News, Reviews and lots of to dos...

Our dear friend, Charles Parsons from Opera News wrote a review of Madame Butterfly which closed Kentucky Opera's Brown-Forman 2010 Fall Season. The review made Opera News' online version and you can read it here.

Perhaps some of you who joined us at Kentucky Opera's black-tie fundraiser on January 11, Carnevale noticed a "news crew" in the early part of the evening. That was Becca White and Chris Caswell from the CW Louisville with Laura Snyder from NFocus Magazine who chatted with David Roth and Kara Shay Thomson. Carnevale was the first on-location event for NFocus and they have posted the video online.

You can pick up a copy today (Wednesday, February 2) at the NFocus February launch party at the Peterson-Dumesnil House at 301 S. Peterson Ave from 5:30 - 7:30pm.

If you can't make it tonight, the issue will be available on newstands throughout the city. Pick one up!

Tomorrow (Thursday, February 3) is a big day for Kentucky Opera, with one of the last public performances of OH FREEDOM! at 5:30 at the Frazier International History Museum AND the opening night for our co-production with the The Burning Fiery Furnace at St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church, 6710 Wolf Pen Branch Road. Tickets are $20 general admission, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. For more information, call (502) 228-1176.

Congratulations to the Fund for the Arts for another successful campaign kick off lunch. It was a great presentaiton of the great arts our city shares! When the Fund comes knocking on the door of your business, remember they are our largest individual donors and we appreciate all they do for us.

A Review of Reviews

We had such rave reviews for Cavalleria Rusticana & I Pagliacci:

"The principal glory was soprano Kara Shay Thomson's explosive, altogether astonishing Santuzza. As a young woman disgraced in her village, bearing the anguish of excommunication, Thomson acted with honest, unaffected intent. She sang powerfully, wrapping every phrase in sumptuous tone retaining its core focus no matter how far above the staff."

Andrew Adler, Courier Journal

"...as the magnificent productions of these two outstanding operas were not only beautifully sung, but staged with elegant grace and acted with depth of emotion that resulted in characters that were fully realized."    J. Barrett Cooper, TheArtsLouisville.com

"Caballero and Mayes make an attractive and believable pair as they sing their lovely duet of yearning and promise. And when MacMaster sings the centerpiece aria, he makes you feel the wounded pride and pain that the betrayed feel, even as you have just left off identifying with the star-crossed lovers who caused it. When you manage to pull off that duality, you have gone a long way toward successfully performing I Pagliacci."

Selena Frye, Louisville.com.

Cavalleria Rusticana photo by J. David Levy: Lester Lynch as Alfio and Cara Shay Thomson as Santuzza.

I Pagliacci photo by J. David Levy: John Mac Master as Canio.

Nedda & Silvio duet

This past Wednesday, Kentucky Opera had their Lunch & Listen at Classical 90.5 FM WUOL. The hour-long program is hosted by David Roth who explores the stories of upcomming operas, introduces the cast with musical excerpts to whet the appitite of the studio audience and radio listeners.

This is one of my very favorite enrichment programs offered by KYO. This particular program featured the cast of I Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana, all of whom showed heir vocal prowress.

In this excerpt Pagliacci's beautiful love duet is performed by Michael Mayes as Silvio and Elizabeth Caballero as Nedda.



If you want to hear the entire program, WUOL will be rebroadcasting on Wednesday, September 15 at 12pm on Classical 90.5FM or you can stream it live at www.woul.org. Metro TV (insight channel 25) will air the entire program many times through the rest of the month, and trust me, their video quality is much better than this. Be sure to check out their schedule here.

If you haven't gotten your opera tickets yet, you had better do so soon. Opening night is selling very well! WWW.KYOPERA.ORG