The Florentine Opera Company's 2007-08 season captures three faces of opera–melody, drama, and pathos–in a perfect blending of plot and passion, acting and arias.
"Our 2007-08 season promises to provide the full gamut of the grand opera experience–from the light hearted but wistful strains of Lehar's beloved operetta The Merry Widow, to the searing musical and dramatic force of Strauss's Salome, and finally to the bittersweet, tuneful melancholy of Bellini's take on Romeo and Juliet,
I Capuleti e i Montecchi. These operatic treasures will be presented by world-class singers, conductors, directors, and designers, and accompanied by the peerless Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra," remarks William Florescu, General Director.
The season begins as the Florentine presents one of the world's best-loved operettas, Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow. The sumptuous production will feature Diane Alexander, the leading national interpreter of the title role, and also marks the return of tenor Jonathan Boyd, who recently received critical acclaim in the Florentine Opera's 2006 production of Don Giovanni.
Next, Richard Strauss's Salome will showcase the triumphant return of Erika Sunnegårdh in the title role, after her dazzling North American debut with the Florentine Opera Company in 2005's stirring production of Fidelio. Sharing the role of Salome with Ms. Sunnegårdh is Kelly Cae Hogan–who will make her Florentine Opera debut. The production will also star Grammy award winner Mark S. Doss as John the Baptist in a role he will sing at Italy's legendary La Scala in 2007. Director John Hoomes returns to the Florentine after directing 2006's innovative Don Giovanni.
This dramatic season will culminate in a production by one of Italian opera's greatest composers, Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Audiences will be engrossed by Bellini's interpretation of the ultimate story of love and sacrifice, Romeo and Juliet. The opera will feature soprano Georgia Jarman as Giulietta, who dazzled Florentine audiences as Marie in 2006's The Daughter of the Regiment, and mezzo Marianna Kulikova as Romeo, a role she has sung in Italy under renowned conductor Riccardo Muti. -- www.florentineopera.org
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