Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media podcast

Player FM - Internet Radio Done Right

Lagt til three år siden

Innhold levert av Houston Public Media and St.John Flynn. Alt podcastinnhold, inkludert episoder, grafikk og podcastbeskrivelser, lastes opp og leveres direkte av Houston Public Media and St.John Flynn eller deres podcastplattformpartner. Hvis du tror at noen bruker det opphavsrettsbeskyttede verket ditt uten din tillatelse, kan du følge prosessen skissert her https://no.player.fm/legal.

The Sarah Fraser Show

1
SISTER WIVES: The Brown Family Plans Garrison's Funeral, Gives NEW Details About His Passing. Justin Baldoni v Blake Lively UPDATES, First Pictures Of Micah Plath’s Broken Nose Have Surfaced!… 36:16

for 11 dager siden36:16

Spill senere

Lister

Lik

Likt

36:16

DANMMMMM…Have I got a show for you! First, a lot of Sister Wives tea - new rumors have surfaced Janelle Brown is leaving the show. Plus, Gabe Brown gives a life update after losing and tragically finding his brother Garrison dead. Sadly, Garrison took his own life in March 2024. Then we head over to discuss the new Welcome To Plathville tea. The first pictures of Micah Plath have surfaced after being beat up by his brother Issac and it doesn’t look good for the future of his modeling career. Lastly, we discuss the latest in the Justin Baldoni v Blake Lively case, Justin is back on social media and it was the perfect social media return. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Open and new Sister Wives news 00:05:43 - Janelle Brown leaving the show? Sister Wives Closet is officially closed 00:12:45 - A new pic of Micah Plath’s broken nose has surfaced 00:18:18 - Justin Baldoni back on social media and Taylor Swifts team is pissed at Justin Baldoni MY Go Big Podcasting Courses Are Here! Purchase Go Big Podcasting and learn to start, monetize, and grow your own podcast. USE CODE: MOM15 for 15% OFF (code expires May 11th, 2025) **SHOP my Amazon Marketplace - especially if you're looking to get geared-up to start your own Podcast!!!** https://www.amazon.com/shop/thesarahfrasershow Show is sponsored by: Download Cash App & sign up! Use our exclusive referral code TSFS in your profile, send $5 to a friend within 14 days, and you’ll get $10 dropped right into your account. Terms apply Horizonfibroids.com get rid of those nasty fibroids Gopurebeauty.com science backed skincare from head to toe, use code TSFS at checkout for 25% OFF your order Nutrafol.com use code TSFS for FREE shipping and $10 off your subscription Rula.com/tsfs to get started today. That’s R-U-L-A dot com slash tsfs for convenient therapy that’s covered by insurance. SkylightCal.com/tsfs for $30 OFF your 15 inch calendar Quince.com/tsfs for FREE shipping on your order and 365 day returns Warbyparker.com/tsfs make an appointment at one of their 270 store locations and head to the website to try on endless pairs of glasses virtually and buy your perfect pair Follow me on Instagram/Tiktok: @thesarahfrasershow ***Visit our Sub-Reddit: reddit.com/r/thesarahfrasershow for ALL things The Sarah Fraser Show!!!*** Advertise on The Sarah Fraser Show: thesarahfrasershow@gmail.com Got a juicy gossip TIP from your favorite TLC or Bravo show? Email: thesarahfrasershow@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

Del

Serier hjem•Feed

In this weekly web feature, St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly provide a quick, fun overview of the opera to be heard Saturday afternoon on HPM Classical and houstonpublicmedia.org.

191 episoder

#Theater #Arts #Podcasting Education #Music #Houston Public Media #St.John Flynn #Aria #Bel Canto #Decipher #French #Italian #Libretto #Opera #Overview

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

updated for 9 år siden

Del

Serier hjem•Feed

In this weekly web feature, St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly provide a quick, fun overview of the opera to be heard Saturday afternoon on HPM Classical and houstonpublicmedia.org.

191 episoder

#Theater #Arts #Podcasting Education #Music #Houston Public Media #St.John Flynn #Aria #Bel Canto #Decipher #French #Italian #Libretto #Opera #Overview

Kaikki jaksot

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Merry Widow 22:18

for 9 years siden22:18

22:18

In this week’s OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra introduce you to Franz Lehár’s operetta The Merry Widow (Die lustige Witwe) which premiered in Vienna in 1905.Redolent of another famous Viennese operetta, Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, The Merry Widow is a story of balls, flirtations, crude diplomacy and a fan.Tune in Saturday at noon to Houston Public Media Classical for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s broadcast... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Wozzeck 12:40

for 9 years siden12:40

12:40

In this week's OCS, Houston Public Media's St.John Flynn introduces excerpts from an interview with former Houston Symphony Music Director Hans Graf and Shepherd School of Music composition professor Anthony Brandt about the Houston Symphony's 2012 semi-staged production of Alban Berg's Wozzeck.Murder, madness, infidelity, suicide...this opera has it all!Tune in Saturday at noon to Houston Public Media's 88.7 HD2 to hear Lyric Opera of Chicago's broadcast of this 20th-century masterpiece.…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: La Cenerentola (Cinderella) 15:44

