Don Giovanni traditionally calls for a large cast and an extravagant set. The Chautauqua Opera Conservatory is taking a different approach: a pared-down cast, and a minimal set sandwiched between audience members, creating an unprecedented
Megan Brown
Mozart’s Don Giovanni has been performed since 1787, with its Chautauqua Opera Company debut in 1942 and the most recent run in 2018, but for the newly renamed Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, this is their first
Annette Gordon-Reed opened her lecture with a discussion of her experiences: her experiences as an author, a historian and an elementary-aged student desegregating schools. Gordon-Reed is an author of numerous books, one of which —
Just like Homer’s hero Odysseus, the members of Ulysses Quartet had a long, intertwining and meandering journey before the quartet finally formed in 2015. Seven years later and fresh off a three-year residency at The
When set designer and sculptor Liliana Duque Piñeiro started college, she had no idea she would end up in stage design. “I guess it’s just a happy accident because I didn’t know that you could
Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca is truly a grand opera. The romance is overwhelming, the ending is tragic and it has been performed for over 100 years, with the Metropolitan Opera running it almost 1,000 times and
Soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer’s dream career is to be a lounge singer, but right now she is more than happy to sing classical music with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. “The composers I sing the most
In a world facing climate change, a global pandemic, and increasingly frequent school shootings in the United States, among numerous other atrocities, it feels almost impossible to think our world could possibly be moving toward
If you ever thought you had a loud voice, today is the day to prove it. At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, July 14, at College Hill Park, the Chautauqua Opera Company hosts “So You Think You’re
Officially, this week’s Opera Conservatory Recital has no theme. Unofficially, it is a chance for the students to sing what they love, ranging from Broadway show tunes to classical music. “There isn’t really a theme
Brothers Aldo López-Gavilán and Ilmar Gavilán both have a passion and a talent for music, but they were never able to collaborate together — until recently. This is all part of their narrative. Their story
Nature is restorative. This is what the cast of Thumbprint, specifically Festival Artist Rolfe Dauz, is embracing this summer at Chautauqua Institution. A San Francisco native, Dauz’s work as an opera singer has led him
In two chairs onstage, with a box of tissues between them, David Lamfrom and Terry Tempest Williams held what they want all of the United States to have: a conversation. At 10:45 a.m. Thursday, July
Where there is struggle, hope is often not far behind. This is the theme behind the music chosen for the first Opera Conservatory recital of the 2022 season. Four students from the 2022 Opera Conservatory
Golf carts and opera singers are an unusual combination, but that did not deter the Chautauqua Opera Company from combining them to create Opera on Wheels, the second Opera Invasion of the season. The Young
Since Thumbprint’s premiere in 2014, Chautauqua Opera Company Guest Artist Samina Aslam is the first Pakistani woman to portray Mukhtar Mai, Pakistani human rights activist and the lead character of the chamber opera. Aslam’s dad