Opera Tampa’s new season features one piece that’s known by (almost) all -- and two works that aren’t.
Not that Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale are by any means obscure. Our third selection, though, is Puccini’s La Bohème, a title recognizable to more people than the former two.
La Bohème is one of opera’s greatest works. Its popularity is well earned. Fans will see it again and again. And it will be performed again and again. And it will sell tickets if an artistic director can be allowed a moment of pragmatism.
Planning our season, though, is a bit like planning a menu. We want to introduce new flavors, a dish that’s unfamiliar but tempting, a treat you may have heard of but not heard.
So, our schedule includes Candide, a 20th-century work sung in English. It also includes Don Pasquale, a comic opera gem, the setting of which we’ve transplanted from mid-19th century Rome to Prohibition-era Ybor City. This will be the first time Opera Tampa has performed these two works. This is exciting and challenging for us and we hope it’s exciting and enjoyable for our audience.
We are passionate about opera, and that passion drives us to seek out lesser-known, less-celebrated works of merit for our performances. We love and revere opera’s great works just as our audience does. That love creates a desire to find works that are new to us and/or our audience to explore, to perform and to love. We invite you to enjoy the familiar and the not-so-familiar as well. Who knows? You may find a new favorite to love.
All the best,
Robin Andrew Stamper
Opera Tampa Artistic Director