for 9 years siden15:44

15:44

In this week's OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Gioachino Rossini’s 1817 comic masterpiece La Cenerentola.Based on the Charles Perrault fairy tale of Cinderella, it’s the story of the kind-hearted young girl, abused by her step-sisters, who meets, falls in love with, and marries the handsome prince. Yes, Cinders does go to the ball!Tune in to Classical 91.7 and HPM Classical Saturday at noon to... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Opera As Literary Adaptation 13:51

for 9 years siden13:51

13:51

In this week’s OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of ROCO look at the seemingly recent phenomenon of turning great books into operas (think Moby Dick, Little Women, Thérèse Raquin, and Cold Sassy Tree to name just a few). As they point out, while many of the most successful late 20th- and early 21st-century operas may derive from well-known books, this is by no means something new. In fact, it would be difficult... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Marriage Of Figaro 34:18

for 9 years siden34:18

34:18

In this OCS Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give a brief introduction to one of Mozart’s greatest creations.Subtitled The Mad Day, The Marriage of Figaro shows the craziness that ensues when the “right of the lord” is not the opposite of the “left of the lord”!Le Nozze di Figaro, to give it its Italian title, was the first of the three great collaborations between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. Based on... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Elektra 27:13

for 9 years siden27:13

27:13

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Richard Strauss’s telling of the story of the children of King Agamemnon who are hell bent on seeking revenge on their mother, Klytemnestra, for her cold-blooded killing of their father. Based on the Sophocles play of the same name, Elektra is a powerful drama in which so many of the characters seem always on the verge of madness.... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Verdi’s Otello 28:55

for 9 years siden28:55

28:55

In this OCS Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s penultimate opera, Otello, the second of his three Shakespeare adaptations.Otello, great soldier and statesman, manipulated by the evil Iago, is whipped into a jealous rage believing his beloved wife, Desdemona, to be unfaithful. The consequences are supremely tragic.Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7 Saturday, April 23rd at noon to hear the Metropolitan Opera... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Roberto Devereux 18:12

for 9 years siden18:12

18:12

Gaetano Donizetti seems to have had a thing for English Tudor history! He wrote no less than four operas about historical figures from the time of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.The climactic opera of the “Tudor Queen” trilogy, Roberto Devereux which debuted in Naples in 1837, tells the story of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, an influential member of the court of Elizabeth I (and her supposed lover!), and how her feelings for him impacted her... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Madama Butterfly 27:34

for 9 years siden27:34

27:34

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra provide their own inimitable introduction to Giacomo Puccini’s 1904 drama based on the play “Madame Butterfly” by David Belasco.Set in Nagasaki, Japan, in the early years of the twentieth century, it’s the story of the young, innocent Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, and her fateful love for the “faithless” American naval lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton.Tune in to Houston Public Media’s... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Marriage Of Figaro (all-new) 34:18

for 9 years siden34:18

34:18

In this all-new OCS Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give a brief introduction to one of Mozart’s greatest creations.Subtitled The Mad Day, The Marriage of Figaro shows the craziness that ensues when the “right of the lord” is not the opposite of the “left of the lord”!Le Nozze di Figaro, to give it its Italian title, was the first of the three great collaborations between Mozart and... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Elixir Of Love 10:28

for 9 years siden10:28

10:28

In this Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media Arts & Culture Director St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Gaetano Donizetti’s 1832 comic opera L’Elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love), the story of Adina and Nemorino and the love they come to share thanks to a bottle of cheap wine!Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7 Saturday at noon to hear the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of L’Elisir d’Amore with... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Don Pasquale 12:14

for 9 years siden12:14

12:14

In this Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of ROCO discuss Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, the comic tale of a rich old fool determined to take a pretty young wife and his friends’ plot to thwart him.Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7 Saturday, March 12th, at noon for the Metropolitan Opera’s broadcast of Don Pasquale featuring baritone Ambrogio Maestri in the title role.…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Manon Lescaut 20:38

for 9 years siden20:38

20:38

In this Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give an overview of Massenet’s…oops, wrong one!…Giacomo Puccini’s take on the Abbé Prévost’s 18th-century novel of the same name.Manon Lescaut is the story of a young girl torn between love and the finer things in life. Which does she choose? You’ll have to listen to find out!And a good way to distinguish the two Manon (Lescaut)... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Lulu 30:17

for 9 years siden30:17

30:17

Written in the early 1930s, Lulu, Alban Berg’s second opera (after Wozzeck) is the story of an amoral young woman with a knack for dominating, both sexually and emotionally, a range of willing victims, male and female, who fall under her spell. And yet she too is one of society’s victims who dies a brutal death. Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7 Saturday, February 27th, at noon for the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of... Read More…

