As part of Rockport Music’s Community Concerts and Events program, I will be teaching an Opera 101 course at the Shalin Liu Performance Center. It will be a 4-night class designed to lead to a deeper knowledge and appreciation of opera throughout the centuries. This series will be part-lecture-part performance with performances by young professional opera singers and New England Conservatory students. We will be tracing opera from Monteverdi to Wagner and Verdi, full details are below.  You can purchase tickets for individual dates or the whole series here

The classes run every other Wednesday starting Feb 11th, from 7-8:30pm

Feb 11
Feb 18
March 4
March 18

Opera 101: A Short Survey of Operatic Styles

Week 1: The Beginnings: Why Music?

Monteverdi and the introduction of the style.

Peri – Euridice

Monteverdi

Orfeo: The First Operatic Masterpiece

Coronation of Poppea: The Expansion of a Style

Week 2: Opera’s Maleable Style: Baroque Responses

Handel and Italian Opera Seria – Guilio Caesare

Lully and Tragédie Lyrique – Persée

Week 3: Opera’s Themes Expand: Classical Music and Social Commentary

Mozart and the Exploration of Class Structure

Le Nozze di Figaro

Don Giovanni

Week 4: Two Different Paths to the Same Place: Wagner, Verdi and the Exploration of Continuous Drama

Verdi: The Italian Master of Melody

Otello

Wagner: The German Master of a Symphonic Style

Tristan und Isolde