Page 8 – The Atlanta Opera

This
season, The Atlanta Opera celebrates Chorus Master Walter Huff’s 25th
anniversary with the company. The opera chorus for the production of
Charles Gounod’s Faust features 46 local singers, carefully selected and
rehearsed by Maestro Huff.

For today’s post, we’ve asked four veteran members
of our chorus to share their favorite Atlanta Opera memories.

Josh Borden, during
Il Trovatore (1996)

Baritone
Josh Borden made his Atlanta Opera debut in our 1994 production of Bellini’s Norma
and has appeared in 43 operas since. He remembers his first rehearsal with the
company, “I was in awe of those around me, wondering how I got to be so
fortunate as to sing with the chorus.” Mezzo-soprano Lenna Turner shares his
sentiment. “I literally thought I would pass out at each rehearsal. The first
time I ever saw the Atlanta Opera Chorus perform [Mozart’s Requiem] I thought, ‘Oh
my God! I have to do that. It was the most beautiful sound. And now to be in the
middle of that sound as a chorus member…it still seems surreal.”

John Young, tenor

For
many singers, performing in our chorus remains a constant even as their
personal and professional lives develop. Tenor John Young began his Atlanta Opera career
in 1991 and says he’s been in too many productions to count. “When
I first became a part of the chorus I was one of the youngest people. Twenty-three years
later and all of a sudden I’m one of the ‘seasoned’ singers! It’s amazing
to be part of an organization for such a long period of time. I’ve seen
many changes and lots of growth. I’ve performed with The Atlanta Opera at Symphony Hall, the Fox Theater, Civic Center, and now CEPAC. Being a part of the organization as a young singer provides
an immeasurable amount of experience and knowledge needed to be
successful.”

Twenty
years after his company debut, Josh Borden remains in awe. He recalls just a
few of his favorite memories as a chorister, including a performance at the
1996 Olympic Games. He says there have been quite a few
unusual moments, such as “when they introduced snakes and monkeys (who don’t
get along) in Aida and when the men scalping Azucena in Il Trovatore
actually removed her wig during the Open Dress Rehearsal, and Marianne Cornetti
continued singing with passion as if it were planned.”

Tenor Greg Sterchi (rt) during a
1992 production of Carmen

Tenor
Greg Sterchi has been performing with the Atlanta Opera since 1990 and has had his share of
memories.“One of the most memorable productions was the 1992 Carmen
which was set in the current time period. Ken Cazan was the director. Instead of gypsies, we were terrorists toting AK-47s and we wore spandex and
polyester costumes, Ray-Bans, and slicked-back hair. In typical Ken Cazan
fashion, it was full of sex and violence! I met my partner of 10 years
during that production and built friendships that exist today.”

Lenna Turner

Josh Borden says, “Above all, there are magical moments that seem to creep into
each show.” According to Lenna Turner, she fell in love with opera through
the experience of performing in the chorus: “I fell instantly in love with an art form that I had
very little exposure to growing up. I always say ‘I can’t believe I get to sing
this with these talented people.'”

The
Atlanta Opera is honored to be part of the tradition of musical excellence in
our community. We thank our tireless chorus for their years of talent and
commitment, and look forward to sharing many more seasons making opera magic
with our wonderful colleagues!

Buy your tickets now to see these and other “seasoned” singers in the Atlanta Opera Chorus. Click here

This season, The Atlanta Opera celebrates Chorus Master Walter Huff’s 25th anniversary with the company. The opera chorus for our latest production of Charles Gounod’s Faust features 46 local singers, carefully selected and rehearsed by Maestro Huff. We asked a few of them to describe their experiences onstage with TAO.

Alto Laurie Tossing

Alto Laurie Tossing made her Atlanta Opera debut in 2002 for our production of La rondine. She’s performed in almost thirty operas with the company and described her experience in 2007’s Turandot as a career highlight: “It was our first show at CEPAC, and in the final scene there were about 80 people on stage. I was standing at the top of those huge stairs, right in center stage, so I could see everything–the stage, the pit, and that spectacular new space that is such a joy in which to sing. We were singing the exquisite reprise of ‘Nessun dorma’ in the finale, and there were two women right in the front row, clutching each other and literally jumping up and down in their seats with excitement. I was so overwhelmed by it all, that the moment we stopped singing, I burst into tears.”