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Joyce DiDonato On Maria Stuarda 13:36

for 9 years siden13:36

13:36

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media Arts & Culture Director St.John Flynn talks with superstar American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato who sang the title role in Houston Grand Opera’s 2012 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda. Based on Friedrich Schiller’s 1800 play Maria Stuart, it’s the story of the rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots and her cousin Elizabeth I of England. Who said blood is thicker than water? Tune in to Houston... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Il Trovatore 14:13

for 9 years siden14:13

14:13

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give their usual open and honest overview of one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most tuneful works. Il Trovatore is a story of nobles, gypsies and singing soldiers, and reminds us of the terrible consequences of seething revenge! Tune in Saturday, February 13th at noon to hear the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Il Trovatore, featuring Angela Meade... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Cavalleria Rusticana And Pagliacci (revised) 37:00

for 9 years siden37:00

37:00

In this OCS twofer, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give quick intros to Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, late 19th-century one-act operas, often paired on the same program as Cav & Pag, that define the verismo movement.In Cavalleria Rusticana, a young man learns what happens to a guy who sleeps with another man’s wife when his girlfriend is pregnant! Pagliacci is the story... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Turandot 14:30

for 9 years siden14:30

14:30

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giacomo Puccini’s final opera, Turandot, the story of an ancient Chinese princess unwilling to fall in love…until she’s kissed for the first time!You can listen to the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Turandot, featuring Nina Stemme in the title role, Saturday, January 30th, at noon on Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7.…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Tannhäuser (updated) 22:02

for 9 years siden22:02

22:02

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give their laugh-filled take on Richard Wagner’s tale of a man torn between sacred and profane love.Set in 13th-century Germany, Tannhäuser teaches us that, if you’re going to sleep around, you probably shouldn’t admit it to your friends in front of your girlfriend!Tune in to Houston Public Media Classical 91.7 Saturday, January 23, at noon for the Metropolitan... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Pearl Fishers 17:03

for 9 years siden17:03

17:03

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give an overview of Georges Bizet’s 1863 opera Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers). Set in ancient Ceylon, it’s a story of love, friendship and a beautiful pearl necklace.Tune in Saturday, January 16th, at noon for the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of The Pearl Fishers on Houston Public Media Classical 91.7.…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Anna Bolena 22:14

for 9 years siden22:14

22:14

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss the first opera in Donizetti’s “Tudor trilogy.” Based on the tragic story of Henry VIII’s second wife, it’s a tale about the dangers of marrying a serial monogamist!Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7, Saturday, January 9th, at noon, for the Metropolitan Opera’s broadcast of Anna Bolena featuring Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role and HGO... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Die Fledermaus 17:38

for 9 years siden17:38

17:38

In this week’s OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Johann Strauss Jr.’s Viennese romp Die Fledermaus, a paean to champagne and the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment set in 19th-century Vienna. What happens when Gabriel von Eisenstein goes off to Prince Orlofsky's ball rather than to jail?[The musical excerpts in this OCS are taken from the EMI recording featuring Willi Boskovsky conducting the... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Barber of Seville 25:17

for 9 years siden25:17

25:17

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, introduce Rossini’s musical version of the story of the wily barber and his efforts to secure the lovely Rosina’s hand in marriage for the besotted, and disguised, Count Almaviva.Subtitled "The Futile Precaution," Rossini’s great opera buffa consistently ranks among the top 10 operas performed worldwide.[The excerpts heard in this OCS are from the CBS Masterworks recording featuring Riccardo... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: La Donna del Lago 18:31

for 9 years siden18:31

18:31

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Rossini’s 1819 masterpiece La Donna del Lago. Based on Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, and set in the early 16th century, the opera is a tale of love, loyalty and lochs in the Scottish Highlands.You can hear the Metropolitan Opera’s production of La Donna del Lago, featuring superstar soprano Joyce DiDonato in the title role, Saturday, December 19th, at noon... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Rigoletto 16:44

for 9 years siden16:44

16:44

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media Arts & Culture Director, St.John Flynn, and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s searing 1851 tragedy Rigoletto, the story of Gilda, the beautiful young girl sacrificed on the altar of her father’s malevolence.[The musical excerpts heard in this OCS are taken from the RCA Victor Opera Series recording featuring Georg Solti conducting the RCA Italiano Opera Orchestra & Chorus; Robert Merrill:... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Candide 25:03

for 10 years siden25:03

25:03

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give a quick and humor-filled overview of Bernstein’s 1956 opera Candide, famous for its Overture and songs such as “Glitter and be Gay” and “Make Our Garden Grow.” Based on Voltaire’s 1758 novel of the same name, Candide tells the story of the young man who learns the truth about existence through a bizarre sequence of fantastic events... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Vivaldi’s Cato in Utica 13:09

for 10 years siden13:09

13:09

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra provide a quick overview of Antonio Vivaldi’s dramatization of the final defeat of the Roman Republican army, commanded by Cato, by Julius Caesar and the forces of the emerging Roman Empire in North Africa.Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7 Saturday, November 14th, at noon to hear Glimmerglass Opera’s broadcast of Cato in Utica featuring... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Macbeth 27:05

for 10 years siden27:05

27:05

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth.First staged in Florence in 1847, Macbeth was Verdi’s tenth opera and his first stab at adapting Shakespeare for the musical theatre stage.A tragedy set in medieval Scotland, Macbeth is a cautionary tale about what can happen to a marriage when three witches dangle the carrot of absolute power in front of you!Tune... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Les Troyens 11:20

