Opera Cheat Sheet | Houston Public Media

 In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss the first opera in Donizetti’s “Tudor trilogy.” Based on the tragic story of Henry VIII’s second wife, it’s a tale about the dangers of marrying a serial monogamist!Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7, Saturday, January 9th, at noon, for the Metropolitan Opera’s broadcast of Anna Bolena featuring Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role and HGO... Read More

In this week’s OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Johann Strauss Jr.’s Viennese romp Die Fledermaus, a paean to champagne and the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment set in 19th-century Vienna. What happens when Gabriel von Eisenstein goes off to Prince Orlofsky's ball rather than to jail?[The musical excerpts in this OCS are taken from the EMI recording featuring Willi Boskovsky conducting the... Read More

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, introduce Rossini’s musical version of the story of the wily barber and his efforts to secure the lovely Rosina’s hand in marriage for the besotted, and disguised, Count Almaviva.Subtitled "The Futile Precaution," Rossini’s great opera buffa consistently ranks among the top 10 operas performed worldwide.[The excerpts heard in this OCS are from the CBS Masterworks recording featuring Riccardo... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Rossini’s 1819 masterpiece La Donna del Lago. Based on Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, and set in the early 16th century, the opera is a tale of love, loyalty and lochs in the Scottish Highlands.You can hear the Metropolitan Opera’s production of La Donna del Lago, featuring superstar soprano Joyce DiDonato in the title role, Saturday, December 19th, at noon... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media Arts & Culture Director, St.John Flynn, and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s searing 1851 tragedy Rigoletto, the story of Gilda, the beautiful young girl sacrificed on the altar of her father’s malevolence.[The musical excerpts heard in this OCS are taken from the RCA Victor Opera Series recording featuring Georg Solti conducting the RCA Italiano Opera Orchestra & Chorus; Robert Merrill:... Read More

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give a quick and humor-filled overview of Bernstein’s 1956 opera Candide, famous for its Overture and songs such as “Glitter and be Gay” and “Make Our Garden Grow.”  Based on Voltaire’s 1758 novel of the same name, Candide tells the story of the young man who learns the truth about existence through a bizarre sequence of fantastic events... Read More

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra provide a quick overview of Antonio Vivaldi’s dramatization of the final defeat of the Roman Republican army, commanded by Cato, by Julius Caesar and the forces of the emerging Roman Empire in North Africa.Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7 Saturday, November 14th, at noon to hear Glimmerglass Opera’s broadcast of Cato in Utica featuring... Read More

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth.First staged in Florence in 1847, Macbeth was Verdi’s tenth opera and his first stab at adapting Shakespeare for the musical theatre stage.A tragedy set in medieval Scotland, Macbeth is a cautionary tale about what can happen to a marriage when three witches dangle the carrot of absolute power in front of you!Tune... Read More

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra talk about Hector Berlioz ’s grand opera masterpiece Les Troyens, the story of the Fall of ancient Troy and the Trojans flight from their homeland across the Mediterranean to Carthage as they follow their heroic leader Aeneas whose mission to found Italy is almost derailed by his love for Queen Dido.Tune in to Houston Public Media  Classical... Read More

Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give a quick overview of Giacomo Puccini’s powerful and tragic love story set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century.Few people realize that there are actually two operas, written at the same time and both based on the book Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger, titled La bohème. Puccini’s version debuted in Turin... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Rossini’s La Cenerentola. Based on the Perrault fairy tale of Cinderella, it’s the story of the kind-hearted young girl, abused by her step-sisters, who meets, falls in love with, and marries the handsome prince. Yes, Cinders does go to the ball!Tune in to Houston Public Media Classical 91.7 Saturday, October 10th at noon to... Read More

In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Handel’s 1730 comic opera Partenope. Set in Ancient Naples, Partenope is the story of the Neapolitan queen who is loved by three princes and one princess (!).  Who will win the queen’s hand in marriage? Tune in to Houston Public Media’s Classical 91.7 Saturday at noon for San Francisco Opera’s broadcast of Partenope featuring Danielle de Niese... Read More

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra talk about Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, the story of the demise of Riccardo, Earl of Warwick and governor of Boston who falls in love with his best friend’s wife and pays a heavy price. Tune in to Classical 91.7 Saturday, September 26th at noon for San Francisco Opera’s broadcast of Un Ballo in Maschera featuring... Read More

In this Opera Cheat Sheet Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, his first major operatic success. Set in Tennessee, and adapted from the story of Susannah and the Elders in the Apocrypha, Susannah is the story of an innocent young woman corrupted and marginalized by the God-fearing, church-going folks of her town and their new preacher. Tune in to hear San Francisco Opera’s... Read More

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s Arts & Culture Director St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Vincenzo Bellini’s 1831 “lyric tragedy” Norma. Set in Gaul in the first century B.C., Norma tells a story of love, religion, fidelity and concealment as the Druids strive to fight off the invading Romans.

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s Arts & Culture Director St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giacomo Puccini’s 1904 drama Madama Butterfly, based on the play “Madame Butterfly” by David Belasco. Set in Nagasaki, Japan, in the early years of the twentieth century, it’s the story of the young, innocent Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, and her fateful love for the “faithless” American naval lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton.... Read More

In this week’s Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media Arts & Culture Director, St.John Flynn, and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra discuss Giuseppe Verdi’s searing 1851 tragedy Rigoletto, the story of Gilda, the beautiful young girl sacrificed on the altar of her father’s malevolence. Tune in for San Francisco Opera’s broadcast of Rigoletto, featuring Željko Lučić in the title role and Aleksandra Kurzak as Gilda. [The musical excerpts heard in this OCS are taken... Read More

In this Opera Cheat Sheet, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra provide a quick, light-hearted intro to Jules Massenet’s Thaïs, a tale full of religious eroticism! Set in the 4th century A.D. in North Africa, Thaïs tells the story of the monk Athanaël who attempts to convert to Christianity the Alexandrian courtesan Thaïs only to discover that he is in love with her. As she renounces her... Read More

Stage of the Royal Opera of the Palace of Versailles. Image from WikiMedia Commons by user GNUToo. In this OCS, Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn and Eric Skelly of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra give an overview of American composer John Corigliano’s only opera (to date), The Ghosts of Versailles, which he describes as a “grand opera buffa.” Writing in The New York Times on the occasion of the opera’s world première at the Met... Read More

Aidan Davis and Kate Scally as Figaro and Susanna in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro". Photo by Penn State. Creative Commons. In this OCS Houston Public Media’s St.John Flynn talks to bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi, who sang the title role, and conductor James Gaffigan, from the Houston Grand Opera 2011 production of The Marriage of Figaro. Subtitled The Mad Day, the opera shows the craziness that ensues when the “right of the lord” is not the... Read More