Big moments like these are what make opera come alive. Here at the Atlanta Opera, we couldn’t make them happen without Maestro Huff. As soprano Christina Howell puts it, “Using voices to tell stories is what opera is all about. By expecting precision, artistry and vocal storytelling, Maestro Huff allows the Atlanta Opera Chorus to function simultaneously both as one large musical unit and as individual voices and characters.”

Soprano Allegra Whitney

Greg Sterchie, who has been singing in our opera chorus since 1990, agrees. “Working with Maestro Huff is a world-class experience.” When asked about his experience he noted, “I can’t tell you how many times principal singers who work all over the country and in Europe comment that the Atlanta Opera Chorus is the finest they’ve ever heard.” Adds soprano Allegra Whitney, “It’s opera chorus at a whole new level.”

It takes a lot of attention to detail to get such great results. For example, in the current production of Faust, an off-stage chorus of angels provides the last vocal moment. It’s a tricky spot musically, but the Maestro had some well-timed advice for his chorus. “Angels just don’t come in early.”

Come hear our chorus of angels – our production of Faust opens this Saturday, March 8! Buy your tickets now!

Be sure to check back this week, as well as check our Facebook page for more profiles of Atlanta Opera choristers.

This year, The Atlanta Opera Studio
Tour features En Mis Palabras (“In My Own
Words”), a bilingual Spanish and English opera. The Atlanta Opera Studio Tour has a long
history of presenting operas for children grades K-5, but this is the first
time we’re presenting an opera for tweens and teens in grades 6-12. En Mis
Palabras is enjoyable for everyone, though, so bring your friends and
families to see one of the two remaining public performances.

In En Mis Palabras, you’ll experience a story about young Ana Maria, a
Hispanic teenager struggling to find her own voice and identity. At the same time, her father has difficulty allowing
her to blossom into who she wants to be.
It’s an age-old parent-child dilemma to which any one can relate, no
matter their cultural background.

Jayme Alilaw as Ana Maria.

En Mis Palabras is told through the eyes of Ana Maria, an
artist who loves to draw and sketch. During Act I, the opera takes place in two
different rooms within Ana Maria’s house, and then it transitions into a
totally new look for Act II. The staging is very real, immediate, and
contemporary to keep the production feeling very intimate.

Stephanie Sanchez as the Grandmother and Ivan Segovia as the Father.

The Atlanta Opera’s
production of En Mis Palabras strives
to make opera accessible and relevant without pandering, telling the story with
the use of music and drama. “If the visuals, the story, and the music are good,
the people will like it because of the quality and because of the questions it raises,
not because it’s an ‘opera,’” explains Alison Moritz, stage director for En Mis Palabras.

Jayme Alilaw as Ana Maria and Pedro Carreras as her brother Rodolfo.

Alison Moritz goes on to explain
the personal benefits of experiencing this opera. “I
was introduced to opera at a pretty young age.
I saw my first opera when I was nine years old, and I was instantly
hooked. For me, the best case scenario would be for a student to see this tour
in their school and, if their interest is piqued, follow up by attending an
opera at the Cobb Energy Centre or by participating in some of the Atlanta
Opera’s other educational programming. I love opera and, to me, it can be as
modern and personally engaging as going to the movies or watching good
television – I’d love to share this with high schoolers.”

There are two
upcoming community shows of En Mis
Palabras, and tickets are only $7. Buy your
tickets in advance or at the door. Take
this opportunity to experience opera with your family!

Dates and
Locations for En Mis Palabras

Friday, January 24, 2014, 7 p.m.
La Amistad at The Lodge at Peachtree
Presbyterian Church

3417 Roswell Road, Atlanta, GA 30305

Saturday, February 1, 2014, 7 p.m.

The
Atlanta Opera Center

1575 Northside Drive NW, Building 300, Suite 350, Atlanta, GA 30318

Usage of any images on this blog is restricted to The Atlanta Opera and approved news websites. Any other usage, particularly for professional purposes, must have written permission. For additional information, please contact The Atlanta Opera’s Marketing Department at 404-881-8801.

