'A Night at the Operetta' at Quick Center
Soprano Virginia Herrera and baritone Michael Weyandt will perform duets and love songs from Viennese, French, Spanish and American operettas at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12, in the sixth concert of the Friends of Good Music season at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.
Weyandt won the Quick Center for the Arts Performance Prize at the 2009 Liederkranz Competition in New York City.
Accompaniment will be provided by pianist Elizabeth Hastings and the concert will be narrated by Joseph A. LoSchiavo, executive director of the Quick Center.
Operetta is a genre of light opera – light in terms of music and subject matter – and characteristically has a romantic plot interspersed with songs and spoken dialogue. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in France, where Jacques Offenbach was the most successful practitioner of the genre, and came to its height in Vienna with the immensely popular works by Johann Strauss and Franz Lehar. At the same time, it found similar popularity in Spain where it was known as Zarzuela and became a very sought after form of entertainment.
The operetta traditions of Austria, France and Spain began to wane in the early 20th century but found new life in the United States in the works of Victor Herbert and Sigmund Romberg, eventually making the transition from operetta to musical comedy.
LoSchiavo will guide the audience through the evening, explaining the settings of the works being performed and providing background information about the composers and the different performance styles. A noted opera stage director, LoSchiavo has directed productions for the New York City Opera National Company, the Kentucky Opera, the Arizona Opera, Wolf Trap Festival in Washington, D.C., and many others.
Herrera is a strong proponent of Zarzuela and has performed many roles in this genre with Teatro Nuevo Mexico in Santa Fe and in her native Mexico. She has appeared on many opera stages around the United States and starred in the concert “The Best of German Opera and Operetta” at Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall. Herrera’s voice is featured in the soundtrack of the Mexican short film “Under the Rubble,” which was nominated for best short film at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
Weyandt was described by the Boston Globe as a voice “bright and clean” for his recent performances as Masetto in the Tanglewood Music Center’s production of “Don Giovanni,” under the baton of James Levine. He has previously sung the role of Guglielmo in “Cosi fan tutte” at Tanglewood, again with Maestro Levine, in addition to numerous baritone roles at Indiana University, where he received his master’s degree.
Pianist Hastings returns to the Quick Center for her fifth appearance after conducting the very successful performances of the opera double bill “The Three Hermits” and “Hester Prynne at Death” by Stephen Paulus in 2008. She is the music director of the Liederkranz Foundation and Opera Theatre and has guest conducted at many opera companies. She is also a sought after coach and accompanist in New York City.
Ludwig Brunner, director of programming at the Quick Center, said the concert is a great lead in to Valentine’s Day, which is just two days later. “Since most of these operettas are about love, the pursuit of love, or unrequited love and feature songs such as ‘Ich bin verliebt’ (‘I’m So In Love’) by Lehar or the popular duet ‘Wanting You’ by Romberg, this will be the perfect occasion to bring your spouse, partner, or a date and revel in the romance of the music,” said Brunner.
This performance is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Tickets are $20 at full cost, $16 for St. Bonaventure staff and senior citizens, and $5 for students. For tickets and information, call the Quick Center box office at (716) 375-2494.
For each Friends of Good Music performance, The Quick Center will open its galleries one hour before the performance and keep them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Museum admission is free and open to the public year round. For more information, visit www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.
Weyandt won the Quick Center for the Arts Performance Prize at the 2009 Liederkranz Competition in New York City.
Accompaniment will be provided by pianist Elizabeth Hastings and the concert will be narrated by Joseph A. LoSchiavo, executive director of the Quick Center.
Operetta is a genre of light opera – light in terms of music and subject matter – and characteristically has a romantic plot interspersed with songs and spoken dialogue. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in France, where Jacques Offenbach was the most successful practitioner of the genre, and came to its height in Vienna with the immensely popular works by Johann Strauss and Franz Lehar. At the same time, it found similar popularity in Spain where it was known as Zarzuela and became a very sought after form of entertainment.
The operetta traditions of Austria, France and Spain began to wane in the early 20th century but found new life in the United States in the works of Victor Herbert and Sigmund Romberg, eventually making the transition from operetta to musical comedy.
LoSchiavo will guide the audience through the evening, explaining the settings of the works being performed and providing background information about the composers and the different performance styles. A noted opera stage director, LoSchiavo has directed productions for the New York City Opera National Company, the Kentucky Opera, the Arizona Opera, Wolf Trap Festival in Washington, D.C., and many others.
Herrera is a strong proponent of Zarzuela and has performed many roles in this genre with Teatro Nuevo Mexico in Santa Fe and in her native Mexico. She has appeared on many opera stages around the United States and starred in the concert “The Best of German Opera and Operetta” at Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall. Herrera’s voice is featured in the soundtrack of the Mexican short film “Under the Rubble,” which was nominated for best short film at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
Weyandt was described by the Boston Globe as a voice “bright and clean” for his recent performances as Masetto in the Tanglewood Music Center’s production of “Don Giovanni,” under the baton of James Levine. He has previously sung the role of Guglielmo in “Cosi fan tutte” at Tanglewood, again with Maestro Levine, in addition to numerous baritone roles at Indiana University, where he received his master’s degree.
Pianist Hastings returns to the Quick Center for her fifth appearance after conducting the very successful performances of the opera double bill “The Three Hermits” and “Hester Prynne at Death” by Stephen Paulus in 2008. She is the music director of the Liederkranz Foundation and Opera Theatre and has guest conducted at many opera companies. She is also a sought after coach and accompanist in New York City.Ludwig Brunner, director of programming at the Quick Center, said the concert is a great lead in to Valentine’s Day, which is just two days later. “Since most of these operettas are about love, the pursuit of love, or unrequited love and feature songs such as ‘Ich bin verliebt’ (‘I’m So In Love’) by Lehar or the popular duet ‘Wanting You’ by Romberg, this will be the perfect occasion to bring your spouse, partner, or a date and revel in the romance of the music,” said Brunner.
This performance is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Tickets are $20 at full cost, $16 for St. Bonaventure staff and senior citizens, and $5 for students. For tickets and information, call the Quick Center box office at (716) 375-2494.
For each Friends of Good Music performance, The Quick Center will open its galleries one hour before the performance and keep them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Museum admission is free and open to the public year round. For more information, visit www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.
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