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Opera Online Holiday Edition

Welcome to Opera-Online!

Welcome students and teachers to our Holiday Edition of Opera Online!
My name is Aedin Larkin. I am the Community Programs intern with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and I will be taking over the blog entries for the time being. I hope to bring you lots of new and exciting information with updates on the upcoming productions for the 2010 season; but first….

With the holiday season approaching, I wanted to look at some Christmas and Chanukah music to keep us all in good spirits!


You Tube Clip of the Week

Chanukah is celebrated from December 11th-19th this season. This Jewish tradition has been celebrated for centuries. In our first clip of the week we will see a performance of Chanukah, O Chanukah sung by Marie Betcher.



Handel’s Messiah is an extremely popular oratorio that is performed very frequently during the holiday season. Therefore I’m showing you one of the great soprano solos “Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion”.

There are two versions; the traditional version which sounds in 4/4 and second version which sounds in 6/8. See if you can hear the difference.

1)“Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion” (traditional 4/4 version) sung by Renee Fleming



2)“Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion” (6/8 version) sung by Sylvia McNair




Web Site of the Week

King radio is a classical web site that has a Christmas Channel for the holiday season so you can listen to all your holiday favorites online!
Click here then on the black strip of options click “listen online”, then move down the drop down menu until you reach “Christmas radio” , click and ENJOY!!!


Opera on the Air

There are two great operas that you can listen to and see this weekend.
This Saturday, December 19, WRTI radio will broadcast Jacques Offenbach’s grand opera, Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann). It stars tenor Joseph Calleja from Malta; sopranos Anna Netrebko (the Russian star who sang for the Opera Company of Philadelphia a few years ago in Bellini’s The Capulets and the Montagues), Kathleen Kim from Korea, Russia’s Ekaterina Gubanova; American mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, and American baritone Alan Held. So tune in to 90.1 FM or listen on the website.

On Sunday, WHYY-TV 12 will telecast the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Puccini’s Tosca. Once called a “shabby little shocker” by a critic, Tosca is now one of the most popular operas performed today. This production stars the intense Finnish soprano Karita Mattila as Floria Tosca, Argentinean tenor Marcelo Alvarez as her lover, and Georgian baritone George Gagnidze as the evil Baron Scarpia. Check your local listings for the channel on your television or cable system.

Don't forget to invite your friends to sign up to receive these alerts by emailing their name, school, and age to us at outreach@operaphila.org.
Until next week…

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