The 24-Hour Opera Project® (24HOP), held earlier this month as part of National Opera Week, is an opera experience like no other for both participants and audience. Imagine writing, composing, rehearsing and performing a brand new opera in just 24 hours collaborating with people you have probably never met. You can read what Cory Lippiello, the Opera’s new director of artistic planning and community engagement has to say about the Project here.

The latest 24HOP, with the limited hours of creation and rehearsal happening at First Presbyterian Church, had its own drama, as seems appropriate. A last-minute cancellation left only three lyricists to match with four composers. So, in a random selection, one lyricist was lucky enough to have her libretto set to music by two different composers.

The work of the composer-librettist teams yielded two versions of an opera called The Lifespan of a Fly, another opera named 3D’s Dance Hall, and one entitled Grace Out of Place. These operas were composed around the theme of “adopting a new identity,” which was drawn from ideas the artists themselves submitted at the Friday kick-off. As secondary inspiration, the teams blindly selected props ranging from a king’s crown to a feather duster, a giant plastic fly and other seemingly arbitrary stage utensils including a clown’s red nose and a bull whip.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, the new operas were turned over to the director-singer teams to bring the works to life on stage. After a grueling, yet energizing day, the new pieces had their world premieres on Saturday evening before an appreciative and engaged audience at the 14th Street Playhouse, a new, larger venue for the Project.

The judges – the Opera’s Cory Lippiello, Jamila Robinson from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Lyndsay Werking from OPERA America – selected The Lifespan of a Fly as their top pick. The audience found 3D’s Dance Hall to be their choice.

Here’s the evening in pictures and sound.

Bert Huffmann, the Opera’s director of development, was emcee for the 24HOP showcase.

(Above and below) GRACE OUT OF PLACE — music by Natalie Williams, libretto by Lauren McCall. Performed by Elizabeth Stuk, Megan Brunning, and Pedro Carreras. Directed by Kristin Kenning. Their inspiration props were a clown nose and a feather duster.

(Above and below) Judge’s Choice — THE LIFESPAN OF A FLY #1— music by Ronnie Reshef, libretto by Vynnie Meli. Performed by Sondra Collins, William Green, and Ivan Segovia. Directed by Mira Hirsch. The inspiration props were a crown, a giant plastic fly, and a book.

(Above and below) THE LIFESPAN OF A FLY #2 — music by Gustav Westin, libretto by Vynnie Meli. Performed by Laurie Tossing, Gus Godbee, and Kristin Moye. Directed by Rebecca Bowden. The inspiration props were a crown, a book, and a giant plastic fly.

(Above and below) Audience Favorite — 3D’s DANCE HALL — music by Marvin Carlton, libretto by Madeleine St. Romain. Performed by Jayme Alilaw, Abigail Halon, and Jonathan Spuhler. Directed by Dawn Neely. The inspiration props were a bull whip and a meerschaum pipe.

The audience’s favorite team.

The judge’s winning team and their trophies.

Listen here to Georgia Public Broadcasting’s coverage of 24HOP

Watch the videos:

Grace Out of Place
The Lifespan of a Fly #1
The Lifespan of a Fly #2
3D’s Dance Hall

“Despite
the horrors of the Holocaust, there were islands of humanity in the midst of
the greatest atrocities…”

-Arthur Fagen, Atlanta Opera Music
Director and son of Holocaust survivors

November
9th, 1938. It’s been 75 years since Kristallnacht, a night of terror that heralded the Holocaust and saw
the incarceration of over 30,000 Jews in concentration camps.

A series of coordinated attacks across
Germany and Austria, the term Kristallnacht
or the “Night of Broken Glass” came about due to the broken glass that littered
the streets after over 7,000 Jewish homes and businesses and 1,000 synagogues were
destroyed.

Atlanta Opera Music Director
Arthur Fagen, the son of Holocaust survivors Lewis and Rena Fagen (who were Schindlerjuden – Jews rescued from
concentration camps by working in the factories of German industrialist Oskar
Schindler), has spearheaded a partnership with the William Breman Jewish Heritage and
Holocaust Museum this season for the inaugural Molly Blank Jewish Concert
Series, which begins this Saturday, November 9th with a performance
commemorating the 75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht.

