University of Cincinnati Presents DON CARLOS Tonight

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) opens its 2013-14 Concert Series with a unique two-part concert production of Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos tonight, Sept. 22. In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Verdi's birth (Oct. 10, 1813), all five acts and every single note composed for the 1867 Paris Opera premiere of this epic work will be performed in the acoustically fine Corbett Auditorium. This production will be sung in French.

Pared down to its pure, operatic essence, CCM Director of Orchestral Studies Mark Gibson promises that this concert performance of Don Carlos will be anything but modest. "This is the single largest project that I have attempted at CCM," Gibson explains. In the grandest fashion, he has united a tremendous force of players including the CCM Philharmonia and Concert Orchestras, CCM's Chamber Choir and Chorale, and UC Men's and Women's Choruses. These ensembles will be joined by faculty, student, alumni and guest artist soloists singing the opera's leading roles, including Helen Lyons, Barbara Honn, Stacey Rishoi, Leah DeGruyl, Marco Panuccio, Tom Baresel and Gustav Andreassen. Working with CCM graduate student and stage director Omer Ben-Seadia, Gibson hopes to create a dynamic concert staging of Don Carlos, as well.

Beyond simply commemorating Verdi's bicentennial, Gibson hopes to provide an opportunity for students to perform this epic work. "It's Verdi's most ambitious work, the one he wanted to be heard above all," says Gibson, who will conduct both concerts. "There's no other work of Verdi's that passes through so much profound emotion or that gives us such a range, from pageantry to despair."

The two-part concert performance of Don Carlos begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22. The first concert will end with Act III, scene iii. Opera-goers will have a two-hour dinner break between performances to visit the various eateries on and around campus, including the restaurants in the newly renovated U-Square complex on Calhoun Street. Acts III through V of Don Carlos will resume at 7 p.m.

About Verdi's Don Carols

Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on a play of the same name by the German poet Friedrich Schiller. The dramatic play was written between 1783 and 1787 and is about historical events in the 16th century under the reign of King Philip II of Spain. The opera was commissioned and produced by the Paris Opera and received its premier in 1867.

A tale of star-crossed love and political intrigue set during the Spanish Inquisition, Schiller's play possessed several themes that were close to Verdi's heart, amongst them the love of individual and of national liberty and the loathing of political and religious tyranny.

Revised numerous times after its Paris Opera-premiere, Don Carlos exists in more versions than any other Verdi opera. When performed in one of its several Italian versions, the opera is generally called Don Carlo.

Performance Times

• 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22 (Act I - Act III, scene iii)
• 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22 (Act III, scene iv - Act V)

Location

Corbett Auditorium, College-Conservatory of Music

University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets

CCM will present Verdi's grand opera Don Carlos in two subsequent performances on Saturday, Sept. 22. Per concert, tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 for non-UC students and free for UC students with valid ID.

Attend both concerts and experience the complete opera at a discounted admission rate of just $30 per person.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice.

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