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April - 'Sophie's Choice'

28/4/2018

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Our small group of enthusiasts saw the DVD of Nicholas Maw’s opera Sophie’s Choice First produced in 2002 Maw presented the story of a Polish refugee Sophie who migrated to New York after the second world war. She is courted by a seemingly charming schizophrenic man, Stingo, and they live together in a boarding house. His frequent rages are painful for the narrator to watch, who wants to protect Sophie and eventually persuades her to run away with him. Here she tells him her dreadful story of incarceration in a concentration camp during the war, where she was forced to make a choice about saving one of her two children and surrendering the other to be taken to the gas chambers. These experiences have permanently damaged her ability to cope with ordinary life and she leaves the safety offered by narrator to return to Stingo. Within days he hears that Stingo and Sophie have both committed suicide together, each unable to face their demons.

Unlike twentieth century musical theatre (Evita, Chicago etc), Opera has travelled a dark path in the last 100 years
​
Meg Dillon

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    ​Opera - four wonderful seasons with Meg Dillon

     'Opera - On the Dark Side' (2016)
     'In the Mood for Opera' (which included 19th Century favourties) (2017)
     'Exploring New Operas' (when most operas were based on twentieth century novels or events') (2018)
    'A Night at the Opera - French Style', which explored some of the great nineteenth century French composers like Berlioz, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc who were interested in opera as a musical form.  Lovely arias, tuneful music, great singers and performances. (2019)

    Scroll through these pages to enjoy, and for those who attended, reminisce about, four courses offered by Meg Dillon, supported by Terry, at their home, DVDs of the best possible versions were  screened with subtitles in English.  Limited to 10 members, participants received a synopsis of the story in the week prior to screening. 

    ​Thank you so much, Meg!  What a truly wonderful program you  developed for our members!  

    Convenor & Contact Details

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    Meg Dillon 5762 6558

    Meeting times

    2nd  Wednesdays from 7.00 pm - Semester 1 only in 2018.  

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We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
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​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria
Photo used under Creative Commons from mhobl