for 10 years siden11:20

11:20

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra talk about Hector Berlioz ’s grand opera masterpiece Les Troyens, the story of the Fall of ancient Troy and the Trojans flight from their homeland across the Mediterranean to Carthage as they follow their heroic leader Aeneas whose mission to found Italy is almost derailed by his love for Queen Dido.Tune in to Houston Public Media Classical... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Puccini’s La bohème 28:33

for 10 years siden28:33

28:33

Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give a quick overview of Giacomo Puccini’s powerful and tragic love story set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century.Few people realize that there are actually two operas, written at the same time and both based on the book Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger, titled La bohème. Puccini’s version debuted in Turin... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Cinderella (La Cenerentola) 15:44

for 10 years siden15:44

15:44

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Rossini’s La Cenerentola. Based on the Perrault fairy tale of Cinderella, it’s the story of the kind-hearted young girl, abused by her step-sisters, who meets, falls in love with, and marries the handsome prince. Yes, Cinders does go to the ball!Tune in to Houston Public Media Classical 91.7 Saturday, October 10th at noon to... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Partenope 18:38

for 10 years siden18:38

18:38

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Handel’s 1730 comic opera Partenope. Set in Ancient Naples, Partenope is the story of the Neapolitan queen who is loved by three princes and one princess (!). Who will win the queen’s hand in marriage? Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7 Saturday at noon for San Francisco Opera’s broadcast of Partenope featuring Danielle de Niese... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Un Ballo In Maschera (A Masked Ball) 15:10

for 10 years siden15:10

15:10

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra talk about Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, the story of the demise of Riccardo, Earl of Warwick and governor of Boston who falls in love with his best friend’s wife and pays a heavy price. Tune in to Classical 91.7 Saturday, September 26th at noon for San Francisco Opera’s broadcast of Un Ballo in Maschera featuring... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Susannah 14:58

for 10 years siden14:58

14:58

In this Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, his first major operatic success. Set in Tennessee, and adapted from the story of Susannah and the Elders in the Apocrypha, Susannah is the story of an innocent young woman corrupted and marginalized by the God-fearing, church-going folks of her town and their new preacher. Tune in to hear San Francisco Opera’s... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Norma 28:56

for 10 years siden28:56

28:56

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s Arts & Culture Director St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Vincenzo Bellini’s 1831 “lyric tragedy” Norma. Set in Gaul in the first century B.C., Norma tells a story of love, religion, fidelity and concealment as the Druids strive to fight off the invading Romans.…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Madama Butterfly 27:34

for 10 years siden27:34

27:34

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s Arts & Culture Director St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giacomo Puccini’s 1904 drama Madama Butterfly, based on the play “Madame Butterfly” by David Belasco. Set in Nagasaki, Japan, in the early years of the twentieth century, it’s the story of the young, innocent Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, and her fateful love for the “faithless” American naval lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton.... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Rigoletto 16:44

for 10 years siden16:44

16:44

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media Arts & Culture Director, St.John Flynn, and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s searing 1851 tragedy Rigoletto, the story of Gilda, the beautiful young girl sacrificed on the altar of her father’s malevolence. Tune in for San Francisco Opera’s broadcast of Rigoletto, featuring Željko Lu?i? in the title role and Aleksandra Kurzak as Gilda. [The musical excerpts heard in this OCS are taken... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Thaïs 21:10

for 10 years siden21:10

21:10

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra provide a quick, light-hearted intro to Jules Massenet’s Thaïs, a tale full of religious eroticism! Set in the 4th century A.D. in North Africa, Thaïs tells the story of the monk Athanaël who attempts to convert to Christianity the Alexandrian courtesan Thaïs only to discover that he is in love with her. As she renounces her... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Ghosts Of Versailles 27:22

for 10 years siden27:22

27:22

Stage of the Royal Opera of the Palace of Versailles. Image from WikiMedia Commons by user GNUToo. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give an overview of American composer John Corigliano’s only opera (to date), The Ghosts of Versailles, which he describes as a “grand opera buffa.” Writing in The New York Times on the occasion of the opera’s world première at the Met... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Marriage Of Figaro 11:07

for 10 years siden11:07

11:07

Aidan Davis and Kate Scally as Figaro and Susanna in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro". Photo by Penn State. Creative Commons. In this OCS Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn talks to bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi, who sang the title role, and conductor James Gaffigan, from the Houston Grand Opera 2011 production of The Marriage of Figaro. Subtitled The Mad Day, the opera shows the craziness that ensues when the “right of the lord” is not the... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Dido And Aeneas 13:33

for 10 years siden13:33

13:33

The Meeting of Dido and Aeneas by Nathaniel Dance-Holland. Public domain. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss what is perhaps the earliest English opera, Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Based on the events in Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, Purcell’s only true opera tells the story of the ill-fated love that develops between Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, a Trojan prince charged... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: La Traviata 28:10

for 10 years siden28:10

28:10

The arrival of the entertainers in La traviata, Act II, Scene II. Creative Commons license 3.0. In this OCS, the “opera guys,” Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s magnificent La Traviata, the story of the ill-fated love between the dying courtesan Violetta and the young and besotted Alfredo and what can happen when your dad thinks your girlfriend’s “unsuitable”! Tune in to Houston Public Media... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Tosca 32:29

