Opera SB Presents ‘The Elixir of Love’!
Opera Santa Barbara’s 2015-16 season will resume with a sprightly production of Gaetano Donizetti’s delightful bel canto work The Elixir of Love at the historic Granada Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara on March 4 and 6. Performances will take place at 7:30 pm on Friday, March 4, and at 2:30 pm on Sunday, March 6. Ranging in price from $29 to $204, tickets can be purchased at www.granadasb.org or by calling 805-899-2222.
“As far as romantic comedies go, you can’t do any better than The Elixir of Love,” said Opera Santa Barbara Artistic Director Kostis Protopapas. “It’s Donizetti’s most fun score, and this style of opera is called ‘bel canto’ (beautiful song) for a reason! Everyone who comes to this show is guaranteed to laugh, fall in love with our dashing cast, and leave humming the tunes!”
Donizetti’s endearing confection about the vagaries of romantic love, which met with enthusiasm at its Milan premiere in 1832, brims with charm and some of opera’s most affecting arias. The standout young cast includes soprano Angela Mannino as the alluring landowner Adina, tenor Marco Cammarota as her peasant suitor Nemorino, baritone Luis Alejandro Orozco as Sergeant Belcore, and bass-baritone Zachary Owen as the itinerant charlatan Doctor Dulcamara. Leonardo Vordoni will conduct, with stage direction by Alan E. Hicks.
Soprano Angela Mannino made her Metropolitan Opera debut in May 2010 as the 15-Year-Old Girl in Berg’s Lulu upon completing two seasons at Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. Most recently she sang the Fairy Godmother in Cendrillon at Kentucky Opera, Papagena in The Magic Flute at Dallas Opera, and Valencienne in The Merry Widow at Lyric Opera of Chicago on short notice. Ms. Mannino also has been seen in a wide variety of performances with the New Orleans Opera and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
Currently a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, tenor Marco Cammarota recently sang the roles of Rodolfo in La Bohème and Alfredo in La Traviata with the Lafayette and Owensboro symphony orchestras, Nick in La fanciulla del West, and Tybalt in Romeo et Juliette, all as a member of Kentucky Opera’s studio artist program. This season he appeared as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire with Kentucky Opera, reprised the role of Alfredo with the Rochester Philharmonic, and sang the role of Malcolm in Macbeth at the Glimmerglass Festival.
Baritone Luis Alejandro Orozco has performed with Opera Saratoga, Opera Santa Barbara, Des Moines Metro Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Syracuse Opera, Opera Theatre of St Louis, and Washington National Opera, among others. His many roles have included Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Escamillo in La tragédie de Carmen, Don Giovanni, Giulio Cesare, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, and Marcello in La Bohème. Mr. Orozco recently appeared as Papageno at the Seoul International Opera Festival in South Korea.
Making his leading role debut at Opera Santa Barbara, bass-baritone Zachary Owen has performed with Cincinnati Opera, Kentucky Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Central City Opera, Opera North, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He has performed the roles of Ashby in La fanciulla del West, Don Fernando in Fidelio, and Matouš in Smetana’s The Kiss, among many others. At a recent Cincinnati Opera composer’s workshop Mr. Owen worked alongside Jake Heggie, Jack O’Brien, and Terrence McNally to develop two characters for Heggie’s new opera, Great Scott.
Complete artist biographies are available at legacy.operasb.org.
Sung in Italian with English supertitles, Opera Santa Barbara’s production of The Elixir of Love is generously supported by the Towbes Fund for the Performing Arts, Michael and Anne Towbes.
Opera Santa Barbara’s 2015-16 season will continue with Puccini’s great one-act operas Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi on April 22 and 24.
The Granada Theatre is located at 1214 State Street in Santa Barbara.
Open to all ticket holders, free informative talks will take place 45 minutes before each Opera Santa Barbara performance at the Granada Theatre. Following select performances, the stage director and other production members will be available at the front of the house for an informal question-and-answer session.