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PHOTOS FROM THE MIDSUMMER MEET THE ARTISTS PARTY
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ABOUT A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Saturday Feb. 23, 7:30pm
&
Sunday, Feb. 24, 4:30pm
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THE OPERA NAPLES 2012-2013 BROCHURE
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UPCOMING EVENTS
and Links
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The Midsummer
Millennium Club
Meet The Artists Party
was last night at the Clive|Daniel showroom. Below are a few photos from a really fun event.
A donatioin of $1,000 or more ($1500 for couples)
is all it takes to become a Millennium Club menber for a year and be included
in these exclusive events.
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Kunya Rowley (as Flute)
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Julie-Anne Hamula
(as Helena)
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Adrianne Blanks (as Hermia)
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Andrew Gray (as Bottom)
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Eric McKeever (as Thesus)
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John Gaston (as Oberon)
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TO READ MORE ABOUT UPCOMING SHOWS AND EVENTS ON OUR WEBSITE, CLICK THE LINKS BELOW.
* Feb. 23 & 24
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
*Mar. 21 & 22
ELIJAH
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March 19, 2013
The Great Gatsby Gala
is an Opera Naples fundraiser at
a private club in Port Royal. This will be fun! For more information,
call 239.963.9050.
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WE HONOR OUR GENEROUS CORPORATE AND MEDIA SPONSORS !
For more information about them, please click their links below.
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A Midsummer Night's Dream has been generously underwritten by
The Ibarra Calleja Group at Morgan Stanley
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Dear Friends,
This month's newsletter focuses on our upcoming production of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, performed this coming weekend at the Miromar Design Center in Estero. It is a singular achievement for a young opera company to confidently delve into mid-20th Century repertoire, and we know that this new production, conceived specifically for this unique performance space, will enthrall and delight you. To give you a deeper understanding of the work and our particular staging of it, we invite you to read below for some of the thoughts composed by our creative team. We hope that you will call today to reserve your place for this very special event in the Company's history. You can also purchase tickets online at www.OperaNaples.org. Don't wait - tickets are going quickly!As always, thank you for your support of Opera Naples!
Sincerely yours,
Steffanie Pearce Tom Smith
Founding Artistic Director Executive Director & CEO
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Midsummer Millennium Club Audience at the Clive|Daniel showroom
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ARTISTIC DIRECTOR'S NOTES
WHY BRITTEN- WHY NOW?
Opera as Theater
There is a term used in architecture "Form follows function" (Frank Lloyd Wright) that comes to mind. Choosing from the available venues for this season, we returned to the beautiful Miromar Design Center after two successful productions there. The Design Center is an intimate and unique space, with a capacity of 400 seats and many passageways and levels. I thought it would make exciting theater to do a non-traditional production "in the round" (orienting the action all around the audience instead of directly in front.)
What more exciting theater than Shakespeare? Of his many great works, A Midsummer Night's Dream provides ample opportunity to wander around the MDC. Benjamin Britten's operatic setting of the story achieves new heights of comedy and drama through his contemporary and creative orchestration. One of the 20th century's most important opera composers, Britten enjoyed working with smaller, flexible companies and composed several chamber operas. This production will be the first of his works ever performed in our region.
Another first for Opera Naples! To assure that our production would emphasize what
Maestro Bernas calls "a sung play," we have engaged
New York Shakespeare director Cecil MacKinnon who has previously staged and performed in the original play. Making
her opera debut with this production, Cecil enjoys the freedom to explore how music and drama can merge in new and innovative ways. This talented and energetic cast has enthusiastically embraced her concept for what promises to be a very unique theatrical experience.
Steffanie Pearce, Founding Artistic Director
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CONDUCTOR'S NOTES
This year celebrates the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth. As a composer he was famous in his lifetime for writing music for such fine singers as Galina Vishnevskaya, Peter Pears and Dietrich Fischer Dieskau and instrumentalists like Mstislav Rostropovich and Denis Brain. But more importantly, Benjamin Britten renewed the tradition of opera composed in English, which was neglected since the time of Purcell and Handel. Hearing new operas composed in their own language made all opera popular again in England after World War Two. The liveliness of the creative, artistic scene that Britten instigated lives to this day.