The concert includes Gideon Klein’s String Trio (1944) and Hans Krása’s Passacaglia and Fugue for String Trio (1944),
performed by musicians from The Atlanta Opera Orchestra. The program also includes songs written in Jewish ghettos and concentration camps by
composers Isle Weber, Adolf Strauss and
Martin Roman and performed by Helene Schneiderman, a
well-known mezzo-soprano who is also the daughter of Holocaust survivors.

“As
the son of Holocaust survivors, I find it my duty to keep the memory of the
Holocaust alive in order to prevent future tragedies of such magnitude,” says
Fagen. “The String Trio by Gideon Klein and the Passacaglia of Hans Krása were written in Thereseienstadt before the composers were
deported to Auschwitz. In all probability, they were the last works written by
these composers. It’s important to
remember that, despite the horrors of the Holocaust, there were islands of
humanity in the midst of the greatest atrocities.”

Atlanta Opera Music Director Arthur Fagen

Join us November 9, 8 p.m. at the
Breman for this enriching and meaningful evening. A
reception with the performers follows the concert. Tickets are $50 for Breman
museum members and Atlanta Opera subscribers, $65 for non-members and are
available here
or at 678-222-3700.

Read more about the experience
of Arthur Fagen’s parents, Lewis and Rena, with the Holocaust, Oskar Schindler,
and their involvement in the making of the Steven Spielberg film Schindler’s List here.

Let the madness begin!
We’re calling it a creative science project where Verdi meets reality
TV. In just a few hours, composers,
lyricists, singers and stage directors will gather for the kick-off of the Atlanta
Opera’s fourth annual 24-Hour Opera Project® (24HOP).

The participating composers and lyricists will be given a
theme and props they must use in their composition, and then they’ll be randomly
paired and corralled together overnight to write an opera scene. The next morning, bright and early, the new pieces
will be assigned to stage directors, who will in turn draft singers and
accompanists. Together those groups will
have just eight hours to stage, rehearse and bring the new operas to life before
presenting them in a public showcase on Saturday evening at the 14th
Street Playhouse.

Cory Lippiello, the Atlanta Opera’s new director of
artistic planning and community engagement, is producing this year’s 24HOP,
which is one of the many activities across the country associated with National
Opera Week.

Cory Lippiello, Director of Artistic Planning & Community Engagement, The Atlanta Opera

Just a couple months into
her tenure at The Atlanta Opera, this will be Cory’s first experience with 24HOP.
Here’s her take:

“This project is
not for the faint of heart. And it isn’t for people who have issues with
editing. Or for people who need time to savor their words or let a new song
marinate in the subconscious. It is, however, a project for people who love
great music and great storytelling. It’s for artists who enjoy the kind of
creativity that comes from having restrictions instead of boundless possibilities.
It’s for performers who like to think on their feet. And it’s for audiences
that thrill to see something new, fresh and alive. This project is for people who
are adventurous, curious, intelligent, emotional creatures, intrigued by life
and looking for ways to understand our experience on this planet. Opera represents vast possibilities for
seeing our own experiences and emotions represented on stage in an incredibly
visceral way. Even when a character or situation seems wholly removed from our
time, opera is a living, breathing art form with something to say about the way
we live right now. What could be more immediate, more of-the-moment, than a
story created a mere 12 hours earlier?”

At the concluding showcase, the final compositions and performances
will be judged by Cory and a panel of judges, including Lyndsay Werking, producer
of OPERA America’s New Works Forum, and Jamila Robinson, digital entertainment
editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The audience, a key element to what Cory calls “the unique alchemy that
is the 24-Hour Opera Project®,” also will have the opportunity to vote for their
favorite.

2012 24-Hour Opera Project Winner — Krispy Kremes & Butter Queens

Why does The Atlanta Opera and the participating composers,
lyricists, stage directors, singers and accompanists subject themselves to the madness
of creating and performing a new opera in a mere 24 hours? Because opera can be just as crazy and cool
as anything we’d see on reality TV!

Don’t miss the showcase — Saturday, November 2 at 8 p.m.
at the 14th Street Playhouse. Admission
is free and general admission. Check atlantaopera.org for more information and
reservations.

