Arts & Events
Mozart Live and Local from Berkeley Chamber Opera on October 9 and 11
Locally-sourced food has been all the rage for a while now, but locally-sourced opera?
Berkeley Chamber Opera is attempting to provide just that—productions which showcase the work of the Bay Area’s wealth of resident professional talent in accessible settings, at a price which is affordable for a wide range of opera fans.
Many who have been introduced to opera through the popular Metropolitan Opera films haven’t yet experienced the unique excitement of live performance.
Berkeley Chamber Opera hopes to change that. Next on its schedule is Mozart's beloved Marriage of Figaro, to be staged at Berkeley's Hillside Club on October 9 and 11.
BCO is dedicated to presenting local professional opera singers in staged productions with a chamber orchestra in intimate venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. Founder Eliza O’Malley, who grew up in Berkeley, created BCO as an outgrowth of her work singing leading roles with such local opera companies as Verismo Opera, Handel Opera Project and Goat Hall Productions and producing concerts with the Dazzling Divas.
The company’s first venture, Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte, was performed at the historic Berkeley Piano Club in 2012 under the baton of Bay Area luminary Jonathan Khuner. It quickly sold out and received a standing ovation. Recently BCO collaborated with William Ludtke’s Handel Opera Project on a performance of Mozart’s rarely performed La Clemenza di Tito.
Its latest offering, another Mozart favorite, Le Nozze di Figaro (the Marriage of Figaro), can be seen in two October performances at the larger Hillside Club, just north of the U.C. Berkeley campus.
Lorenzo da Ponte’s libretto and Mozart’s infectious score combine to provide a sidesplitting tale of mischief and trickery.
It will be sung in the original Italian with English supertitles, with 18th Century costumes and minimal sets.
Performances are at the Berkeley Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. (at Arch) in Berkeley; Friday night, October 9, at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, October 11, at 2 p.m.
Tickets are available in advance through Brown Paper Tickets or at the door. General admission is $30.00, Seniors and Students are $20 and children 12 and under are free. For more information see berkeleychamberopera.org , call (510)517-1820, or email BerkeleyChamberOpera@gmail.com.
Company for Le Nozze di Figaro:
Conductor: Osvaldo de LeonDirector: Eliza O’Malley
Dramaturge: MaryAnne Stanislaw
Costumes: Emily Holtzclaw
Cast:
Figaro: Don HoffmanSusanna: Raeeka Shehabi-Yaghmai
Countess Almaviva: Eliza O’Malley
Count Almaviva: Spencer Dodd
Cherubino: Elizabeth Baker
Marcellina: Deborah Rosengaus
Bartolo: Richard Mix
Basilio/Don Curzio: Darron Flagg
Antonio: David Peterson
Barbarina: Emma Boss -Friday/Barbara Lim -Sunday
Two women: Dee Hoover and Liz Garfinkle
Chorus: Emma Boss, Elizabeth Butler, Cyril Drame, Liz Garfinkle, Dee Hoover, Barbara Lim, Kathleen Mock, Isabel O’Malley-Krohn, Mike O’Malley, Andrew Ross, Alexandra Williams
Chamber Orchestra:
Felisa Simon, oboeLeslie Tagorda, clarinet
Nicola Gruen, violin 1
Julia Birnbaum, violin2
Ilana Matfis, viola
Leighton Fong, cello/continuo
Cynthia Hanson, Bassoon
William Ludtke, piano
Osvaldo de Leon, continuo
