
Our second lecture, on September 7th (the day after Labor Day), is on Werther by Jules Massenet. This tragic opera is based on a novel by Goethe and tells of a young romantic idealist, Werther, and his disappointed love for Charlotte, who is engaged to a man 11 years her senior. Only too late does Charlotte realize her feelings for Werther. Our lecturer is Steven Huebner, who is a specialist on French and Italian operas of the 19th and 20th centuries. He teaches at McGill University in Canada, where he currently holds the position of James McGill Professor.
On September 14th, our third lecture is on Le Nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang A. Mozart. This comedy shows the valet, Figaro, outwitting Count Almaviva. Figaro is helped along the way (and confused) by his bride, Susanna, and the Countess. The story is both amusing and bittersweet, one of Mozart’s best known works. Evan Baker, who last lectured to us on Abduction from the Seraglio in 2009, is our lecturer. He is is an internationally published and recognized scholar in the history of opera production, who specializes on the interplay of theatrical traditions, the requirements of production, and the musical inspiration required to produce an opera.
Our next event, on September 21st, is not really a “lecture.” It is a preview of the West Bay Opera season given by José Luis Moscovich and singers from West Bay Opera. Their season includes: La Forza del Destino by Verdi,
Turandot by Puccini, and the double bill of Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell and La Vida Breve by Manuel de Falla.
The week following the above season preview, on September 28th, we have a preview of the last three operas in the Opera San José season. (Their first opera, the West Coast premiere of Anna Karenina, will have already been performed by this time.) Larry Hancock, the Director of Productions and General Manager, and singers from Opera San José will give us an introduction into what is to come: Tosca by Puccini in November, The Barber of Seville by Rossini in February and La Bohème by Puccini in April-May.
In a season in which Puccini is already well represented, our fourth lecture on San Francisco Opera operas, on October 5th, will be on Madame Butterfly. This is the tragic tale of a naïve teenage girl’s faithfulness to a naval officer who sees her as a mere incident in his life. This has some of Puccini’s most beautiful music. Our lecturer is Timothy Flynn, who last lectured to us on Il Trittico in 2009. He currently holds the chair of Performing Arts at Olivet College (which is between Lansing and Battle Creek, Michigan). He directs choral groups, and the opera and musical theater performances on campus and also plays the organ. He has published recent books on Saint- Saëns and Gounod.
October 19th is the date for our fifth lecture which is given by Prof. Richard Taruskin on Franco Alfano’s Cyrano deBergerac. This is a story known to many of us even if the opera is not so well known. In San Francisco, Placido
Domingo and the rest of the cast will bring Cyrano (and his famous nose) to life via Alfano’s “soaring lyricism,” Prof. Taruskin is well known to us, having last lectured on Strauss’ Salome in 2009. Prof. Taruskin is known for many things, as a performer, conductor, musicologist and critic. His writings range from program notes to scholarly papers, and he is recognized for his contributions to the Oxford History of Western Music. His lectures give refreshing new insights into the works that he describes.
The final lecture of the Fall Season is on November 2nd. The topic is an opera by Leos Janáček, The Makropulos Case. This opera tells of the 300 year old daughter of a 16th century alchemist, Markropulos, who has discovered
an elixir of life and given it to his daughter, Elina. This daughter, who is also an accomplished singer, has left a trail of interesting incidents (and people) in her rather long life. Our lecturer is Derek Katz who is an Associate Professor of Music History at the University of California Santa Barbara. Dr. Katz is the author of a book, Janáček Beyond the Borders which has just been published by the University of Rochester Press. He has also written for the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
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