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