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Richard Wagner’s first truly successful opera, set in medieval Rome, sees a young nobleman in love with a young plebeian woman.  While this might sound like it’s going to be an operatic love story, it’s quite a different thing entirely: Grand Opera, Wagner-style.  Based on a controversial and visionary historical figure who became a footnote, but aspired to change the face of history, it has soaring music, but this opera is less concerned with romance than the fortunes of a leader trying to accumulate power in order to bring peace and equality to his people.   Hosted by Pat, Kathleen, and Grant   For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

Mac the Knife, terror of the London criminal underworld, is a character paradoxically best known to many as the subject of the upbeat, bubbly eponymous 1955, 1959, and 1960 hit single.  However, his fictional roots go much deeper, to a nearly 300-year old opera called The Beggar’s Opera.  From here, Mac’s trail led to 1928’s The Threepenny Opera, by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, that is the subject of today’s episode.  Join Pat and guest Maria Coulter for a conversation about this opera, which is as atypical as it was popular. A classically trained soprano, Maria is able to provide special insights, having performed the role of Lucy Brown in 2022.

Can an opera, that most complex of art forms, take you back to childhood?  Unlikely though it might seem, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (“The Child and the Enchantments”) does just that through the talents of composer Maurice Ravel and writer Colette.  This one-act opera, fantastical though it is, can transport you to all-too-real, seemingly lost memories.  Over the course of the story, our nameless child protagonist wrestles with his powerlessness and power, responsibility and dependence, piteousness and pity.  Join host Pat with Erica Miner, the mystery writer, lecturer and former Met Opera violinist, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of French composer Maurice Ravel on this episode of Opera for Everyone. For more on Erica Miner, visit ericaminer.com

Which is stronger: the temptations of a shadowy wish-granter, or the love of a virtuous woman?  In The Rake’s Progress, Tom’s true love Anne seeks to save him from himself, seeking to unwind the schemes of the literal devil.  Yet when the dust settles, it is hard to say who has triumphed… Tom is saved, but it is a messy and piteous sort of salvation. In the only full opera composed by Igor Stravinsky, powerful supernatural elements are key to the drama, but the characters–archetypal in many respects–become believable individuals given full life by Stravinsky’s shimmering, evocative, and powerful music. Hosted by Pat and Kathleen For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

King Arthur stands astride the intersection of history, myth, legend, and politics.  In every age of the history of Britain, he is reinterpreted for new audiences and new purposes.  When composer Henry Purcell and poet-librettist John Dryden set out to write their opera about Arthur, they did so following a century in which England had seen monarchs rise, fall, be beheaded, exiled, returned in triumph, and driven out in disgrace.  King Arthur takes place not in Camelot, but in a world of clashing cultures and ideals.  Arthur finds his Britons beset by Saxon invaders, but after his victory, he is able to lead as both peoples transition from fighting one another, to become a stronger people together. Join us for a close look at this fascinating work or art, and enjoy (in English, of course!) Dryden’s poetry and Purcell’s rich and tuneful music. Hosted by Pat with guest co-host Gerald Malone. Gerald Malone’s website, TheRestIsOpera.com is brimming with commentary on opera productions that he has seen around the world, and “scuttlebutt” about opera from a suspiciously well-informed little dog. Gerald Malone is also the Opera Critic of ReactionLife, a UK-based online current affairs and cultural publication.

It might at first sound like it would be nice to be the lover of the king of the Olympian gods, attended by divine spirits, and living in a luxurious palace among the clouds.  But this happily-ever-after turns sour after Princess Semele asks Jupiter for the gift of immortality.  After a bit of intrigue amongst the gods–not least among them Jupiter’s resourceful and ruthless wife Juno–disaster strikes the princess Semele and her dreams are reduced to ashes. An “English opera” from the later career of Baroque master, George Frideric Handel, Semele teems with engaging arias as well as sumptuous choral pieces. Inspired by a tale told by Ovid, Handel and his librettist, William Congreve crafted a work of art that beguiles and entertains supremely. Hosted by Pat and Kathleen For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

The young Aida loves the dashing military commander Radamès, and he adores her with a burning passion.Their mutual love is, however, somewhat complicated by the fact that Aida is a slave, enslaved by a princess who is equally smitten with the heroic warrior.  Further complicating matters, Radamès’ military renown is founded on successfully prosecuting a war against Aida’s people.  In this violent clash of the personal and political, Aida triumphs in her quest to be together “ever after” with Radamès, but certainly not in the way they had hoped.  Join us this episode to marvel at the spectacle and scale of Giuseppe Verdi’s enduringly popular epic opera, Aida. Hosted by Pat with guest co-host Gerald Malone. Gerald Malone’s website, TheRestIsOpera.com is brimming with commentary on opera productions that he has seen around the world, and “scuttlebutt” about opera from a suspiciously well-informed canine. Gerald Malone is also the Opera Critic of ReactionLife, a UK-based online current affairs and cultural publication.

