VPO Opera Gala this weekend
The power of destiny! of love! of grief! The big orchestral sound matching the big operatic voices and the big emotions! You’ll hear all of this and more, music done Italian style — lyrical, languishing, ironic, and enchanting — at the Vermont Philharmonic’s annual Opera Gala concerts at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center in Stowe on Saturday, October 14 at 8:00 pm, and the Barre Opera House on Sunday, October 15, at 2:00 pm.
Tickets for Saturday’s concert are available from Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center ($20 in advance, $25 at the door). Sunday tickets are available through the Barre Opera House ($15 adults, $12 seniors, $5 students) or at the door.
The young singers — Justin Burgess, baritone, and Karen Frankenstein, soprano — won awards at the 2016 Bel Canto Institute in Florence, Italy, and will bring their passion and their talent to the VPO stage. Burgess will sing “Ah! per sempre” from i Puritani (Bellini), “O del mio amato ben” (Donaudi), and “Largo al factotum” from Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini).
Karen Frankenstein will sing “Casta diva” from Norma (Bellini), “Senza mamma” from Suor Angelica (Puccini) and “Un bel di vedremo” from Madama Butterfly (Puccini).
In addition, the orchestra will play three works by Giuseppe Verdi — the dramatic Overture to La Forza del Destino, the Dance of the Slaves from Aida, and the Prelude to Macbeth — and will close the concert with Tchaikovsky’s lyrical Capriccio Italien.
Conductor Lou Kosma has been the acclaimed music director of the Vermont Philharmonic since 1999. As a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for many years, he knows his way around the world of grand opera. The Vermont Philharmonic has been playing concerts since 1959 – it’s Vermont’s oldest community orchestra.