Saturday, June 23, 2012
8:30 PM

Venetian Theater
Tickets: $15.00–$85.00

OPENING NIGHT:
MENDELSSOHN'S MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

MENDELSSOHN  Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
MENDELSSOHN  A Midsummer Night's Dream (selections)

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Roberto Abbado, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin

Mendelssohn’s masterful incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was begun as a teenager (the Overture) and completed toward the end of Mendelssohn’s life. He evokes the fantastical, supernatural whimsy found in Shakespeare’s characters. Readings of excerpts of Shakespeare’s play will contextualize this symphonic masterpiece, from the iconic Wedding March to the unforgettable scherzo. Conductor Roberto Abbado leads the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and violin virtuoso Gil Shaham makes a special appearance in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012
8:00 PM

Venetian Theater
Tickets: $30.00–$70.00
Children under 16 half price!

POPS, PATRIOTS & FIREWORKS

All Gershwin Program

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Michael Barrett, conductor
Darius DeHaas, vocals
Carla Jablonski, vocals
John Musto, piano

Michael Barrett leads Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the music of George Gershwin. Some of his greatest works, including Rhapsody in Blue, performed by John Musto, and hit songs sung by Darius DeHaas and Carla Jablonski will complete the patriotic preparations for the pyrotechnic fireworks to follow.

Venetian Theater
Tickets: $15.00–$100.00

CIRO IN BABILONIA
Gioachino Rossini
Bel Canto at Caramoor

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Will Crutchfield, conductor and director of opera
Davide Livermore, stage director
Ewa Podleś, contralto
Jessica Pratt, soprano
Michael Spyres, tenor
Scott Bearden, baritone

Operas on Old-Testament stories were popular in Italy in the early 19th century, and in some cities were obligatory for performances during Lent; other examples include Rossini’s own Mosè in Egitto, Donizetti’s Il diluvio universale (telling of Noah and the Flood), and Verdi’s Nabucco (about Belshazzar’s forefather Nebuchadnezzar). The usual dramatic strategy for these works was to insert a love story or other personal complication into the outline of the familiar narrative.

Rossini was just shy of 20 years old, with four operas already to his credit, when he received the contract to compose Ciro in Babilonia for the Teatro Comunale of Ferrara early in 1812, to a libretto by Francesco Aventi.

In collaboration with the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy.

Sunday, July 15, 2012
4:30 PM

Venetian Theater
Tickets: $15.00–$60.00

EMANUEL AX & PABLO HERAS-CASADO

RAVEL  Le tombeau de Couperin (orch. Ravel 1919)
BEETHOVEN   Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
BEETHOVEN   Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano

Pablo Heras-Casado returns to celebrate his recent appointment as Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s following his brilliant debut performance with the Orchestra last summer. Emanuel Ax joins OSL and Maestro Heras-Casado in a program of music by Beethoven and Ravel.

Venetian Theater
Tickets: $15.00–$100.00

I CAPULLETI ED I MONTECCHI
Vincenzo Bellini
Bel Canto at Caramoor

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Will Crutchfield, conductor and director of opera
Eglise Gutiérrez, soprano
Kate Aldrich, mezzo-soprano
Leonardo Capalbo, tenor

Bellini's I Capuleti ed i Montecchi tells the Romeo and Juliet story—based on the same ancient Italian sources that Shakespeare used—in the gorgeous language of Italian bel canto. Late in life, Richard Wagner told how Bellini's yearning, passionate melodies had inspired him to create Tristan und Isolde.