This wouldn't have happened if Britten's own music hadn't been touched by sheer theatrical genius. You can hear this in the way the composer has so sharply characterised the different sets of characters that throng through Shakespeare's play. Long melodies and restless movement show the young nobles' confusion and longing as they search for the right partners. Italian opera buffo traditions and the bel canto of Verdi is affectionately satirised in the Rustic's attempt to rehearse and present a play within the play. The music of the fairy rulers Tytania and Oberon harks back to the baroque formalities of Purcell and Britten's use of the male alto voice, high and clear, gives Oberon's every command a supernatural aura. Oberon's servant Puck is a spoken role, a spirit of air and fire whose moves are echoed by a brilliant trumpet and percussion riff.
And at the very start of the opera we have the biggest surprise. We hear the forest itself - the tangle of trees and roots and moss - breathing, heaving, quietly waiting for those confused lovers and foolish Rustics to be ensnared and transformed by the goblins, elves and sprites who rule its ancient mysteries.
Richard Bernas, Conductor
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DIRECTOR'S NOTES
Welcome to the world of Benjamin Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream. This production is the fruit of a rewarding collaboration between the maestro, Richard Bernas, the singers, designers and myself. The action will unfold around and above you. You will be surrounded by the sights and sound of this Dream.
As we began to work on the project, the designers and I were struck by the beauty and strength of the Design Center itself. The plot of Midsummer Night's Dream is a story of constant change and movement as people and fairies chase each other through the woods. We decided to allow the space of the Miromar Design Center itself to be our setting, and the characters, in modern dress, to be people who could be
found here.
Midsummer is primarily a story of love. but, as Lysander sings, "the course of true love never did run smooth"...and certainly for our characters, even in the Fairy world this adage holds true. Love propels them all, and sometimes sets them on a collision course. Each character has their own path as they follow their love from one side of the space to the other.
Working on this opera has been a delight. From my past experiences, I know the text very well, but I am enchanted by this setting of Shakespeare's words to music. Britten has cut and shaped the text to form his lyrics and with his bold musical choices, I feel time and again how he has enriched the play.
I hope you will find it bursting with life and fun...
a midsummer's romp.
Cecil MacKinnon, Stage Director
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TAKE A TRIP WITH OPERA NAPLES!
We're testing the market to see if there is interest in the excursion listed below. The trip is not confirmed, but will be once we know how many people might be interested.
Read on for more information!
JOIN OPERA NAPLES for our EXCLUSIVE TOUR
to
TERME DI CARACALLA;
THE PUCCINI FESTIVAL AND ARENA DI VERONA!
This is truly a one of a kind "bucket list" experience, planned exclusively for opera enthusiasts!
Our fully-escorted tour from August 5-12, 2013 includes:
* Deluxe accommodations, with breakfast and lunch or dinner daily.
* Minimum three operas and backstage tours.
* Sightseeing in Rome, Florence, Verona (day trip to Padua and Vicenza) and Venice.
* FREE AIRFARE with the purchase of an optional post cruise on Regent Seven Seas 10-Day Cruise from Venice to Barcelona, August 12-22, 2013.
Rates will be available for our tour as soon as we receive the 2013 Opera Schedule. However, pricing is available for the post cruise on Regent Seven Seas Mariner.
An optional pre-trip will be offered to Capri and Ischia.
If you are interested in more information about this trip, please
contact Thomas Smith at Opera Naples, (239) 963-9050 or tsmith@operanaples.org .
Opera Naples, Inc.
2408 Linwood Avenue · Naples, FL 34112
Administration Office - 239.963.9050
www.OperaNaples.org
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Opera Naples, Inc.
2408 Linwood Avenue · Naples, FL 34112
Administration Office - 239.963.9050
www.OperaNaples.org
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