for 10 years siden32:29

32:29

Patricia Racette as the title character in the Met’s 2012 production of "Tosca." Photo by Ken Howard. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera. In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give, in their own inimitable way, a quick intro to Puccini’s beloved Tosca, a story of love, politics, religion and sharp silverware! Set in Rome against a backdrop of national and political turmoil,... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Porgy And Bess 33:36

for 10 years siden33:36

33:36

Porgy and Bess by the New York Harlem Theatre. GNU Free Documentation License. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss George Gershwin’s 1935 masterpiece, considered by many to be the Great American Opera. Based on DuBose Heyward’s novel Porgy, Gershwin’s opera tells the story of the residents of Charleston, South Carolina’s Catfish Row, a tenement inhabited by poor black families, and the love story... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Passenger 19:15

for 10 years siden19:15

19:15

The set of Weinberg's 'The Passenger' features Auschwitz on the lower level and a passenger ship headed to Brazil in the late 1950s on top. Photo by Robert Kusel. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give an overview of Mieczysâaw Weinberg’s 1968 opera The Passenger. Set on an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic in the late 1950s and also in the Auschwitz concentration camp... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Tannhäuser 21:09

for 10 years siden21:09

21:09

Tannhäuser by Ferdinand von Piloty (1828-1895). Public domain. In this week’s OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give their laugh-filled take on Richard Wagner’s tale of a man torn between sacred and profane love. Set in 13th-century Germany, Tannhäuser teaches us that, if you’re going to sleep around, you probably shouldn’t admit it to your friends in front of your girlfriend! Tune in to Houston Public... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Carousel 27:44

for 10 years siden27:44

27:44

Shankly Gates at Anfield, Liverpool F.C.'s stadium, U.K.. Photo by Andy Nugent. Creative Commons. In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give an overview of Richard Rodgers’ and Oscar Hammerstein’s second musical collaboration. Set in Maine in the second half of the 19th century, Carousel tells the story of the complex relationship between carousel barker Billy Bigelow and millworker Julie Jordan. It’s the... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Anna Bolena 22:14

for 10 years siden22:14

22:14

Portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger; Anne Boleyn by unknown artist. Public domain. In this OCS Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss the first opera in Donizetti’s “Tudor trilogy.” Based on the tragic story of Henry VIII’s second wife, it’s a story about the dangers of marrying a serial monogamist! Tune in to hear Lyric Opera of Chicago’s broadcast of Anna Bolena featuring... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Il Trovatore 13:25

for 10 years siden13:25

13:25

Il Trovatore, Salzburg Festival 2014 with Riccardo Zanellato (Ferrando), Plácido Domingo (Conte di Luna) and the Chorus of Vienna State Opera. Photo by Christian Michelides. Creative Commons. In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give their usual open and honest overview of one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most tuneful works. Il Trovatore is a story of nobles, gypsies and singing soldiers, and reminds us of... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Capriccio 14:27

for 10 years siden14:27

14:27

Liceu - Interior. Photo by Josep Renalias. Creative Commons license. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give an overview of Richard Strauss’ Capriccio, his final opera. Set in 1775 in a chateau outside Paris, Capriccio is an opera about opera. Tune in to Houston Public Media Classical 91.7 Saturday at noon to hear Lyric Opera of Chicago’s broadcast of Capriccio featuring a cast that... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Don Giovanni 12:30

for 10 years siden12:30

12:30

Don Giovanni (Commendatore) Greek National Opera 2004. Photo credit: Stefanos. Courtesy of the website of Vassilis Kostopoulos. In this OCS, Houston Public Media's St.John Flynn, and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Mozart’s famed Don Giovanni, the story of the downfall of the notoriously unrepentant womanizer, a work composer Charles Gounod described as “that unequalled and immortal masterpiece, that apogée of the lyrical drama.” It’s a cautionary tale about how many notches... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Un Ballo In Maschera 15:10

for 10 years siden15:10

15:10

(l – r) Anna Prohaska as Oscar, Dalibor Jenis as Renato, Oliver Zwarg as Samuel and Andreas Bauer as Tom in the Berlin Staatsoper production of Un ballo in maschera. Photo by Ruth Walz © 2008. In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra talk about and give an overview of Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, the story of the demise of the Swedish... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk 17:15

for 10 years siden17:15

17:15

Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at Teatro Comunale di Bologna, December 2014, Svetlana Sozdateleva as Katerina L'vovna Izmailova, Director Dmitry Bertman, Helikon Opera Moscow. Photo: Lorenzo Gaudenzi. In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra provide a quick intro to the work that led to the denunciation of Dmitri Shostakovich’s music by the Communist authorities and which was banned in the Soviet... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Don Carlo 13:21

for 10 years siden13:21

13:21

Giancarlo Monsalve, Rafa? Siwek, in Verdi's Don Carlo. Photo by Manuel Larrondo. In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn talks to American tenor Brandon Jovanovich, who made his role debut as Don Carlo in Houston Grand Opera’s 2012 production of the opera. Often referred to as the “grandest of the grand operas,” Don Carlo is basedon the Schiller play Don Carlos, Infante of Spain. Set against the backdrop of the Hapsburg-Valois War... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Ernani 20:45

