Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR No. 50 Playing on Home Computer Screens

Before we begin our tour, we meet in Los Angeles to watch the digital debut of Missy Mazzoli's impassioned opera Breaking the Waves. The opera is based on Lars von Trier's film of the same name. The story begins when a near-fatal accident leaves the heroine's new husband paralyzed. In his anguish, he implores her to take other lovers. Torn between her husband's wishes and the traditional values of her church and small community, she follows her faith to a tragic end. Originally filmed by Opera Philadelphia during the world premiere production, LA Opera presents a new cut of Mazzoli's masterful Breaking the Waves. Get free access to watch now through April 12.

https://tickets.laopera.org/booking/production/bestavailable/5787?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BreakingtheWaves%2BSubscriptionPackage&utm_content=version_A&sourceNumber=45031

After the opera and a late Saturday night ice cream social, we leave for our parking spot north of San Francisco. Rising late in the morning, we grab coffee and a bun before boarding the bus for Sunday dinner and a early evening stream of Wagner's final Ring opera, Götterdämerung (The Twilight of the Gods).

Destiny awaits in the final chapter of Richard Wagner's masterful Ring Cycle, Götterdämmerung, streaming for free this weekend. Siegfried the warrior has finally met his match in the beautiful Brünnhilde, a Valkyrie and warrior in her own right. But as he vows his eternal fidelity to her, he slips a seemingly simple gold ring onto her finger, and unknowingly seals his doom and the end for the gods, leaving it to her to return the world to its natural order.

Alberich's curse comes to fruition in the fiery finale of director Francesca Zambello's American-themed production. Tenor Daniel Brenna completes his portrayal of Siegfried with Iréne Theorin as Brünnhilde. Sir Donald Runnicles and a fabulous cast bring the grandeur of Wagner's music to life. Stream this co-production of San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera for free the weekend of March 27-28, 2021, at 10 AM Pacific Time.

LINK: www.sfopera.com.

After the opera we take off for San Luis Obispo and Suor Angelica. Valley Opera and Performing Arts, in collaboration with Opera San Luis Obispo and Mission Opera, is excited to present this virtual production of Puccini's heart-wrenching opera, "Suor Angelica", played with The Valley Opera and Performing Arts Orchestra (VOPA), under the baton of Opera San Luis Obispo's General and Artistic Director Brian Asher Alhadeff.

This production was produced virtually, with each singer and instrumentalist filming his/her individual part alone at home. Each artist was provided a piano accompaniment track by pianist Paul Woodring and a video of Maestro Alhadeff conducting that piano part. With the piano accompaniment in their ears, and the conductor video on their computer screens, the artists filmed themselves singing/playing their individual parts, and then they sent their videos to VOPA's project coordinator. Audio engineer Geoffrey Pope put each of the twenty-eight parts together to create a seamless audio track. When the audio was finished, he sent it to video editor Christina Bearce of Highlight Media who matched the videos to the audio track, and created the entire visual aspect of the production. This is the first virtual opera video to be produced from start to finish, with orchestra, but with no rehearsal.

"Suor Angelica" tells the tale of a woman who bears a child out of wedlock and is sent to a convent to repent for her sins. The opera takes place in the span of a single day following the sisters during a celebration for the start of spring. This one-act opera is the central piece of Il Trittico, a set of three one-act operas that can all be played on one evening.

Cast: Shira Renee Thomas, Suor (Sister) Angelica; Cindy Sadler, The Princess Aunt; Jennifer Lindsay, Sister Genovieffa; Karin Wilcox, The Abbess; Hannah Headland, The Novice Mistress; Brian Asher Alhadeff conducts the Valley Opera Performing Arts Orchestra. Titles are in English.

LINK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJQMcOq5Stg

In the morning, we take off for Houston, Texas, where we eat at Pico's Restaurant. Pico's chef offers a menu of authentic creations that capture the true tastes of Mexico and celebrate the culinary riches to be found throughout its seven regions. For pollo en mole negro Oaxaqueño, a chicken quarter is drenched in thick, dark, rich black mole sauce made from an extensive list of ingredients that have been cooked for eight hours. The meal for tour members is served with rice, refried black beans, and copious tortillas.

Houston Grand Opera presents the digital premiere of Suite Española: Explorando Iberia, created by HGO Artistic Advisor Ana María Martínez, one of the world's great sopranos. The concert celebrates the music of Spain, including zarzuela, or Spanish musical theater. It features a collage of selections from some of the repertoire's most beautiful pieces.

Martínez is joined by pianist Kevin J. Miller, guitarist Jeremy Garcia, percussionist Richard Brown; Flamenco dancers Manuel Gutierrez Cabello and Ana María Barceló; and two HGO Studio artists, tenor Ricardo Garcia and baritone Blake Denson. Cuban artist Irma La Paloma serves as choreographer, and Ecuadorian composer Chia Patiño, stage director for the University of Texas Butler Opera Center, directs. Suite Española: Explorando Iberia is available to stream for free on HGO Digital until April 25, 2021.

Baylor Opera Theatre presents Seymour Barab's A Game of Chance. Composed in 1956 to a libretto by Evelyn Manacher Draper after the Ryerson/Clements' poem All on a Summer's Day, A Game of Chance is one of many one-act chamber operas Seymour Barab wrote during his prolific career.

