Celebrating the Leap Year!
For today's Opera Online session we'll celebrate the birth of the great Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini, born on February 29, 1792, American soprano Reri Grist who was born on that day, and the debut of Meyerbeer's grand opera Les Huguenots on February 29, 1836.
Gioachino Rossini, born in Italy 220 years ago (February 29, 1792), began his musical career at age 6 playing the triangle in his father’s musical group. To earn money as a child, he began working in a blacksmith shop. However, because he had a beautiful voice, at age 10 he joined the adult church choir--and from that point his musical career began in earnest. He wrote 39 operas, the most famous of which is the comic opera The Barber of Seville, which he wrote in 12 days.
The Rabbit of Seville cartoon as Bugs Bunnycuts Elmer Fudd’s hair to the opera’s music.
Here's the popular American baritone Thomas Hampson singing Figaro's famous aria from The Barber of Seville, the 'Largo al factotum' which will be familiar to you!
Soprano Reri Grist
Reri Grist was born a “leap year baby” in a New York City housing project on leap day, February 29, 1932. She attended the High School of Music and Arts to prepare for her career as a coloratura soprano. Her big break was to be selected by Leonard Bernstein to sing a lead role in the original West Side Story; her most famous song was “Somewhere”. She sang lead roles in all the world’s famous opera houses and now lives in Germany.
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is an opera based on the Massacre on St. Bartholomew’s Day in 1572 when thousands of French Huguenots (Protestants) were slaughtered by Roman Catholics in an effort to rid France of Protestant influence. Although the massacre was a based a historical event, the rest of the action, the opera’s love story between the Catholic Valentine and the Protestant Raoul, is made up by the composer, Giacomo Meyerbeer.
Meyerbeer was raised in a very wealthy family and liked to present his operas with lavish staging and costumes. He introduced what is known today as Grand Opera. His opera was very popular when it was presented in 1836; today it is seldom produced.
Opera on the Air!
On Saturday, March 3rd, radio station WRTI will broadcast a performance of one of Giuseppe Verdi's most beloved operas, Aida. Tune your radio to WRTI, 91.1 FM on Saturday afternoon between 1PM and 4PM, you're in for a treat!
Tomorrow's performance could well launch a legendary artist. Soprano Latonia Moore, who starred in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's production of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte is making a last-minute debut in the title role! Latonia studied at Philadelphia's famed Academy of Vocal Arts and we wish Latonia all the best!
Also starring in this production are OCP favorite mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, tenor Marcello Giordani who started his career at OCP, baritone Lado Ataneli, veteran bass James Morris who also sang many performances with Opera Company of Philadelphia, and bass Jordan Bisch, who makes his OCP debut next season as Sarastro in The Magic Flute.
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!
For today's Opera Online session we'll celebrate the birth of the great Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini, born on February 29, 1792, American soprano Reri Grist who was born on that day, and the debut of Meyerbeer's grand opera Les Huguenots on February 29, 1836.
Gioachino Rossini, born in Italy 220 years ago (February 29, 1792), began his musical career at age 6 playing the triangle in his father’s musical group. To earn money as a child, he began working in a blacksmith shop. However, because he had a beautiful voice, at age 10 he joined the adult church choir--and from that point his musical career began in earnest. He wrote 39 operas, the most famous of which is the comic opera The Barber of Seville, which he wrote in 12 days.
The Rabbit of Seville cartoon as Bugs Bunnycuts Elmer Fudd’s hair to the opera’s music.
Here's the popular American baritone Thomas Hampson singing Figaro's famous aria from The Barber of Seville, the 'Largo al factotum' which will be familiar to you!
So how old is he, really?
He was born on leap day, February 29th, 220 years ago. But since leap days and leap years only happen every four years, he may prefer that we count only the years with a 29th day in February as his real birthday. In that case, he’d be 55 years old this year.
A leap year contains one additional day (February 29th) and it occurs every four years. Did you know that the earth travels around the sun in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds? Our calendar only accounts for 365 days each year—except on a leap year when it adds a day to account for the extra time.
Soprano Reri Grist
Reri Grist was born a “leap year baby” in a New York City housing project on leap day, February 29, 1932. She attended the High School of Music and Arts to prepare for her career as a coloratura soprano. Her big break was to be selected by Leonard Bernstein to sing a lead role in the original West Side Story; her most famous song was “Somewhere”. She sang lead roles in all the world’s famous opera houses and now lives in Germany.
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is an opera based on the Massacre on St. Bartholomew’s Day in 1572 when thousands of French Huguenots (Protestants) were slaughtered by Roman Catholics in an effort to rid France of Protestant influence. Although the massacre was a based a historical event, the rest of the action, the opera’s love story between the Catholic Valentine and the Protestant Raoul, is made up by the composer, Giacomo Meyerbeer.
Meyerbeer was raised in a very wealthy family and liked to present his operas with lavish staging and costumes. He introduced what is known today as Grand Opera. His opera was very popular when it was presented in 1836; today it is seldom produced.
Opera on the Air!
On Saturday, March 3rd, radio station WRTI will broadcast a performance of one of Giuseppe Verdi's most beloved operas, Aida. Tune your radio to WRTI, 91.1 FM on Saturday afternoon between 1PM and 4PM, you're in for a treat!
Tomorrow's performance could well launch a legendary artist. Soprano Latonia Moore, who starred in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's production of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte is making a last-minute debut in the title role! Latonia studied at Philadelphia's famed Academy of Vocal Arts and we wish Latonia all the best!
Also starring in this production are OCP favorite mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, tenor Marcello Giordani who started his career at OCP, baritone Lado Ataneli, veteran bass James Morris who also sang many performances with Opera Company of Philadelphia, and bass Jordan Bisch, who makes his OCP debut next season as Sarastro in The Magic Flute.
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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