for 10 years siden20:45

20:45

Shrine of Charlemagne at Aachen. Creative Commons. In this Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give a quick, light-hearted overview of Verdi’s Ernani, one of his early masterpieces. A story of love and supreme honor, Ernani revolves around three men all in love with the same woman. As you might imagine, drama ensues! Tune in Saturday at noon for the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Lucia di Lammermoor 14:31

for 10 years siden14:31

14:31

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) give their humorous and light-hearted overview of the opera many consider Gaetano Donizetti’s greatest drama and one of the masterpieces of the bel canto repertoire. Albina Shagimuratova as Lucia di Lammermoor. Photo © Pavel Vaan / Leonid Semenyuk. Based on Sir Walter Scott's historical novel, The Bride of Lammermoor, Lucia di Lammermoor, might be described... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Manon 29:10

for 10 years siden29:10

29:10

Dancer Marie Lindqvist from the 2010 production of Manon at the Royal Swedish Opera. Carl Thorborg / Kungliga Operan. Creative Commons. In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give an overview of Jules Massenet’s most popular opera, Manon. Based on the 18th-century novel by Abbé Prévost, it’s the story of a young girl torn between love and the finer things in life.... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: La Donna del Lago 18:31

for 10 years siden18:31

18:31

Gioachino Rossini (painter unknown). Public domain. In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Rossini’s 1819 bel canto masterpiece La Donna del Lago. Based on Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, and set in the early 16th century, the opera is a tale of love, loyalty and lochs in the Scottish Highlands. You can hear the Metropolitan Opera's... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Carmen 15:04

for 10 years siden15:04

15:04

Carmen poster by David Lund, Seattle Opera, 1982. Creative Commons. In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Georges Bizet’s tour de force, Carmen, the story of the naïve and unstable young soldier, Don José, who is seduced but then discarded by the wild gypsy girl Carmen.You can hear the Metropolitan Opera's production of Carmen, featuring Latvian mezzo-soprano El€Çna Garan€a in the... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Don Giovanni 12:30

for 10 years siden12:30

12:30

The Singer Francisco D'Andrade as Don Giovanni in Mozart's Opera (The Red d'Andrade) by Max Slevogt, 1912 Credit: Public domain This week, Houston Public Media's St.John Flynn, and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Mozart’s famed Don Giovanni, the story of the downfall of the notoriously unrepentant womanizer, a work composer Charles Gounod described as “that unequalled and immortal masterpiece, that apogée of the lyrical drama.” It’s a cautionary tale about... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Bluebeard's Castle 11:27

for 10 years siden11:27

11:27

Bluebeard and Judith in an illustration by Gustave Doré for an 1862 edition of Perrault's Tales. Public domain. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly, executive director of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, provide a quick overview of Béla Bartók’s 1918 one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle. Based on a Charles Perrault fairy tale, Bluebeard’s Castle is a cautionary tale about what can happen when a new wife wants to know all about... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Iolanta 12:50

for 10 years siden12:50

12:50

Butter sculpture of "The Dreaming Iolanthe", depicting the blind Yolande, as portrayed in Henrik Hertz's play King René's Daughter, by Caroline Shawk Brooks, 1876. Public domain. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly, Executive Director of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, give a quick overview of Tchaikovsky’s last opera. Written in 1892, and with a libretto by the composer’s brother Modest, Iolanta is a one-act work about a blind princess who... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Macbeth 27:05

for 10 years siden27:05

27:05

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth. First staged in Florence in 1847, Macbeth was Verdi’s tenth opera and his first stab at adapting Shakespeare for the musical theatre stage. A tragedy set in medieval Scotland, Macbeth is a cautionary tale about what can happen to a marriage when three witches dangle the carrot of absolute power in front of you! [The opera excerpts heard... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Tales Of Hoffmann 14:53

for 10 years siden14:53

14:53

Jacques Offenbach. Photo by Felix Nadar. Wikimedia Commons. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly provide an overview to Jacques Offenbach’s 1881 opera. Based on three short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Offenbach’s last work (unfinished at the time of his death) tells the story of a poet, Hoffmann, who recounts the tales of the three women he loved and lost only to find his true love was much closer to home.... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: La Bohème 28:33

for 10 years siden28:33

28:33

La Bohème from the Metropolitan Opera April 2014. Photo by Bengt Nyman/Wikimedia Commons. Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly give a quick overview of this powerful and tragic love story set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the early nineteenth century. Tune in to Classical 91.7 for the Met’s La Boheme, Saturday, January 24th at noon. [The musical excerpts in this OCS are taken from the 2008 Deutsche Grammophon release of La... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Opera News Editor F. Paul Driscoll 26:14

for 10 years siden26:14

26:14

Opera News Editor-in-Chief, F. Paul Driscoll. Photo courtesy of Opera News. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly talk with F. Paul Driscoll, Editor-in-Chief of Opera News, the classical music magazine with the largest circulation in the U.S. They discuss how opera as an art form is faring in America and Europe; some of the up-and-coming opera singers to watch out for; and which contemporary operas might still be around in 50... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Aida 11:06

