| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Convenor: |
Paul Martinez
Tel: 07305 071 206
|
| Convenor: |
Colin Jones
Tel: 07881 289 298
|
| When: | Monthly on Wednesdays 10:00 am-12:00 pm 1st Wednesday of the month |
| Venue: | Zoom meeting |
We meet once a month by Zoom and sometimes organise visits to cinemas to experience live broadcasts from world famous opera companies like the Royal Opera and the New York Met.
At our monthly meetings someone introduces the next opera we are going to watch and we talk about the opera we’ve just watched on a free streaming site.
We are a mix of opera novices and quite experienced opera fans and everyone is welcome whatever your level of prior knowledge.
We have been watching operas on YouTube, usually on the Operavision site. The Operavision operas are usually high quality in performance, picture and audio. There are 30 to 40 operas available at any one time and they are usually available for a couple of months each, all for free.
The repertoire is, if anything, particularly strong on operas which are less well known although there are lots of popular classics as well. Although we are not terribly advanced technically we are making use of the zoom facility for the host to show opera clips using the shared screen.
We are always keen to welcome new members, so why not give us a try?
For an overview of future meeting dates tap the Calendar button and select Opera Study from the Group drop-down list.
Operas Watched
November 2025: Gianni Schicchi
We had a short discussion of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. This is a sparkling comedy about shenanigans around a will, where someone has to impersonate the dead testator in order to make a new will. The discussion was short because we all liked the production so much.
At our next session we’ll be discussing L’Elisir d’Amore by Donizetti. Paul introduced it with a Scottish Opera production made during lockdown and featuring some of the most beautiful singing from the lovelorn couple, Nemorino and Adina. The production we’ll be discussing is by Garsington Opera on OperaVision, available without adverts and for free on YouTube.
September 2025: Bluebeard’s Castle
We had a very select group at our meeting, but a great discussion of Bluebeard’s Castle with everyone agreeing on the strengths of this film production; singing, mise-en-scène, music and acting.
Paul introduced our next opera: Samson et Dalila, which was a NY Met production with great scenery, some great singing (Garrancha) and a slightly wobbly turn from the High Priest. The drawback was that although it worked on several occasions before, the English auto-translation of the Portuguese sub titles refused to appear on our screens!!
Two learning points:
1. Don’t rely on YouTube auto translation
2. Captions in Portuguese are better than no captions at all.
February 2025: Mr Broucek
We watched two productions of Janacek’s The Adventures of Mr Broucek. They could not have been more different and more innovative.
The Brno production used a lot of newsreel video to link Broucek’s voyages to the Moon, and to Prague in the time of the Hussite rebellion, to events in 1968.
Grange Park Opera was more adventurous still, recasting the libretto into English and turning the Moon visit into a surreal contemporary romp.
Both productions had their advocates and critics, but we all agreed that it was good to watch productions of such a rarely performed opera.
December 2023: Barber of Seville
Great discussion this month of Rossini’s Barber of Seville, produced by Garsington Opera.
We all loved it and will look out for more productions by the same company.
November 2023: Hunyadi Laszlo
We were all very impressed by Erkel’s Hunyadi Laszlo and can’t understand why this composer isn’t better known.
The opera is a sort of fusion of French Grand Opera, Italian Bel Canto and Hungarian folk music.
The production was opulent, having been prepared for the reopening of Budapest’s main opera house.
August 2023: Henry III
We were a very select group. Almost everyone liked Henry VIII despite some occasional vagaries in the staging - What was that train doing crashing through the wall?
My rather Delphic comments on Henry VIII were because we pretty much agreed on the various strengths and weaknesses of the production, but I was in a minority of one in not really caring for the opera!
I introduced Bartered Bride this morning using very diverse clips since there was no second version available on YouTube.
July 2023: The Secret Marriage
We had an interesting discussion on Cimarosa's The Secret Marriage and its similarity to some of the lighter operas of Mozart.
Colin then gave an introduction to our next opera, Saint-Saens Henry VIII.
May 2023: Falstaff
We had a good discussion about the production of Verdi's final opera Falstaff in a beautiful production from Florence Opera.
Although there were mixed opinions on the opera itself, everybody agreed that the production was excellent, with many comic touches, traditional costumes and sets, no attempts to update the action and excellent performances from the singers and the orchestra in the pit (conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, who last month celebrated his 80th birthday!).