by Neil McCalmont
If you were to travel to Italy in the summer and jaunt through their Renaissance gardens, you would hear the Italian people speaking their lovely language, water rushing through fountains, and concerts of gorgeous music. That delightful atmosphere will waft through Cleveland’s Italian Cultural Garden during a special opera concert of operatic arias and ensemble numbers on Sunday, July 31 at 6 pm.
“Opera in the Italian Garden” will be presented by Opera Circle Cleveland and the Cleveland Ballet, carrying on the tradition that originally began in the 1930s, and was revived in 2008. “We thought that nobody was going to show up,” said Joyce Mariani, Executive Director of the Italian Cultural Garden Foundation, over a recent telephone call. “But over 200 people came. The next year it more than doubled to 500, and last year we had an audience of 2,000. The audience makes the event what it is. We just present it.” [Read more…]
In just over an hour, betrayal and jealousy in a Sicilian village spill over into tragedy in Pietro Mascagni’s one-act classic opera, Cavalleria rusticana — all the while accompanied by some gorgeous music. Opera Circle staged two performances of “Cav” last weekend at First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights. I saw the opening performance on Friday evening, November 21. 