Opera

20 Reasons To Love Opera
Best Loved Operas - Twenty Reasons Why Opera Is Gorgeous
When did you last enjoy opera? Perhaps opera is not to your taste, or you are looking for operas you can understand? What are the best loved operas? As a teenager, I looked down my nose at opera. It was somehow removed from life as we know it, it didn't speak to my generation in the way that rock music did. I loved classical music - always did and still do - but somehow opera got translated in my teenage brain into comical figures dressed strangely and capering about on stage instead of singi...

OPERA OVERVIEW
OPERA OVERVIEW: Who - Where - When
Let us first come to a certain definition of this amazing, let me say, phenomenon - OPERA. According to a classical definition, opera (lat. 'opus' - 'work', 'labor') is a drama set to music, which consists of singing with orchestral accompaniment and an orchestral overture and interludes. But simply speaking, we'll call opera a specific mixture, where theater and music work together and where performers basically have to be actors and singers at the same time. Over hundreds of years it gradua...

Luicano Pavarotti - 5 Best Opera Videos
Pavarotti's 5 Greatest Opera Videos on Youtube
Luciano Pavarotti is probably the most famous opera singer to come out of the 20th century. He is known throughout the world for his vocal ability, and by the end of the century he was the face of opera. I'm by no means an expert on the man, but below I've listed 5 of my favorite videos of performances that I found on Youtube. Yes, the songs are in Italian, but you don't have to understand the words to enjoy the beauty of these performances. If you do want to understand the words, you could ...

Top 100 Best Opera Classics
List of Greatest Operas
Opera is mixture of Music and Drama.The history of Opera roots back to 16th century when early opera performances started in Italy soon become famous in rest of Europe.Even Kings of European Countries developed an addiction of Opera. The most popular form of Opera is Opera Seria which was made famous by One of the greatest composer of all time Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.His work in classical music and his comic operas like Marriage Of Figaro,Don Giovanni, and Cos fan tutte are considered to be ...

Teresa Stratas | Canadian Opera Star
Singer interrupted her career to work with Mother Teresa in Calcutta
At a meeting of Sarasota Opera Guild, someone off-handedly remarked that the great opera soprano Teresa Stratas lives in Sarasota. I did not know Stratas or her work so I researched this lovely opera singer. Later, another friend told me that Stratas lives in Naples, Florida. I guess we can agree that, in retirement, Teresa Stratas lives in Florida like so many retirees! Born Anastasia Stratakis on May 26, 1938 in Toronto, Canada, the daughter of Greek immigrant restaurateurs, Teresa Stratas...

Grace Bumbry | Opera Super Star
Kennedy Center Honors Lauds Singer
We watched Kennedy Center Honors with delight as American Opera Singer Grace Bumbry received accolades for her contributions to the performing arts. Click here to see a photograph of the honorees with President and Mrs Obama. Among Bumbry's frequent roles, we particularly enjoy Eboli from Verdi's Don Carlos perhaps because our beloved Sarasota Opera included that selection in its Winter 2009 season. Photo of Kennedy Center Honors Medal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/ / CC BY 2.0

Sarasota Opera Presents 2010 Winter Festival
Opera House Makes a Difference
Sarasota Opera ranks as the #1 stand-out attraction that differentiates Sarasota & Her Islands from any other coastal community in Florida. We feel thankful that enough wealthy people live in the Sarasota area who are generous enough to support Sarasota Opera's multi-million dollar operation. These art lovers put their money into a performing art that requires unstinting support. Their gifts allow the company to welcome anyone who enjoys opera and to offer tickets as low at $19 a seat! The ...

La traviata | Sarasota Opera Fall 2009
Sarasota Opera staged La Traviata in Fall 2009
If you liked Moulin Rouge or Camille, then no doubt you fell for Parisian courtesan Violetta in Verdi's La traviata. Lina Tetriani sang the soprano role. She received bravas when she debuted in the role of Magda in Puccini's La rondine staged by Sarasota Opera in 2008. Edgar Ernesto Ramirez returned to the Sarasota Opera House on the west coast of Florida, this time as Alfredo Germont and favorite baritone Marco Nistico also returned as Giorgio Germont. Maestro Victor DeRenzi conducte...

Heather Johnson | Mezzo-Soprano
Singer Wins Leading Role in Rossini's la Cenerentola
Mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson returns to Sarasota Opera as Cinderella or Cenerentola, the main character in Gioachino Rossini's two-act opera opening Friday, October 29, 2010, at Sarasota Opera House located on the west coast of Florida USA. Photo courtesy of Sarasota Opera