for 10 years siden11:06

11:06

Aida at the Verona Arena. Wikimedia Commons. Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly give a light-hearted overview of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida. You can hear the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Aida featuring HGO Studio alum Tamara Wilson in the title role, Saturday at noon on Houston Public Media Classical 91.7.…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Hansel And Gretel 24:15

for 10 years siden24:15

24:15

Hansel and Gretel by Arthur Rackham, 1909. Public domain. In this Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media’s “opera guys,” St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly, give a quick, light-hearted overview of Engelbert Humperdinck’s lush, magical opera. Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, Hansel and Gretel tells the story of the poor brother and sister, lost in a forest, who are lured into a wicked witch’s gingerbread house and prepped for the... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: La Traviata 28:10

for 10 years siden28:10

28:10

Catherine Malfitano in the rôle of Violetta, Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg, March 1980. ©Claude Truong-Ngoc / Wikimedia Commons. This week, Houston Public Media’s “opera guys,” St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly, discuss Giuseppe Verdi's magnificent La Traviata, the story of the ill-fated love between the dying courtesan Violetta and the young and besotted Alfredo. Tune in to Houston Public Media Classical 91.7 Saturday at noon for the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of La Traviata featuring Marina... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Marriage of Figaro 11:07

for 10 years siden11:07

11:07

In this week’s OCS Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn talks to bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi, who sang the role of Figaro, and conductor James Gaffigan, from the Houston Grand Opera 2011 production of The Marriage of Figaro. Le Nozze di Figaro, to give it its original Italian title, was the first of the three great collaborations between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. Based on the French play by Beaumarchais, it tells the story of the... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg 26:30

for 10 years siden26:30

26:30

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly discuss one of the most massive operas ever written, Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The ancient guild of Mastersingers in Nuremburg, Germany, is searching for the greatest singer in the world, and hosts a singing contest to find him. Besides earning this honor, the winner gets to marry Eva, the beautiful daughter of the contest’s sponsor. [The excerpts heard in... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) 25:17

for 10 years siden25:17

25:17

Scene from DuPage Opera Theatre production of The Barber of Seville. Public domain. In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly, introduce Rossini’s musical version of the story of the wily barber and his efforts to secure the lovely Rosina’s hand in marriage for the besotted, and disguised, Count Almaviva. Subtitled "The Futile Precaution," Rossini’s great opera buffa consistently ranks among the top 10 operas performed worldwide. The 2014-15... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Rossini's Armida 16:27

for 10 years siden16:27

16:27

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo - Rinaldo ed il mago di Ascalona - Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain. In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly give their humorous overview of Rossini’s 1817 opera, Armida. One of the many operas inspired by the tale of Armida and Rinaldo told in Torquato Tasso’s 16th-century Italian epic, La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered), it’s a story of love, duty and sorcery. Rinaldo, a... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Macbeth 27:05

for 11 years siden27:05

27:05

Théodore Chassériau (1891-56), Macbeth and Banquo meeting the witches on the heath, Musée d’Orsay. Public domain. In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth. First staged in Florence in 1847, it was Verdi’s tenth opera and his first stab at adapting Shakespeare for the musical theatre stage. A tragedy set in medieval Scotland, Macbeth is a cautionary tale about what can happen to a marriage when... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Lucrezia Borgia 13:38

for 11 years siden13:38

13:38

Portrait of Lucrezia Borgia by Bartolomeo Veneziano (c. 1510). Public domain. Houston Public Media’s Arts & Culture Director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert, Eric Skelly, discuss Gaetano Donizetti’s opera Lucrezia Borgia, about the femme fatale, renowned for her ruthless pursuit of power, whose vulnerability is unveiled when she comes face to face with her long-lost son. You can hear the 2014 Caramoor Festival production of Lucrezia Borgia, starring Angela Meade in the title role, Saturday... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Show Boat 13:17

for 11 years siden13:17

13:17

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly discuss Show Boat, the 1927 musical by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics). Based on Edna Ferber’s 1926 best-selling novel of the same name, Show Boat tells the story, over a forty-year time span, of the performers and crew of the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat. Set between 1887 and 1927, and dealing with the... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Falstaff (encore) 26:43

for 11 years siden26:43

26:43

Eduard Grützner’s Falstaff (Wikimedia Commons) In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly present a light-hearted overview of Verdi’s last opera. Only the second comedy Verdi ever wrote, Falstaff is based on the larger than life character from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV who tries to seduce two women (who know each other!) at the same time. You can listen to San Francisco Opera’s performance of... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: American Contemporary Opera 21:14

for 11 years siden21:14

21:14

Metropolitan Opera House, New York City. Photo by Niall Kennedy (Creative Commons license). This Saturday’s San Francisco Opera broadcast, Saturday at noon, is the world première performance of Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, featuring Patricia Racette in the title role, and conducted by George Manahan, recorded Fall 2013 in War Memorial Opera House. As neither of our opera experts, St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly, have seen this new opera, they feel they cannot make it the... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: La Traviata 28:10

