Opera Lovers

 The Opera Lovers organized in 2004 with the main purpose of enhancing the knowledge and enjoyment of opera in the Villages and supporting opera in the larger community. Membership is open to residents and small yearly dues.  We have a considerable collection of opera DVDs, many from the Metropolitan Opera, with opera superstars such as Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Leontyne Price. 

Come and join us in Montgomery Center on September 28, October 19 and November 16 at 1:30 p.m. Planned operas are “The Marriage of Figaro,” “A Masked Ball” and “The Merry Widow.”

      Please join The Villages Music Society’s Opera Lovers on Thursday, December 19 at 1:30 p.m. in Montgomery Center, when we present “Hansel and Gretel.”

We are familiar with this fairytale of two children lost in the woods and their scary encounter with the wicked witch. The story has both comedy and drama, and of course this opera by Engelbert Humperdinck (the composer, not the popular singer!) adds some beautiful music to the atmosphere.

This Metropolitan Opera production was filmed on Christmas Day in 1982 and stars Bay Area favorite Frederica von Stade as Hansel, Judith Blegen as Grete,l and a very funny Rosalind Elias as The Witch.

The Met is so proud of this production that they will air it again this December 28 as their regular weekly radio broadcast. But come and watch it with us, dreaming of gingerbread cookies and candy canes - maybe the dreams will come true! The opera runs just over 100 minutes and is sung in English, but with subtitles.

No registration is needed and all Villagers are welcome to attend. For additional information, please call Mary Stradner at (408) 887-3293 and visit https://VillagesMusicSociety.org for information about other VMS events. We look forward to seeing you on December 19. 

Opera Lovers Showing All-Time Favorite Opera “La Bohème” on November 21
 

Please join The Villages Music Society’s Opera Lovers on Thursday, November 21 at 1:30 p.m. in Montgomery Center, when we present Giacomo Puccini’s “La Bohème.”
 

This most popular opera includes three showstopper arias: “Your tiny hand is frozen,” “They call me Mimi,” and the glorious duet “O lovely girl in the moonlight.”
 

The story is set in bohemian Paris, with a poet, a painter, a musician, and a philosopher living together in Paris, when one freezing Christmas Eve their lives are changed forever. A girl named Mimi knocks on their door looking for a candle light, and she and Rodolfo fall in love.
 

However, the rush of love at first sight soon gives way to something much darker—it becomes clear that Mimi is desperately ill, and that Rodolfo, in his poverty, cannot provide for her.
 

This Metropolitan Opera production was a “Live From the Met” broadcast starring Luciano Pavarotti as Rodolfo, Renata Scotto as Mimi, Ingvar Wixell as Marcello, Maralin Niska as Musetta and Paul Plishka as Colline. James Levine conducts. The opera is sung in Italian with English subtitles and runs 2 hours.
 

No registration is needed and all Villagers are welcome to attend. For additional information, please call Mary Stradner at (408) 887-3293 and visit VillagesMusicSociety.org for information about other VMS events. We look forward to seeing you on November 21.

Please join The Villages Music Society’s Opera Lovers on Thursday, October 17 at 1:30 p.m. in Montgomery Center when we present Antonin Dvořák’s “Rusalka.”

Dvořák’s best-loved opera is one of the most successful ever written by a Czech composer and the only one of his operas to be regularly performed outside of the Czech Republic today. 

It is a dark fairytale, based on Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid.” A water nymph, Rusalka, falls in love with a human prince and makes a deal with an evil witch in order to become part of his world, exchanging her beautiful voice for the ability to become fully human. By far the most famous musical moment is the Act I aria “Song to the Moon,” sung exquisitely in this Metropolitan Opera production by the renowned American soprano, Renée Fleming. 

The conductor is the Met’s current music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and the performance, which runs 2 hours 45 minutes, is from 2014.

All Villagers are welcome to attend. No registration is required. For additional information, please call Mary Stradner at (408) 887-3293 and visit VillagesMusicSociety.org for information about other VMS events. We look forward to seeing you on October 17.

If you need a ride to and from this event, please contact The Villages Medical Auxiliary at (408) 238-4230 as soon as possible to arrange your free transportation.