| Gourmet concerts for opera connoisseurs |
|
Micaele Sparacino General Director and Conductor
|
|
Bel Canto This company is dedicated to the preservation, promotion and public appreciation of the 19th century Italian operatic arts, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. We develop and educate talented young artists in the vocal techniques and styles developed for this virtuoso repertoire known throughout the world as Bel Canto. As an art form, Bel Canto was practically rendered extinct in the 20th century by the emergence of Richard Wagner, and the more vocally dramatic Verismo school of Italian opera. In the 1950s, however, the soprano Maria Callas led a revival of the music that continues to this day. The dramatic insight and vocal virtuosity that she brought to her Bel Canto portrayals revealed a musical splendor that had long been denied these works. Such artists as Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballe, Beverly Sills, Nicolai Gedda and Luciano Pavarotti championed the music. Audiences today clamor to hear revivals of once-forgotten operas such as Rossini’s Semiramide, Bellini’s I Puritani and Donizetti’s Anna Bolena. At the beginning of the 20th century, Donizetti, the most prolific Bel Canto composer, who wrote 70 operas, was considered by most musicologists and critics as merely a composer of comic operas and best represented by such works as Don Pasquale and The Elixir of Love. Now he is recognized as the great master of this period and a superb dramatist with unparalleled melodic inspiration. Revivals in recent years of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, Poliuto, Roberto Devereux, Marin Faliero and Maria di Rohan have revealed his genius. Revivals of the works of Rossini, Bellini, and Verdi have met with equal success. Even the Metropolitan Opera in New York, normally a standard repertory house, has mounted revivals of Verdi’s Stiffelio, Bellini’s Il Pirata and Rossini’s Semiramide to great acclaim. A great problem for those who revive these operas is finding singers with the technical and dramatic training needed to surmount the difficulty of the music — thus Opera Bel Canto's interest in training singers in this extraordinary music and passing on its legacy. We will also explore and uncover as yet unfamiliar operas from this canon. As one can well imagine, there are at least 55 wonderful Donizetti operas yet be unearthed. Unfortunately, it is the perennial popularity of Aida, Butterfly, Tosca and other treasures of the standard repertory that keep opera companies solvent, season after season. We need your financial help to keep the less-known Bel Canto masterpieces before the public eye and to continue training new singers in this glorious repertoire. Please consider joining our mission by making a tax-deductible contribution to help us sustain these wonderful works. As a member of Opera Bel Canto Associates, you
can join — as To make your tax-deductible donation go as far as possible, we do not use credit cards. Please make your check payable to Opera Bel Canto Washington and mail to: Opera
Bel Canto Please note that as a concert opera organization, your contribution will go much farther than with a larger company. By dispatching with sets, costumes and expensive overhead we can concentrate your support for artists and an orchestra that will give you the unforgettable musical experience that this music can create. Thank you most sincerely for joining in our mission. Micaele
Sparacino |
Thanks to the generosity of donors, OBC's expanded camerata greatly enhances the musical richness of performances. Pictured: cellist Harriet Kaplan. Opera Bel Canto James Shields, President Patrons and Benefactors As of the production of La sonnambula Acknowledgments Thanks also to organizations and individuals who helped in other ways to mount productions so far this season. The Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church,
Board of Trustees
Jason Stearns in
Opera Bel
|
Dawn Bennett 