Set in an eternal garden, the three Moirai (Fates) knit the tapestry of life. Each laments her boredom, and tells what she would want if she were human. The Representative, the eternal messenger of the gods, brings each of the three young women her dearest wish: One would like to be wealthy, another would like to be famous, and a third would like to have a lover in her life. Each leaves the garden to experience her life on earth, but each discovers she has not asked for enough: the Rich Woman misses real friends; the famous author yearns for love; and the third young woman finds marriage a tedious chore. Even the Representative is dissatisfied with his life: He needs an assistant to help him with his tough job. The moral of this comic opera: We all want too much or too little.

LINK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQaM4cyZBfI

From the warmth of Texas, we take off for cooler New Jersey. We don our heavier jackets and Manon-la Chat gets fitted out in her pink kitty sweater. For breakfast en-route, we enjoy bagels with the classic cream cheese schmear topped by lox.

Three hours later, we land at our usual parking spot and, after retrieving what we need from our luggage, we bus into the city for pre-ordered chicken hash at the midtown Twenty-One Club. Since it is a mixture of cubed chicken, cream, Worcestershire sauce, eggs, butter, and sherry, this chicken hash is a real throwback to a different era. It's the perfect meal to eat after a martini in the club-styled dining room of this New York icon.

On Thursday, April 1, 2021, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi's Il Trovatore starring Eva Marton, Dolora Zajick, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, and Jeffrey Wells, conducted by James Levine. The 1988 production is by Fabrizio Melano. This performance features fabulous singing from Zajick and Pavarotti.

After a good night's sleep, we awake to hop on the bus in our jammies and head for the restaurant that advertises, "the most fun you've ever had at breakfast," the Shut Up and Eat restaurant in Tom's River. Fun is just part of the environment, coupled with great food, waitresses in their pajamas, and an overall atmosphere that entertains as well as satisfies the appetite. We wear our PJ's so as to receive a 13% discount on our meals. We have waffles with all kinds of fruit and really good coffee, too, before taking off for Pittsburgh

For lunch in Pittsburgh, we bus to the Point Brugge Cafe on Hastings Street. Moules et frites (mussels and fries), one of Pittsburgh's most iconic dishes, has been part of Pittsburgh's East End dining scene for decades. This cafe's Belgian-inspired menu has a plethora of praise-worthy dishes, such as their many layered chocolate cake, but the moules reign supreme. They are steamed in sauces, including red curry and classic white wine. They're served with a half-pound of crispy fries, perfect for dunking and munching.

We spend the afternoon at The Frick, Pittsburgh, which has some of the anchors of Henry Clay Frick's famous collection.

LINK https://www.thefrickpittsburgh.org/virtual

LINK https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/MAJiMrpYbCGCJg

For dinner, we stop at Tessaro's. There's nothing like a juicy burger, served piping hot from a hardwood grill. Tessaro's burger joint is a point of orientation on Liberty Avenue. Everywhere in Pittsburgh can be described by its distance from it. The chef who bought the space over twenty years ago began serving "a genuine, authentic, honest hamburger." The meat is ground by an in-house butcher, then grilled on a signature hardwood grill. No frills, but lots of toppings on one of the best burgers anywhere.

LINK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwVW1ttVhuQ&t=386s

Pittsburgh Opera presents "I, Too, Am America: The Music of William Grant Still and Florence Price" Enjoy a free concert exploring the music of folklorist Still and symphonist Price, featuring Pittsburgh Opera Head of Music Glenn Lewis, piano, and Yazid Gray, baritone. Still is often referred to as the Dean of African-American composers. Price was the first African American woman to have one of her compositions played by a major orchestra. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her first symphony in 1933. Pittsburgh Opera's hope is that these artists' works achieve a greater frequency of performance and that they can take their rightful place alongside more famous American composers like Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, and Leonard Bernstein.

LINK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KxjXWpt3Xo&feature=push-sd&attr_tag=5tlY0kBxyuZLQEem%3A6

It's a long way to San Francisco, so we take off after everyone has gone to bed. We wake up to a hot and hearty Mexican breakfast on board the Magic Opera Flying Carpet, now parked just north of the City by the Bay.

During the first weekend in April, San Francisco Opera streams its 2016 production of Gaetano Donizetti's 1843 opera buffa Don Pasquale. Bass Maurizio Muraro embodies the title role of an older bachelor who seeks a young wife. The cast features soprano Heidi Stober as Pasquale's bride-to-be, Norina; tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Ernesto, Norina's sweetheart; and bass-baritone Lucas Meachem as Dr. Malatesta. French director and costume designer Laurent Pelly collaborates with set designer Chantal Thomas and lighting designer Duane Schuler to create a production inspired by Italian films of the 1950s and 1960s. Conductor Giuseppe Finzi leads the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Don Pasquale is performed in Italian with English subtitles and has an approximate running time of two hours and nine minutes. Part of the Company's Opera is ON initiative, free opera streams are viewable on demand with registration at LINK sfopera.com beginning at 10 AM Pacific Time on April 3 through 11:59 PM April 4.

We bus north in the pouring rain and try to run between the drops as we board the Magic Opera Flying Carpet for the trip home to LA.

Photo of Iréne Theorin as Brünnhilde by Cory Weaver.

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