Feature: OPERA PERFORMANCES ONLINE May 1-7 at Computer Screens

Now that the Metropolitan Opera has had a major success with its At-Home Gala, there are other opera companies with similar ideas. The Florence May Festival, (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino), will offer its presentation on Friday, May 1, 2020, at noon P.D.T. Since many opera lovers are working from home, the audience should be enormous.

Maggio Musicale Superintendent Alexander Pereira will host the live program from the theater but will present singers performing in their own homes. Among the artists listed at this point are Roberto Alagna, Cecilia Bartoli, Diana Damrau, Vittorio Grigolo, Thomas Hampson, Saioa Hernández, Eva Mei, Francesco Meli, Leo Nucci, Lisette Oropesa, Michele Pertusi, Luca Salsi, Fabio Sartori, Krassimira Stoyanova, Ludovic Tézier, and Sonya Yoncheva.

https://www.maggiofiorentino.com/en/comunicati-en/un-concerto-di-canto-live-e-in-streaming-dal-teatro-del-maggio-venerdi-1-maggio-2020-ore-21-2/

Snack suggestions for while you watch: Did you know foods with names that end with the term "Florentine" always contain spinach? Perhaps a bit of spinach would add color to crackers with provolone.

The opera house of Rome (Teatro dell' Opera di Roma) is offering free online access to performances of three Verdi operas: Simon Boccanegra, Ernani, and Nabucco. Riccardo Muti conducts and Adrian Noble directs a traditional staging of Simon Boccanegra which can be seen from April 28 to May 4. Singers include George Petean as Simon, Maria Agresta as Maria, and Quinn Kelsey as Paolo. Muti conducts Ernani and Hugo de Ana directs this performance which can be seen from April 28 to May 4. Singers include Francisco Meli, Ildar Abdrazakov, and Tatiana Serjan. Muti's Nabucco, directed by Jean-Paul Scarpitta, can be seen from May 12 to 18. Singers include Luca Salsi, Tatiana Serjan, and Sonia Ganassi. As for something to eat while watching the Rome opera, I would suggest a quarter of a cantaloupe melon topped with prociutto, or ham if you don't have its Italian version. A dry white wine might also be nice with that. https://www.operaroma.it Look for teatro digitale and Rome Opera aperta.

Los Angeles Opera has been offering short recitals recorded live in early March when singers and accompanists could work together. Later recitals had to be sung to prerecorded piano tracks. Now the short concerts are all available online. Recitalists include: Lucas and Irina Meachem; Arturo Chacón-Cruz; Will Liverman; Janai Brugger and Javier Orman; Ben Bliss and Dana Jackson; Nicholas Brownlee and Jennifer Feinstein; Sylvia D'Eramo and Michael J. Hawk; Tiffany Townsend and Gabriela Flores accompanied by Nino Sanikidze, head coach of LA Opera's young artist program; Alaysha Fox; Robert Stahley and Brendon Shapiro; Erica Petrocelli accompanied by Louis Lohraseb.

For most of his recital, Chacón-Cruz accompanies himself on the guitar, but for his last aria, "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot, Sanikidze plays the piano. Together they make a grande finale.

https://www.laopera.org/discover/laoathome/

Los Angeles Opera just informed me that readers can watch Du Yun's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Angel's Bone from home Friday evening May 1st at 8 p.m. While it's unfortunate that LA Opera had to cancel the upcoming performances of Angel's Bone, the company is thrilled to team up with Beth Morrison Projects and The Broad Stage to bring the performance to you, for free, direct from the stage to the web. Opera lovers can stream the recording of Angel's Bone from May 1st until May 7th on LAO's Facebook page and on it's website at LAO at Home. In times like these, the opera company knows music and community help bring comfort and connection to us all. Until the company can welcome opera lovers back into the theater, the show goes on-just online.

laopera.org/LAOatHome

The Metropolitan Opera's daily one-at-a-time offerings for the first week of May are as follows: Friday, 5/1, Verdi's Aida with Leontyne Price; Saturday, 5/2 Verdi's Luisa Miller with Beczala and Yoncheva; Sunday, 5/3 Borodin's Prince Igor with Rachvelishvili and Abdrazakov; Monday, 5/4 Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Fleming, Bartoli, and Levine; Tuesday, 5/5 Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet with Petersen and Langrée; Wednesday, 5/6 Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin with Eric Owens; and Thursday, 5/7 Richard Strauss' Capriccio with Fleming and Sir Andrew Davis.

https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams

I just received an alert that said Opera Vision is celebrating Russian opera in May. On Friday, May 1, readers can see Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in a performance by the Komische Oper of Berlin. On Tuesday, May 5, readers can watch that composer's The Queen of Spades performed by the Moscow State Stanislavsky Music Theatre. stanmus.com https://operavision.eu/en

Another alert: On Friday, May 1, Opera Philadelphia will stream its 2019 production of composer Philip Venables and librettist Ted Huffman's Denis and Katya. https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/digital-festival/

Photo: A scene from Angel's Bone. Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Dept.

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