Viva Verdi
An Original Production
Music by Giuseppe Verdi
An extraordinary evening of opera theatre featuring six exceptional singers, the Santa Barbara Choral Society, Opera Santa Barbara Orchestra, and actor Greg Baber taking on the role of the composer himself: Giuseppe Verdi. Music includes Aïda‘s Triumphal Scene, the Rigoletto Quartet, as well as lesser-known scenes from Nabucco and Macbeth.
The year is 1880, and Giuseppe Verdi has retired to enjoy a quiet life at his home in Sant’ Agata, gardening and tinkering on his piano. However, his friend and lyricist Arrigo Boito has different ideas about his future, attempting to convince Verdi to write the music for an operatic treatment of Othello. Thus unfolds an evening where Verdi reminisces on his career, his operas and the many ways in which life and music interweave.
Direction

Valéry Ryvkin

Valéry Ryvkin
Conductor / Carmen
Jan/Feb 2002
Conductor / The Barber of Seville
May 2001
Conductor / La traviata
December 2000
Conductor / La Cenerentola
Mar/Apr 2000
Conductor / Le nozze di Figaro
Jan/Feb 2000
Conductor /
Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci
October 1999
Conductor / Madama Butterfly
May 1999
Conductor / Il trovatore
January 1999
Conductor / The Merry Widow
December 1998
Conductor / Don Pasquale
February 1998
Conductor / Così fan tutte
January 1998
Conductor / Tosca
September 1997
Conductor / Don Giovanni
January 1997
Conductor / La bohème
Nov/Dec 1996
Conductor / Carmen
August 1996
Conductor / La traviata
July 1995 (debut)
Artistic Director
1999–2008

James Marvel

James Marvel

Peter Frisch

Peter Frisch
Artists

Greg Baber

Greg Baber

Jane Ohmes

Jane Ohmes

Olga Chernisheva

Olga Chernisheva

Tihana Herceg
Tihana Herceg
Lola / Cavalleria Rusticana
October 1999
Hansel / Hansel and Gretel
October 1994
Prince Orlofsky / Die Fledermaus
December 1993 (debut)

Robert MacNeil

Robert MacNeil

William Stone

William Stone

Daniel Sutin
