[Click here for a Noozhawk photo gallery from the event.]
Opera Santa Barbara General Director Steven Sharpe welcomed more than 100 guests to the top of the American Riviera for a 20th anniversary launch party at the elegant and newly reopened El Encanto Hotel previewing an exciting season of three upcoming productions.
Guests arrived in the early evening to the scenic patio location nestled above the Mission near the Riviera Theatre for a cocktail reception and enjoyed a spectacular view of downtown and the harbor before the program began in the ballroom.
The sophisticated crowd of opera lovers and media members were provided with a taste of the new season with the return of Giacomo Puccini’s blockbuster Tosca. OSB’s artistic director, Jose Maria Condemi, will direct.
It’s the third time the local company has presented one of the most popular operas ever. This story of passion and treachery features a prima donna who is faced with the potential execution of her lover for his role in assisting a political prisoner. Meanwhile, the chief of police in the case happens to be madly in love with the prima donna and knowingly holds the life of her lover in his hands.
“Santa Barbara is a place with a sincere appreciation for the arts,” Condemi said. “As we mark our 20th year, I invite audiences both old and new to come take part in our yearlong celebration.”
Opera Santa Barbara previously presented Tosca in 1997 and 2006, and this year Marcy Stonikas plays the lead with tenor Christopher Bengochea as Cavardossi and baritone Luis Ledesma as police chief Scarpia. Christopher Larkin will conduct the popular performance on the evening of Nov. 8 and a matinee on Nov. 10 at the Granada Theatre.
Also shared on this celebratory evening were details for the company’s premiere of Falstaff. Giuseppe Verdi’s bicentennial neatly coincides with OSB’s anniversary year. The comedy follows a character featured in William Shakespeare Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor, and his attempts to woo two married women and improve both his financial and romantic situations.
Baritone Todd Thomas, who played Scarpia in the 2006 production of Tosca, takes the lead role of Falstaff and is joined by soprano Melody Moore as Alice Ford and mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook as Dame Quickly. Condemi stages the production with the debut of Spanish conductor Ramon Tebar. The Granada Theatre will again be the stage for this eagerly anticipated production of Falstaff on March 7 and March 9, 2014.
Closing the season on April 25 and 27 is a suspenseful thriller described as “Hitchcock set to music,” The Consul, in which a mother grapples to save her husband and get freedom for her family in a nameless police state. Jonathan Fox, executive artistic director of Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre, will direct with soprano Alexandra LoBianco in the lead as Magda Sorel and her persecuted husband played by baritone Joshua Jeremiah. This performance will be performed in English and also held at the Granada.
Throughout the night, guests were treated with vocal selections from these upcoming performances, including soprano Marie Plette and baritone Evan Brummel. An interpretation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Some Enchanted Evening,” from South Pacific, closed the evening.
The mission of Opera Santa Barbara is to add cultural enrichment by presenting high-quality performances and community programs that showcase the beauty of opera.
OSB wishes to welcome all interested community members with single tickets starting at just $28 for 2013-14 and season tickets starting at $77 for all three of the 20th anniversary season operas. For more information on tickets for the upcoming 20th anniversary season, call Opera Santa Barbara at 805.898.3890 or here for season tickets or call the Granada at 899.2222 or visit online click here for single tickets.
— Noozhawk iSociety columnist Melissa Walker can be reached at mwalker@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.