Usage of any images on this blog is restricted to The Atlanta Opera and approved news websites. Any other usage, particularly for professional purposes, must have written permission. For additional information, please contact the Atlanta Opera’s Marketing Department at 404-881-8801.

By Alison Moritz

Opera is complicated – that’s why we love it. But it takes a lot of effort, expertise, and patience to coordinate all the elements of a given production. In the end, everything comes together in the crucial week before opening night. Here’s a behind-the-scenes breakdown of Tech Week for the Atlanta Opera’s current production of Tosca (running through October 13):

Thursday, September 26: Final Room Run

After weeks of finessing musical and staging choices in the rehearsal room, the entire cast (including chorus, supernumeraries, and children) comes together to rehearse the opera in its entirety for the first time. Members from the design and production teams use this as an opportunity to troubleshoot certain moments – how fast will that quick change really have to be? Is this the final version of a certain prop for Act II? For the singers, this is their first chance to test the stamina and concentration necessary to perform the show from beginning to end. The goal of the Final Room Run is to get everyone in the whole company on the same page before we start adding the technical elements of set, costumes, and lights.

Friday, September 27: Artists Day Off and Load-In to Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

While the singers enjoy a day of rest, the crew loads into the theatre. The set for Tosca is particularly large, so the first day is focused on getting the structure of Act I built – the interior of the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle.

Saturday through Monday, September 28 – 30 : Technical Rehearsals and Sitzprobe

During the day, teams build the set, work on props, focus the lights, put the finishing details on costumes, and style the wigs. In the evening, the cast arrives and we rehearse each act in sequence. As we go, many small adjustments get made – transforming the intimate staging of Tosca that we perfected in the rehearsal room into an experience that will translate into the 2,750 seat theatre.

Our Sitzprobe is actually a Wandelprobe – which means that the singers walk their positions on the stage while they rehearse with conductor Arthur Fagen and the orchestra. The music staff takes notes, listening for balance between the instruments and the singers.

©Jeff Roffman

Tuesday, October 1: Piano Dress

The crew works during the day to finish construction of sets and props. The lighting design team refocuses lights and works on building cues for the show and making sure that the Stage Manager Erin Janzen Thomson is ready to call the show. Tonight is the first time everything is coming together – including costumes, wigs, and make-up. Afterwards, the production team meets to discuss any adjustments needed before our first Orchestra Dress tomorrow night. Many of the changes are relatively small – Tosca should wear a lighter tiara; Scarpia is going to eat real chicken every night; we are cutting the small table and chair in Act II and going back to the larger votive candles in Act I – the shape of everything is already in place, but there are details left to fix.

Wednesday, October 2: First Orchestra Dress

The morning and afternoon are spent finishing tasks outlined in the production meeting last night. When the singers arrive, they receive a few notes to think about during that night’s rehearsal. The orchestra sounds great and everyone is excited to have an audience for the Final Dress Rehearsal tomorrow.

Thursday, October 3: Final Dress Rehearsal

In the afternoon, lighting designer Robert Wierzel, director Tomer Zvulun, and Calling Stage Manager Erin Thompson-Janszen work together to perfect the timing and look of the iris effect that begins each act. The iris we’ve created is a great example of relatively simple stagecraft (curtains and lighting) used to produce a cinematic effect. It’s an ingenious idea – one that I will definitely steal in a production of my own someday.

The Final Dress Rehearsal has an audience of invited guests of the cast and orchestra. The singers really come alive, responding to the energy in the house, and it feels more like a first performance than a rehearsal. Having been with this production from the beginning, I was surprised to find myself beginning to cry during Act III. For a few moments, I stopped taking notes in my head and became a member of the audience.

©Ken Howard

I’ve always thought that the best moments in opera are like looking through a kaleidoscope. When your way of looking at something shifts just enough, everything suddenly merges, creating a little bit of magic that only you can see. For a brief moment, I experienced this on Opening Night. Come to the opera, you might find it, too. I hope to see you there.

Alison Moritz is the Resident Assistant Director for the Atlanta Opera’s 2013-2014 season. She’ll be sharing her behind-the-scenes stories and opinions in a series of upcoming blog posts.

