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'Come over to the darkside' .. a memorable short course 

3/12/2016

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We have finished our series of four operas for the year.  A marvellous Rigoletto  [Verdi] with Pavarotti as the evil Duke of Mantua outsung by the splendid Louis Quilico as the hunchback Riguletto, father of the beautiful Gilda. You can guess the rest. Gilda is kidnapped by the Duke’s men and made captive in his palace. Riguletto tries to have the Duke assassinated in revenge but only succeeds in having Gilda murdered by mistake! Absolutely magnificent singing.
 
After this excitement La Traviatta  [Verdi] seemed less savage but no less tragic. The lovely courtesan Violetta falls in love with Alfredo and gives up her life of pleasure in Paris to live with him in the country. His father visits her and pleads for her to give up his son as the relationship dishonours his family and prevents his daughter gaining a successful marriage.  Violetta does so, but Alfredo has no idea why she has left him and spurns her viciously at a Paris party.  Violetta is dying of consumption in Paris when Alfredo learns the truth and rushes to her side only to have the chance of singing one aria with her before she dies.  This production by Zefferelli with Placido Domingo as Alfredo and Teresa Stratas as Violetto was outstanding.
 
Finally we viewed a modern interpretation of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte [Women are always like this]. This jolly story of two soldiers who swap their girlfriends by pretending to be Albanian noblemen explores the various things that can go wrong when you try to test your fiancés’ loyalty in this way.  The moral is “Don’t try this!”  Things are bound to go pear shaped.  The two teenaged girls are no match for the cunning counts.  Somehow everyone gets married to the right person at the end. mThis Netherlands Opera Production was beautifully filmed and almost made us believe this could happen in the 1960s.
​
Meg Dillon – Coordinator
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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.  

    Operas

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    'Andrea Chenier'
    'Beatrice And Benedict'
    Candide
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    Cosi Fan Tutte
    'Daughter Of The Regiment'
    Dr Atomic
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    La Traviatta
    'LuLu'
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    Rigoletto
    Sophie's Choice
    'The Huguenots'
    The Pearl Fishers
    'The Turn Of The Screw'
    'Turandot'

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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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Photo used under Creative Commons from mhobl