for 11 years siden28:10

28:10

Houston Public Media’s arts & culture director St.John Flynn and opera expert Eric Skelly discuss Giuseppe Verdi's magnificent La Traviata, the story of the ill-fated love between the dying courtesan Violetta and the young and besotted Alfredo. [The musical excerpts used in this OCS are from the Deutsche Grammophon recording of La Traviata featuring James Levine conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus; Cheryl Studer, Violetta; Luciano Pavarotti, Alfredo; Juan Pons, Germont (DG435 797-2)] You... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Die Frau Ohne Schatten 18:40

for 11 years siden18:40

18:40

A quick, lighthearted overview of Richard Strauss’ celebration of the beauty of humanity Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow). In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s arts & culture director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert, Eric Skelly, discuss Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten, a magical story of a half-mortal Empress who must find a shadow to avoid having to leave her husband and her life on earth to return to the... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Barber of Seville (rerun) 25:17

for 11 years siden25:17

25:17

A fun intro to Rossini’s comic masterpiece, this Saturday’s noon opera broadcast. This week’s San Francisco Opera broadcast, Saturday at noon on Classical 91.7, is The Barber of Seville featuring American baritone Lucas Meachem as Figaro and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as Rosina. In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s arts & culture director, St.John Flynn, and opera expert, Eric Skelly, introduce Rossini’s musical version of the story of the wily barber’s efforts to secure... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Peter Grimes 24:45

for 11 years siden24:45

24:45

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly discuss Benjamin Britten’s epic tragedy Peter Grimes. Inspired by the story in George Crabbe’s The Borough, acollection of poems about life in a village on the east coast of England at the start of the 19th century, Britten’s opera tells of the demise of the outcast fisherman Peter Grimes, and the townsfolk who threaten him. Tune in for San Francisco Opera’s... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Flying Dutchman 21:31

for 11 years siden21:31

21:31

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly discuss Wagner’s early music drama Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman). Based on an old nautical legend, the opera tells the story of the ghostly Dutch sea captain and his ship, condemned by the Devil to sail the oceans forever unless he can find a woman who will redeem him through her love. Tune in for San Francisco Opera’s performance of... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Tosca 32:29

for 11 years siden32:29

32:29

Performance of Tosca by Puccini in Sferisterio of Macerata, Italy (2008). Photo by Andrea Balducci In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly provide a quick intro to Puccini’s beloved Tosca. Set in Rome against a backdrop of national and political turmoil, this masterpiece tells the story of the beautiful singer Floria Tosca and her desperate attempts to save her revolutionary lover, Cavaradossi, from the deadly hands of Baron... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Thaïs 21:10

for 11 years siden21:10

21:10

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly provide a quick, laugh-filled intro to Jules Massenet’s Thaïs, a tale full of religious eroticism! Set in the 4th century A.D. in North Africa, Thaïs tells the story of the monk Athanaël who attempts to convert to Christianity the Alexandrian courtesan Thaïs only to discover that he is in love with her. As she renounces her life of worldly pleasure and... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Lucia di Lammermoor 14:31

for 11 years siden14:31

14:31

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly give their humorous and light-hearted overview of what is considered Gaetano Donizetti’s greatest drama. Based on Sir Walter Scott's historical novel, The Bride of Lammermoor, Lucia di Lammermoor, might be described as a Scottish Romeo and Juliet. Lucia, from the Ashton family, is in love with Edgardo from the rival Ravenswood family. When her brother intervenes to force Lucia to marry another,... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Billy Budd 20:41

for 11 years siden20:41

20:41

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly give an overview of Britten’s Billy Budd, which debuted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1951 as part of the "Festival of Britain" celebrations. Based on Herman Melville’s posthumous novella, Billy Budd, Foretopman, and set on the British Navy ship HMS Indomitable in 1797, Britten’s opera is a psychological study of good and evil as Captain Vere and Master-At-Arms... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: The Magic Flute 15:14

for 11 years siden15:14

15:14

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly take a light-hearted look at Mozart's beloved "Singspiel," Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), an allegory of the education of humankind progressing from chaos to rational enlightenment to make "the Earth a heavenly kingdom, and mortals like the gods." You can hear LA Opera’s production of The Magic Flute, starring Lawrence Brownlee as Tamino, Saturday, July 26th, at noon on Houston Public... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Carmen 15:04

for 11 years siden15:04

15:04

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly discuss Bizet’s tour de force, Carmen, the story of the naïve and unstable young soldier Don José who is seduced but then discarded by the wild gypsy girl Carmen. You can hear LA Opera's production of Carmen Saturday at noon on Houston Public Media Classical 91.7 or online at houstonpublicmedia.org. [The opera excerpts in this OCS are taken from the London/Decca... Read More…

Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

1
Opera Cheat Sheet: Falstaff 26:43

for 11 years siden26:43

26:43

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly present a light-hearted overview of Verdi’s last opera. Only the second comedy Verdi ever wrote, Falstaff is based on the character from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. You can hear LA Opera’s production of Falstaff, Saturday at noon on Houston Public Media Classical 91.7.…

Velkommen til Player FM!

Player FM scanner netter for høykvalitets podcaster som du kan nyte nå. Det er den beste podcastappen og fungerer på Android, iPhone og internett. Registrer deg for å synkronisere abonnement på flere enheter.