OPERA FOR ALL -- Octavio Choy and Peter Shimkin

"In Jules Massenet's opera THERESE, in the throes of the French Revolution, an exiled nobleman reappears to woo his now married lover with tragic consequences ending with the guillotine"

In Strauss' opera, SALOME could not kiss the lips of the prophet John the Baptist when he was alive, so she kissed

the lips of his decapitated head.

In Luigi Cherubini's opera, Medea had two children by Jason, who abandons her to marry Glauce. Medea takes revenge killing Glauce and their two sons.

An innkeeper during the Protestant Reformation becomes convinced he is God's messenger with tragic consequences for himself, his mother and his fiancee. A good example of Parisian Grand Opera, from 1830-1870. Now known best for its skater's waltz. 

 In Verdi's opera, there is a confrontation between a Roman General and Attila, where the general proposes giving up the entire empire, with the exception of Italy, in a dramatic duo that highlights the opera

In the plot of Donizetti's opera GEMMA DI GERVY, the heroine is barren, and her husband the Count gets an annulment of his marriage so he can get married to another woman with the hopes of getting an heir.

OPERA FOR ALL presents Giuseppe Verdi's first opera: OBERTO, CONTI DI SAN BONIFACIO, where we

first hear the father-daughter exchanges that Verdi would use in many of his operas.

Our program presents Giacomo Puccini's second opera, EDGAR where the main character Edgar alternates between the pure love of an innocent village woman, and the sensual temptations of another.

In LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Destiny or Fate plays a role in the loves of Leonora and Alvaro. When they tried to elope, Leonora's father confronts Alvaro who throws his pistol to the floor to avoid confrontation, but the gun accidentally mortally hits the father. This is one of the many situations in this Beautiful Opera.