Beach Cities Symphony Concert Program Notes for
January 24, 2025
From Conservatoire to Opera House
Welcome to a fascinating world of intrigue, humor, and betrayal—of the kind only opera can provide!
Tonight’s concert brings together three guest artists in a celebration of operatic repertoire. Soprano Erin Wood returns, along with tenor James Callon. The first half of our concert features violinist extraordinaire, Philip Vaiman, who will perform music of the French school and operatic repertoire. The experience is curated and contextualized by the Music Director in a series of tableaus.
We begin with the impactful overture to La forza del destino, a celebration of orchestral colors and themes from this nineteenth century opera by Giuseppe Verdi. Lest we forget opera’s earlier roots, we travel back to the Classical era to hear the aria Come scoglio from Così fan tutte, an Italianate opera by Mozart, in which one of the main characters chastises wayward men for their fickleness in romance. This is followed by the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saens, a staple of French violin fare, which is vocal in style, though technically not from an opera.
The second half of our concert begins with the first Carmen Suite by Bizet, followed by the famous tenor aria Che gelida manina from Puccini’s La bohème with the famed “high C” coveted by audiences for a century. The concert concludes in Austria, with the humorous Watch Duet from Johann Strauss, Jr.’s hit comedy Die Fledermaus.
– Notes by Dr. Geoffrey Pope