San Diego Opera Podcast

Richard Strauss's opera Salome was written during a cultural, artistic ferment that eventually gave way to the expressionism movement in Germany and Austria. Watch and listen to Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, illuminate for you the special sound-world of this unique opera!

Composers like Rossini wrote their operas for specific singers, often waiting until actual rehearsals to finish the music so that the arias and ensembles could be tailored to that singer's particular gifts. Such was the case for Rosina, the heroine in The Barber of Seville. Listen to Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera talk about how important it is to match the personality of the VOICE with the personality of the CHARACTER in opera.

For our very first video podcast episode, here's a brief discussion by Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, of bel canto, Donizetti, Chopin (!) and Don Pasquale. Watch and listen, especially to the first part of Norina's aria "Quel guardo il cavaliere", a wonderful example of the bel canto style. Enjoy!

Among the unique features of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's opera Moby-Dick is the use of an all-male chorus. That's to be expected, of course, since the story is set entirely at sea on the Pequod, a whaling ship out of Nantucket. The only female voice in the opera is the role of Pip, the cabin boy, which is sung by a soprano. It turns out that there's an interesting tradition of the use of the male chorus in opera. Listen in as our Director of Education, Nicolas Reveles, explores this interesting vocal 'color' in Moby-Dick and other great works.

Tenor Salvatore Licitra died this past weekend at the age of 43 from complications due to a motorscooter accident as well as a possible cerebral hemorrhage. The opera world mourns his passing, as do we here at San Diego Opera where he was due to make his role debut as Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen (a contract he had to cancel due to a back injury) and his appearance as Radames in our 2013 season closer, Aida by Giuseppe Verdi. Join Nicolas Reveles, Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, for a collection of excerpts from some of his wonderful opera recordings.

What do you have to keep in mind if you're and opera director and you're considering a soprano for the role of Salome? Well, quite a bit actually, according to Geisel Director of Education and Outreach Nicolas Reveles. Listen in as we discuss the role's musical and physical demands, and hear the final monologue of Strauss's opera with Cheryl Studer in the title role, Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra. 

Last week this podcast reviewed some of the commedia roots of Donizetti's Don Pasquale. This week Education Director Nicolas Reveles does the same thing for Rossini's Barber of Seville, the quintessential opera buffa or comic opera. Enjoy!

We finish our 2012 International Season with two wonderful Italian comic operas, The Barber of Seville by Rossini and Don Pasquale by Donizetti. Let's spend a couple of weeks looking at the influences that created the form we call opera buffa and spend some time with their comic characters. Today, Norina, the star of Don Pasquale, and her delightful entrance aria.

You've got to be sure that one of the first things Jake Heggie did when he sat down to compose Moby-Dick to Gene Scheer's wonderful libretto was that he had to decide what voice-type Captain Ahab was. The choice he made? Heldentenor! You might find that to be an odd choice, or a fortuitous one. You decide, but after you listen to Dr. Nicolas Reveles's podcast this week!

The orchestra is a very active participant in Strauss's Salome, detailing the stage action at every moment in the drama. Just what is it that makes this work so well in the operas of Strauss? Take a listen to Dr. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, as he analyzes three important characters in the opera: Jokanaan (John the Baptist), Herod and Salome herself.