By Alison Moritz

At its core, Tosca is an opera about truth and lies. Most of us know the double-crossing and misdirection involved in the plot, but the theme of truth in Tosca goes much deeper than just the story. First of all, Tosca is what musicologists call a verismo opera. The word itself is derived from the Italian word “vero” (meaning truth), which stems from the same Latin root as words like verisimilitude and veracity.

Truth in opera? What does that even mean? Historically, verismo opera was associated with a trend towards naturalism in the theatre and literature of writers like Emile Zola and Henrik Ibsen at the end of the 19th century. In studying Tosca before I arrived in Atlanta, I became very interested in Puccini’s desire to create moments of musical and theatrical realism in his opera.

Let’s take the famous Te Deum that ends Act I as a case study: Numerous sources (including Puccini’s own letters) detail the scrupulous attention the composer paid to researching the musical landscape of Rome in the year 1800. He wrote letters to friends who were officials in the Catholic Church, asking them for details of religious ritual. Below is an excerpt from my favorite letter, taken from the memoirs of Puccini’s friend Dante del Fiorentino, a Monsignor who was friends with the composer:

“Go to San Martino. Go to the Bishop, if necessary, and ask him what would be appropriate for the priests as they proceed toward the altar for the celebration of the Te Deum… Find some verses for me, or at least one which will suggest the victory in a prelude before the great Te Deum. Tell the Bishop to invent something for me. If he doesn’t, I’ll write to the Pope and have him thrown out of his job on the grounds of imbecility.”

To drive the point home, Puccini added a postscript: “Get the words for me, or I’ll become a Protestant.”

In the end, Puccini received the information he needed (including the exact version of the plainsong used in Rome and the correct order for a procession to the altar). He absorbed all this detail and transformed it into a rite of his own making – something that evoked the grandeur, tradition, and sanctity of a religious procession, without becoming a literal reenactment.

Our production team in Atlanta went through a similar process to create the staging of the Act I Te Deum. Our goal was to do the necessary research to present a respectful interpretation with dramatic impact. I spent a few days calling Catholic organizations in the Atlanta area and checking over the details with the Catholic members of the production team. So far, we think these efforts have paid off. There’s a supernumerary in our procession who has been in three separate productions of Tosca. A few days ago he told me that our version of the procession is the most accurate he’s seen. Another supernumerary, who is an active Catholic, coached me on a few details we could add and remarked on how respectful our interpretation is.

Why is it so important to us to get this right? On the first day of rehearsal, director Tomer Zvulun spoke to the principals in the cast and reminded them that Tosca is based on the true story of a shepherdess who became a diva after she was discovered by the composer Domenico Cimarosa. He used this anecdote to drive the point home that, even though Tosca is an opera, all the characters are real. They have flaws and are driven by fundamental desires for love and power. When all the characters seem really, truly alive onstage – down to the last chorister and supernumerary – those are the palpable moments in opera that make us all feel more alive in the audience.

Alison Moritz is the Resident Assistant Director for the Atlanta Opera’s 2013-2014 season. She’ll be sharing her behind-the-scenes stories and opinions in a series of upcoming blog posts.

(Special thanks go to Patricia Dejarnett of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.)

Calling all composers, lyricists, stage directors and opera singers!

The Atlanta Opera is now accepting applications for the fourth annual 24-Hour Opera Project®, November 1 & 2, 2013. Think of it as a creative science project where Verdi meets reality TV!

Applications are due September 30!

Who can participate?
Composers, lyricists, stage directors and singers may apply (experience required, must be at least 18 years of age). Download the appropriate application below:
https://www.atlantaopera.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=43246695

What are we talking about?
Composers and lyricists selected to participate will be randomly paired together, and will have 12 hours to write an opera scene. At the end of 12 hours, the pieces will be assigned to participating stage directors, who will draft singers from a pool of applicants, and have 8 hours to rehearse before presenting the pieces in a showcase-concert 24 hours after the project begins. Compositions and performances will be judged by a panel of judges, as well as the audience. Prizes will be awarded to the judge’s choice and audience favorite. No travel, housing, or per diem provided. No cash prizes awarded.

Where will the event take place?
The 24-Hour Opera Project® kick-off event, composing, and rehearsing will take place at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. The showcase performance will take place at the Woodruff Arts Center’s 14th Street Playhouse.

