Saw marriage of figaro last night February 14. The Opera is an Italian buffo style-comedic, composed by Mozart. It was very well done with talented performers and an uplifting plot and even ending.
The performance of La Traviata, one of the most popular operas, Friday night was very special. We saw the MET production on PBS a couple of weeks ago with Quinn Kelsey and it just was not as good as what we saw last night. (I would guess that because it was a live performance that made all the difference in the world. The fact that you have world-class performers in front of you on stage couldn t be a better experience.)
The Soprano Danielle Talamantes is truly a rising star. Her acting was outstanding and her voice was celestial. Pene Pati the tenor brought a great deal of refinement to his performance. I never expected anything so wonderful in his talents. He is a young Samoan larger than Quinn Kelsey. Of course Kelsey is a world-class baritone and he brings his Hawaiian refinement to the stage. Really enjoyed his talent last night. The whole cast was fabulous including the two young dancers. The orchestra sounded wonderful. If you have any interest in opera you should not miss this performance.
I did want to mention that that Lynn Johnson PhD did a great job with the opera overview before the performance. It did give you an understanding of where Verde was coming from when he wrote the opera. He had lost his entire family, his two boys and his wife, by the time he was 26 years old.
I love the opera here but I am afraid for its future because the board of directors were foolish enough to hire a french artistic director who lives in Germany and has no real.idea of how the opera fits in Hawaii. I predict disaster.
Hawaii Opera Theatre is awesome! They have talented singers, wonderful musicians, and great productions. It is amazing that for such a such a small company, they continue to perform at a consistently high level. Get tickets - you won't be disappointed.
Well after 5pm if you homeless you can sit back there in parking lot unroll 12 midnight
hawaiiopera.org