Editor’s Note: Watch for Terry Mathews’ travelogue of Northern New Mexico in September’s issues. She will review the operas, restaurants, art scene and, of course, all things O’Keeffe.
SANTA FE, NM – “I’m very pleased to announce Santa Fe Opera’s 60th Anniversary Season, the programming of which underscores the company’s mission and honors its great traditions,” said General Director Charles MacKay during a news conference last May.Santa Fe Opera’s 2016 season offers 37 performances of five different operas, running from July 1 through August 27, and is filled with some of the world’s most powerful love stories.
The season opens with “La Fanciulla del West,” Puccini’s romantic portrait of the “Golden West” which tells a dramatic tale of love on America’s rugged frontier.
Mozart’s classically beautiful “Don Giovanni,” based on the legend of the great seducer Don Juan, and Samuel Barber’s twentieth-century masterpiece “Vanessa” both venture into the deep psychology of love defiled.
Strauss’ “Capriccio” philosophically examines love and art through its allegorical tale of two suitors, while Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette,” the enduring operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s immortal tragedy, plumbs the very depths of human emotion.
Things you should know:
La Fanciulla Del West: Giacomo Puccini
Dates: July 1, 6, 9, 15, August 2, 8, 13, 17, 23, 27
Sung in Italian with Opera Titles in English and Spanish.
First performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1910.
Last performed in Santa Fe in 1995.
A “spaghetti Western” tale of love, money, deceit, and forgiveness, “La Fanciulla del West” is an authentic take on America’s iconic Golden West, set to music by the composer of “Madame Butterfly” and “Turandot.”
Full of color and action – firing pistols, poker and whiskey – Puccini’s romantic portrait of the gold-mining frontier is inhabited by pitiless bandits, compassionate but rugged prospectors and one extraordinary saloon owner named Minnie.
Don Giovanni: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dates: July 2, 8, 13, 22, August 1, 6, 10, 15, 20, 26
Sung in Italian with Opera Titles in English and Spanish.
First performed at Prague’s National Theatre in 1787.
Last performed in 2009. This is a new Santa Fe Opera production.
Based on the womanizer Don Juan of legend, and composed by one of the greatest composers of the eighteenth century, “Don Giovanni” is the story of a seducer who manipulates at least three women too many.
In Mozart’s alternately playful and terrifying drama, Don Giovanni’s unrelenting desire turns lives upside down until he finds that some of his sins are simply irredeemable.
masterwork.
Spinning waltzes, dramatic choruses and fiery family rivalries form the epic backdrop against which our star-crossed lovers choose, in the face of parting with each other, to part with life instead.
Capriccio: Richard Strauss
Dates July 23, 27, August 5, 11, 19
Sung in German with Opera Titles in English and Spanish.
First performed at Munich’s Staatsoper in 1942.
Last performed in 1993, this is a new Santa Fe Opera production.
An elegant and witty opera about opera with an incredibly lush score, “Capriccio” was the final composition by Richard Strauss and remains one of the most captivatingly sophisticated works in the operatic repertory.
This dueling love story which explores the aesthetic debate about whether words or music are more important received its American premiere at Santa Fe Opera in 1958.
Vanessa: Samuel Barber with libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti
Dates: July 30, August 3, 12, 18, 24
Sung in English with Opera Titles in English and Spanish.
First performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1958.
A new Santa Fe Opera production and a company premiere.
The Gothic account of a woman left broken-hearted by the lover who left her, Samuel Barber’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Vanessa” is considered by many to be one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century.
Obsessively awaiting the return of a married man with whom she had an affair 20 years before, the aging but still beautiful aristocrat Vanessa lives in a world of secrets, deception and alternate realities. When a stranger arrives at the door, a new chapter begins.
Mainstage information:
Santa Fe Opera’s 2016 Season Performance Start Times: July 1-30, 8:30 p.m. – August 1-27, 8 p.m.
Prelude Talks
These lively and informative talks are offered in Stieren Orchestra Hall twice before most performances.
The first talk begins two hours before the performance and the second is one hour before.
Prelude Talks begin Saturday, July 2, and are free to ticket holders.
For best availability, we suggest attending the first one.
Prelude Talks are not offered on July 1 and during Apprentice Scenes performance evenings, Aug. 14 and 21.
Family Nights
Special performances of all five productions during the season are designated Family Nights
“La Fanciulla del West” on Saturday, July 9 and August 27; “Don Giovanni” on Friday, July 8 and Saturday, August 6; “Roméo et Juliette” on Saturday, July 16 and Friday, July 29; “Capriccio” on Saturday, July 23 and Friday, August 19; and “Vanessa” on Wednesday, August 24.
announced on his webpage Feb. 10 that he and Perez had separated. Earlier this year, they sang in The Dallas Opera’s production of “Manon.” (TDO Photo By Karen Almond)
Roméo et Juliette: Charles Gounod
Dates: July 16, 20, 29, August 4, 9, 16, 25
Sung in French with Opera Titles in English and Spanish.
First performed at Paris’ Théâtre Lyrique in 1867.
A new Santa Fe Opera production. A company premiere.
An ageless tragic tale of two
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