6 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 ARTS GUIDE
FRIDAY, SEPT. 20 AT 8:00 P.M
SUNDAY, SEPT. 22 AT 2:30 P.M.
FRIDAY, OCT. 4 AT 8:00 P.M.
SATURDAY, OCT. 5 AT 8:00 P.M.
SUNDAY, OCT 6 AT 2:30 P.M.
HEINZ HALL
John Morris Russell, conductor
Blaine Krauss, Tamika Lawrence & CoCo Smith, vocalists
Experience the Power of Soul as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra pays
some R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul herself! You’ll hear
powerhouse vocalists perform “Respect,” “Think,” “Natural Woman,” and
much more in this incredible kick-off to the PNC Pops season.
E X P E R I E N C E T H E S E I N C R E D I B L E CONCERT S COMI N G SOON TO HE I N Z H A L L !
FILM WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA BNY MELLON GRAND CLASSICS
THURSDAY, OCT. 3 AT 7:00 P.M.
Earl Lee, conductor
Experience all the mystery and fun of this unforgettable
classic, complete with John Williams’ Academy
Award®-winning score performed live by the Pittsburgh
Symphony Orchestra in sync to the film projected on a
huge HD screen!
Manfred Honeck, conductor
Matthias Goerne, baritone
SIBELIUS: The Swan of Tuonela
SCHUBERT/STRAUSS: Lieder (PSO Premiere)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
IN CONCERT
BEETHOVEN “EROICA”
™ & © Universal Studios.
©A.M.P.A.S.®
FRIDAY, OCT. 11 AT 8:00 P.M
SUNDAY, OCT. 13 AT 2:30 P.M.
HEINZ HALL
Manfred Honeck, conductor • James Ehnes, violin
JULIA WOLFE: Fountain of Youth (PSO Premiere)
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 4
DVOŘÁK: Scherzo capriccioso
SAINT-SAËNS: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso
BORODIN: “Polovtsian Dances” from Prince Igor
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“Don
Giovanni”
opens
Pittsburgh
Opera’s
season.
Pittsburgh Opera season spans
from baroque to modern era
Pittsburgh Opera is in a
class by itself in Western
Pennsylvania, although
there are other opera presentations
here that are worth
seeing. Opera is an extravagant
art form that combines
singing, orchestral music,
costumes and sets, and sometimes
dancing, to tell stories
that touch our hearts and
give us things to think about.
Pittsburgh Opera’s season
ranges across the centuries,
from the baroque era to popular
18th- and 19th-century
operas to two contemporary
pieces.
“Don Giovanni” opens
Pittsburgh Opera’s season
(Oct. 12, 15, 18 and 20).
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s
opera seems more relevant
than ever given the numerous
contemporary scandals
about sexual predators. Mozart
and librettist Lorenzo
da Ponte tell the story with
a striking blend of elegance
and force, wit and pathos.
Music director Antony
Walker conducts, with Craig
Verm starring in the title
role. Stage director Kristine
McIntyre’s production will
set the story in a film noir
context.
“Florencia en el Amazonas”
(Nov. 9, 12, 15 and 17) is an
appealing contemporary
work in Mexican composer
Daniel Catan’s lyrical and
romantic style. The story tells
about the voyage of an opera
singer, Florencia, who travels
up the Amazon River with a
colorful band of shipmates
to find her long-lost love. It is
inspired by the magic realism
of Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
the Nobel Prize-winning
Colombian novelist.
“Alcina” by George
Frideric Handel (Jan. 25, 28,
31 and Feb. 2) is a magical
opera about a sorceress who
uses spells to get men to fall
in love with her, until she
tires of them and turns them
into animals or inanimate
objects. Her current victim is
saved by his fiancée. Walker,
whose earliest successes
were in early opera, will conduct
an orchestra based on
the Pittsburgh period-instruments
ensemble Chatham
Baroque.
“The Last American
Hammer” by Peter Hilliard
(Feb. 22, 25, 28 and March 1)
is about a right-wing conspiracy
theorist in a small
and failing Ohio town. He’s
angry at federal overreach
but is holed up in a museum
that is the last place in town
to receive federal financial
support. The hammer of the
title is the last produced at
the town’s plant, and will be
used by him in a proxy trial
of the U.S. government.
“Carmen” by Georges
Bizet (March 28, 31, April 3
and 5) is rightly one of the
most popular of operas. It is
a passionate tragedy filled
with unforgettable melodies
and unending energy. The
cast includes Zanda Svede in
the title role, Scott Quinn as
her lover Don Jose, Michael
Todd Simpson as her next
lover, a toreador, and Danielle
Pastin as the sweet girl
from Don Jose’s hometown.
Timothy Myers will conduct.
“Norma” by Vincenzo
Bellini (April 25, 28, May 1
and 3) is an ancient tale of
forbidden love composed in
the early 19th-century style
called bel canto. Norma is a
druid princess who falls in
love with a Roman soldier,
betraying her people and
violating her religious
vows. The production will
star Leah Crochetto in the
demanding title role. She
was outstanding in the
company’s 2017 production
of “Tosca.”
Other operas in Pittsburgh
this season include Handel’s
“Rinaldo” by Carnegie Mellon’s
School of Music (Oct.
23-26), an unstaged concert
performance of Ludwig van
Beethoven’s “Fidelio” by the
Pittsburgh Symphony (Jan.
24 and 26), and Resonance
Works’ productions of Gian
Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and
the Night Visitors” (Dec. 20
and 22) and Giuseppe Verdi’s
“Rigoletto” (May 15 and 17).
Mark Kanny is a Tribune-Review
contributing writer.
by MARK KANNy
“Carmen”
by Georges
Bizet
(March 28,
31, April
3 and 5)
is rightly
one of
the most
popular of
operas.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CORY WEAVER
/