If you’re going to have a love triangle, why not have a singing knight, a literal saint, and the Goddess of Love herself?  Come and enjoy the kind of sweeping, romantic, metaphysical yet dramatic opera that could only come from the utterly unrestrained Richard Wagner.  Evil and good, bondage and freedom, power and love clash cataclysmically, and a legendary story is definitively rewritten. Hosted by Pat with guest co-hosts Kathleen and Grant For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

Once upon a time, there was a heroic knight, the greatest of Charlamagne’s famed paladins, and his name was Orlando (or Roland, depending on whom you ask.)  Among his many heroic deeds and great journeys was this: a quest to a magical isle to abduct the headstrong princess Angelica and steal the ashes of Melin (yes, that Merlin).  As his failure to win Angelica’s heart leads him down the path to madness, we must ask: is there hope for this broken hero after all? Antonio Vivaldi, famed composer of The Four Seasons, is not widely known for his operas, however, he composed between 70 and 100 in his lifetime.  Join us for a discussion of this treasure of Baroque opera. Hosted by Pat and Jeff Counts (General Manager of the Grand Teton Music Festival, and KHOL’s film critic) Grand Teton Music Festival

You’ve never heard the story of Romeo and Juliet told like this! Not even if you have listened to the three previous episodes in which Pat and Kathleen discuss three operas based on the enduring tale of the “star-crossed lovers,” Ep. 120 Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Ep. 124 Vaccai’s Giulietta e Romeo, Ep. 126 Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi.   Hector Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette is a “dramatic symphony” in which three choirs and three soloists help tell the story of the two iconic lovers, who are themselves voiced by the orchestra.  Please join us for our discussion of this magnificent and unusual work. Hosted by Pat and Kathleen For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

What can one woman do, when set against the entire world? Quite a lot, if she happens to be the sorceress Medea.  This French Baroque opera written by Marc Antoine Charpentier takes on the ancient tale of Medea’s struggle to find a place for herself in the world of mythic Greece’s heroes and kingdoms, which eventually descends into fire, chaos, and death. Hosted by Pat, with guest host Petria Fossel

Can a young man win a wife through a singing competition?  He just might, if he’s in Richard Wagner’s romantic comedy (yes, you read that right, “Richard Wagner’s romantic comedy,”) Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.  Young Walter may not be trained in the masters’ techniques, but ultimately his passion wins the hearts of the beautiful Eva, the singing masters, and the people of Nuremberg.  Join Pat and guest co-host Gerald Malone for an in-depth discussion of one of Wagner’s most intriguing operas. Gerald Malone is the Opera Critic of ReactionLife, a UK-based online current affairs and cultural publication.

Ill-fated lovers caught up in a world incapable of supporting love not sanctioned by officialdom… it’s a story for the ages.  Join Pat and Kathleen for their third look at the Romeo and Juliet story in operatic form, I Capuleti e I Montecchi, by bel canto master, Vincenzo Bellini.   If you haven’t already, we invite you to listen to Episode 120 on Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and Episode 124 on Nicola Vaccai’s Giulietta e Romeo.   Hosted by Pat and Kathleen For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

“Seems an opera house is the perfect place for mischief and mayhem,” says the hard-boiled Inspector Cristina as she seeks to unravel the mystery at the heart of Overture to Murder, the meticulously researched third book of Erica Miner’s “Julia Kogan Opera Mystery Series.” Mayhem and mischief are no strangers to the opera house, both on and off-stage.  Join us for a discussion of both Erica’s new book and Giacomo Puccini’s Il Tabarro, a powerful, gritty verismo opera inspired by the dramatic potential of the darker human impulses. For more on Erica Miner, visit ericaminer.com

A great story is one that we are never done with, and there are few stories in human history with as many retellings and reimaginings as the epic tale of Romeo and Juliet.  Nicola Vaccai wrote this 1825 opera based not on the Elizabethan play, but on the source materials from which Shakespeare drew.  Here, the Montagues and Capulets are not merely feuding families, but armies waging war as a part of the titanic power struggles between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy that wracked medieval and renaissance Italy.  However, the heart of the story remains the doomed romance between young lovers caught in a maelstrom beyond their control.   This is the second in a (non-contiguous) series in which Pat and Kathleen closely consider the Romeo and Juliet story in opera.  For an episode that presents an operatic take on Shakespeare’s play about these famous lovers, please listen to Opera for Everyone, Episode 120. Hosted by Pat and Kathleen For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.