When will this happen?
Friday, November 1
First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta
Kick-off event @ 5PM

Saturday, November 2
14th Street Playhouse
Showcase performance @ 8PM

Admission to the performance is FREE and is open to the public, but registration is required. Info at atlantaopera.org.

Why are we subjecting ourselves to such madness?
Because we’re crazy! (And we want everyone to see how cool opera is!) We are also joining other opera companies around the country to celebrate National Opera Week.

Still have questions? Please visit atlantaopera.org.

See the craziness for yourself! Check out news coverage, photos, and videos from last year’s 24-Hour Opera Project®!
Watch the Webcast >>
See Photos >>
Watch Confession Cam Footage >>
Listen>>

Photos Courtesy of Jeff Roffman (1) and Tim Wilkerson (2 & 3).

The setting of Tosca in Rome opens up so many gastronomic possibilities! In the case of Tosca, it’s fun to speculate about what the characters were actually eating, and in the case of a fantastic evening with friends, we would like to propose a few recipes to get you in the mood before you come see it at the Cobb Energy Centre, October 5 to 13.

Cavaradossi’s Lunch Basket …

Tosca’s lover, Cavaradossi, had a basket lunch brought to him by the church sacristan. According to master-chef, Lynne Rossetto Kasper, this lunch was probably not very different from what is eaten in Rome today. It would have had a loaf of white bread because Cavaradossi was a nobleman (peasants ate dark bread), and a local sheep cheese. There would have been a farm-cured salami and a jug of white wine from Orvieto.**  

Farm-cured salami, local sheep cheese, and good bread would also serve as a lovely appetizer, along with some celebratory white wine pairings…

Scarpia’s Dinner …

At the beginning of Act IV of Tosca, the evil Baron Scarpia is eating supper in a room lit only by two candles and a candelabra on his table. But what could Scarpia have been eating on that fateful night?

As the police chief of Rome, he would have eaten in the style of Roman nobility. Since it was evening, his dinner was a lighter version of the main meal of the day, eaten at mid-afternoon.   Food was status for people like Scarpia. His dinner earlier in the day would probably have begun with a tray of artfully arranged small appetizers like prosciutto wrapped in colorful marzipan, savory tartlets of nuts and greens, and small fritters of sweetbreads or, perhaps, oysters.**

A soup would follow this course – possibly a capon broth with tiny ravioli floating in it, with the filling consisting of breast of capon, cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, marrow, and herbs. Then there would be either a roasted whole fish stuffed with truffles, or hare cooked in a pungent sweet/sour sauce of black pepper, sugar, vinegar, nuts, fruits, and red wine.**

Once this dish was removed, the servants would present a large silver platter with a whole baby lamb roasted and turned on a spit over an open fire until glazed to a mahogany brown. The tender meat would have been laced with strips of prosciutto and basted with wine and herbs.**

For a yummy, Tosca-themed main course, we would suggest a Saltimbocca Barone Scarpia with a classic Roman Salad Puntare.

Il Postre…

For dessert, Scarpia probably had trays of tiny cookies and fanciful marzipan and, perhaps, an elaborate molded frozen dessert layering cake and iced cream. When Tosca enters, we always imagine that Scarpia was just finishing the dessert.

In honor of our tragic heroine, Floria Tosca, ending the evening on a sweet note with an Almond Tosca Cake should be just the ticket….

That Spanish wine referred to in Tosca might have been a sweet one – possibly a dark golden and rich Oloroso Sherry, which would be a lovely aperitif….

You can continue to celebrate at intermission with Tosca-themed cocktails available at Cobb Energy Centre concessions made with the appropriately named Double Cross Vodka…

Tosca Truffle Martini

Double Cross Vodka, Vermouth, Blue Cheese Truffle, and Olives.

Puccini Limonata Rosa

Double Cross Vodka, Fresh Lemon Juice, Cranberry Juice, and an Orange Twist.

See you at the Opera! For tickets and info, please visit atlantaopera.org.

** Content quoted and paraphrased from “Food to Accompany the Opera:  Bring Tosca Home for Dinner”  By Lynne Rossetto Kasper,  September 27, 1998.

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