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A special festival commemorating the 100th anniversary of composer
Giuseppe Verdi's death marks what is sure to be an exciting year
of Michigan Opera Theatre programs at the Detroit Opera House,
where the season commences Oct. 14.

BILL CARROLL

Special to the Jewish News

A

tribute to composer
Giuseppe Verdi will begin
Jan. 27, 2001 — exactly a
century after the composer's
death at the age of 87 — when
Michigan Opera Theatre presents a
concert by the noted Parma (Italy)
Opera Ensemble in its North American
debut. The group will perform Verdi
arias and chamber music, featuring
Italian bass Michele Pertusi.
Verdi was the leading Italian corn-
poser of the 19th century, and is today
considered one of the true masters of
musical composition. Between 1842
and 1893, he wrote 15 operas, includ-
ing Rigoletto, La Traviata, Il Trovatore,
Aida and Falstaff
The Verdi festival continues April 5
with a concert called Viva Verdi, fea-
turing all of the composer's best-loved
arias, duets, choral and orchestral
music. It stars Italian tenor Marcello
Giordani.
Verdi mania will dominate the spring
opera season, with La Traviata running
April 21-29 and Falstaff May 12-20.
The Verdi Festival was to have begun
in November with Luciano Pavarotti
singing Aida in concert, but cancellation
of the event occurred almost as soon as
it was announced. A schedule conflict
was cited as the reason, and MOT
General Director David DiChiera said
he hopes to reschedule Pavarotti's
appearance for next year. One third of
the famous Three Tenors who sang at
Tiger Stadium in July 1999, Pavarotti,

10/13
2000

86

65, appeared at the opening of the
Detroit Opera House in 1996.
Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme
("the bohemian") will open the fall
opera season tomorrow, with a
Jewish soprano alternating in the
role of "Mimi." Cosi fan tutte, a
popular opera by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart that once was
considered immoral and utterly
unworthy of the composer's genius,
will conclude the fall season.
These are some of the highlights
of MOT's 30th anniversary year,
replete with a dash of the interna-
tional flair that has made it one of
the top 10 opera companies in the
country. It now has 13,000 season
subscriptions, an all-time high.
And while DiChiera and his
staff concentrate on the produc-
tions and performances, they will
keep an eye on the results of the
Nov. 7 election — not that it will
make any difference from an operatic
standpoint whether Al Gore or George
W. Bush wins.
But if Proposal A passes, approving
a regional facilities tax of $44 million
annually to fund cultural institutions
in Oakland and Wayne counties,
MOT stands to benefit by a cool $2
million per year.
"It's been a great 30 years," DiChiera
exclaimed. "The highlight was opening
our beautifully restored, acoustically
ideal opera house in 1996 that enables
us to attract some of the most exciting
singers in the world. And some of
those performing this year will have
just made, or are about to make, their

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): "I would
be willing to set even a newspaper or a
letter, etc., to music, but in the theater the
public will stana'for anything but bore-
dom." (letter to Antonio Somma, 1854)

debuts at the New York Metropolitan
Opera or La Scala in Italy."

The Fall Season

Sponsored by Ford Motor Company,
the fall season will open with La
Boheme, running for six performances
Oct.14-22.
One of the world's most popular
operas, La Boheme tells the story of
four penniless artists in the 1830s who
survive on sheer optimism and youth-
ful exuberance. The poet Rodolfo

shares moments of passion with
a frail seamstress, Mimi, before
tuberculosis consumes her.
Puccini weaves gorgeous
melodies, including "Musetta's
Waltz," into his score.
Starring in the international
cast are sopranos Francesca
Pedaci of Italy, who made her
Metropolitan Opera debut last
season, and Inese Galante of
Larvia, sharing the role of
Mimi. Italian Francesco Grollo
and Cuban-born Raul Melo
will alternate in the role of
Rodolfo, and baritones Mariusz
Kwiecien of Poland and Marian
Pop of Romania will sing the
role of Marcello.
The MOT veteran Steven
Mercurio conducts and Mario
Corradi directs.
La Boheme is the basis for
Jonathan Larson's rock opera and
Broadway phenomenon, Rent. Detroit
Opera House audiences will have the
extraordinary opportunity to compare
La Boheme and the Tony Award and
Pulitzer Prize-winning Rent when the
latter plays at the opera house for 13
performances Nov. 24-Dec. 3.
Double dating, double crossing,
double identities and double trouble
just about sum up the lighthearted
comedy Cosi fan tutte ("women are like
that"), which plays six performances
Nov. 11-19. To win a bet and demon-
strate their fiancees' fidelity, two
friends agree ro disguise themselves
and seduce each other's sweetheart.
Making her MOT debut in the role of

