{"id":407,"date":"2012-11-19T06:33:41","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T06:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maryhargrove.net\/?page_id=407"},"modified":"2022-06-08T04:53:38","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T04:53:38","slug":"current-performances","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/maryhargrove.net\/?page_id=407","title":{"rendered":"Performances"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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It’s so much fun to play with a big chorus!!\u00a0Masterworks Chorale presents “Jubilate Deo” this weekend, June 11 and 12, 2022. We will perform right here in San Mateo! I will be playing the flute, alto flute, and piccolo for this wonderful piece. To purchase tickets,\u00a0Masterworks Chorale<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"\"Starting on May 20, 2022, West Bay Opera presents “Pique Dame”, or “The Queen of Spades”. I will be playing the gorgeous Principal Flute part for this lavish opera by Pyotr Ilyich\u00a0Tchaikovsky. West Bay Opera performs at the Lucy Stern Theater in Palo Alto and is a gem of an opera company, supported by legions of community benefactors. In Russian, with English subtitles.<\/p>\r\n

\"\"On April 16 2022, we open West Side Story at Opera San Jose. This is a first for us! It will be absolutely epic. For tickets, www.operasj.org<\/a><\/p>\r\n

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On March 26 and 27, we perform a wonderful concert at Symphony San Jose! Among other gorgeous pieces, we will present Respighi’s Feste Romane. This piece has a killer piccolo part and I am truly loving putting it together. Here is the \u00a0amazing fourth movement.\u00a0Feste Romane<\/a><\/p>\r\n

My husband and son were on this set with me! Here we are outside the stage door.<\/p>\r\n

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CARMEN!! The most popular opera of all time….and for good reason. Our Carmen, sung by Nikola Printz,\u00a0identifies in their Twitter bio as a \u201cqueer, trans, trapeze-swinging-them-fatale.\u201d Not to be missed. We open on February 12, 2022 – back in the gorgeous California Theater! www.operasj.org<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Here is a beautiful performance of the Entr’acte flute solo, by Emmanual Pahud.\u00a0Pahud plays Carmen<\/a><\/p>\r\n

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Now we have officially moved indoors! What joy. The annual Gala fundraiser – entirely written by the fabulously talented Lamplighters! Sunday October 17, 2021, at the lovely Herbst Theater in San Francisco.<\/p>\r\n

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August, 2021: Welcome back to live music!!\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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Opening on February 15 2020, and NOT a good Valentine’s outing, Verdi’s masterpiece Il Trovatore<\/strong>. This opera has such a complicated plot, I am not going to attempt to explain it but rather move on to other aspects of its greatness. For one thing, it is truly a hit parade of great songs! And the way the singers voices are used!\u00a0 Luciano Pavarotti once remarked that this opera can be performed by any company; all you need are the best soprano, alto, tenor and bass in the world. Listen to a sampling of music from this epic work. Il Trovatore<\/a><\/p>\r\n

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Just in time for the holidays, Hansel and Gretel<\/strong> has come to town. We open on Saturday, November 16 2019.\u00a0 This is a beautiful and fun opera for the entire family. Kids are especially invited! Watch a wonderful performance! Hansel and Gretel with the Vienna Philharmonic<\/a><\/p>\r\n

OperaSanJoseTickets<\/a><\/p>\r\n

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Opening September 14 2019, Die Fledermaus<\/strong>, or The Revenge of the Bat! This hilarious opera was written by Johann Strauss, “The Waltz King”.\u00a0 Listen to the famous overture! Fledermaus<\/a><\/p>\r\n

OperaSanJoseTickets<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"\"On August 3 2019, “We Sail the Ocean Blue” on HMS Pinafore<\/strong> with Lamplighters Music Theatre. This is Gilbert and Sullivan’s most beloved comic opera, and not to be missed! At Performing Arts Centers in Walnut Creek, San Francisco, Livermore and Mountain View. Watch a complete performance of this most beloved operetta. HMS Pinafore<\/a><\/p>\r\n

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Opening on May 24 2019, It’s Falstaff<\/strong> by Giuseppe Verdi at West Bay Opera. This is a hilarious but also moving and sensual opera, Verdi’s last. Here are some highlights from the article in wikipedia: By 1889 Verdi had been an opera composer for more than fifty years. He had written 27 operas, of which only one was a comedy.His fellow\u00a0 composer Rossini commented that he admired Verdi greatly, but thought him incapable of writing a comedy. Verdi disagreed and said that he longed to write another light-hearted opera, but nobody would give him the chance. He commented, “After having relentlessly massacred so many heroes and heroines, I have at last the right to laugh a little.” He confided his ambition to the librettist of Otello<\/i>,\u00a0Arrigo Boito.\u00a0Boito said nothing at the time, but he secretly began work on a libretto based on\u00a0The Merry Wives of Windsor<\/i>\u00a0with additional material taken from\u00a0Henry IV<\/i>, parts\u00a01\u00a0and\u00a02.<\/p>\r\n

Verdi accepted the need to trim Shakespeare’s plot to keep the opera within an acceptable length. He was sorry, nonetheless, to see the loss of Falstaff’s second humiliation, dressed up as the Wise Woman of Brentford to escape from Ford. He wrote of his desire to do justice to Shakespeare: “To sketch the characters in a few strokes, to weave the plot, to extract all the juice from that enormous Shakespearian orange”.<\/p>\r\n

Watch one of the funniest scenes, where the Mistress Quickly comes to set the trap.<\/p>\r\n