OPERA/OPERETTA Concert Program Announced

CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA and CHORUS
David Katz, founding music director and conductor
Rebecca Patterson, chorus director
Janet Eckhardt, chorus accompanist

26th Season
Orchestra/Choral Concert: A NIGHT of OPERA & OPERETTA FAVORITES

Tickets online: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/e/197828

featuring winners of  

The American Prize—Chicago Opera Award

    Christine Steyer, soprano

    William Bennett, tenor

    Andrew Bawden,  bass-baritone

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 7:30 pm

Saint James Episcopal Cathedral—Chicago

*** 

ACT I

Overture (Boccaccio)          Franz Von Suppe

A rollicking, tuneful overture, sure to become a favorite.

Yours in My Heart Alone  (Land of Smiles)            Franz Lehar

Prince Sou-Chong attempts to reassure his new wife Countess Lisa that she is his only heart's delight.
William Bennett, tenor   

Madamina! Il catalogo è questo (Don Giovanni)        W. A. Mozart

Don Giovanni has asked his servant Leporello to get rid of the pesky Donna Elvira, which he is happy to do by sharing the list he has authored of her husband’s sordid and extensive conquests.
Andrew Bawden, bass-baritone

Vilja (The Merry Widow)                       Franz Lehar
The wealthy widow from Pontevedro, Hanna Glawari, entertains her foreign guests with a traditional song about a Vilja or magical woodcreature who enchants the hunters that encounter her.
    Christine Steyer, soprano

Introduction to Act I (Carmen)                    Georges Bizet

Some of the most famous music in all opera.

Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor)                    Alexander Borodin
  The Polovtsian slaves entertain Prince Igor and Khan Konchak with songs and dances of praise.
  CBA Symphony & Chorus

INTERMISSION

ACT II

Una furtiva lagrima (The Elixir of Love)            Gaetano Donizetti
Believing that the magic love potion could actually work, Nemorino pours his heart out, thinking of when he will hold Adina in his arms.
    Mr. Bennett

Intermezzo (Carmen)                        Georges Bizet
    Judith Grubner, flute; John Vishneski, III, clarinet; David Perlman, harp

Un bel di (Madama Butterfly)                    Giacomo Puccini
It has been three years since Madame Butterfly's American sailor husband left her without a word.  As she looks over the Nagasaki harbor for his ship, she sings of her certainty in the day that he will return.
    Ms. Steyer

Humming Chorus (Madama Butterfly)                Giacomo Puccini
Seeing Pinkerton's ship, Butterfly waits for him throughout the entire night.

    CBA Symphony & Chorus

March (Carmen)                    George Bizet   

   
Non piu Andrai (Le Nozze di Figaro)                W. A. Mozart

When Count Almaviva consigns the amorous Cherubino to military duty, Figaro is there to tease the young lad with the joys and sorrows of a soldier’s life.
    Mr. Bawden

 

Stamp Your Foot (The Tender Land)                Aaron Copland    

In the rural Midwest in the 1930s, a joyous country dance is held to celebrate Laurie's impending high school graduation.

    The Ensemble 

FINALE 

Promise of Living (The Tender Land)                Aaron Copland
A paean to the joy of life, of work, of the land, and of love.
    The Ensemble

***

“An unprecedented double encore” 

— with apologies to W.S. Gilbert

Can-Can (Orpheus in the Underworld)                Jacques Offenbach

Va, Pensiero (Nabucco)                        Giuseppe Verdi

"Fly, thought, on wings of gold; go settle upon the slopes of our native land."