"Opera is where a guy gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings," wrote one perceptive critic of the musical stage.
But often, as opera lovers know, those final moments can be a group affair, as scores of singers come onstage to share the passion of grand opera with the "dying" soloist. Opera choruses provide some of the most memorable melodies in all of music.
With this in mind, the Naval Academy Glee Club will conclude this season's Distinguished Artists Series with a performance of some of the world's best-loved opera choruses and arias at 7: 30 p.m. Saturday in the academy's Alumni Hall. The combined glee clubs of the Naval Academy and Goucher College will be joined by the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and three soloists.
Highlights of the program will include bass Jonathan Deutsch singing the coronation scene from Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov," and soprano Elizabeth Kluegel, who will perform Puccini's sumptuous 'O Mio Babbino Caro" and "Glitter and Be Gay" from Leonard Bernstein's "Candide."
Tenor Quade Winter will sing "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot," a classic he has sung with the New York City Opera.
Kluegel and Winter will raise their glasses in "Libiamo!" the famous toast from Verdi's "La Traviata," and the entire company, including the full symphony orchestra, will conclude the program with "Make Our Garden Grow" from "Candide."
The "Huntsman's Chorus" from Weber's "Der Freischutz," Tchaikovsky's "Chorus of the Peasant Girls" from "Eugene Onegin," "O Welche Lust!" from Beethoven's "Fidelio" and the sublime "Humming Chorus" from Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" are just a few of the opera choruses to be offered up by maestro John Barry Talley and his forces.
Ticket information: 410-268-6060.
Pub Date: 4/02/98
