Sunday, October 18 at 1 pm, Orcas Center
.– from Artha Kass, Orcas Center —
On Sunday, October 18 at 1 pm the Met: Live in HD production of Otello streams to Orcas Center. Often cited as Italian opera’s greatest tragedy, Otello is a miraculous union of music and drama, a Verdi masterpiece as profound philosophically as it is thrilling theatrically. Shakespeare‘s tale of an outsider, a great hero who can’t control his jealousy, was carefully molded into a taut and powerful opera text. One of the Bard’s darker stories, Otello explores themes of fidelity, doubt and revenge, with Iago becoming an icon of poisonous evil.
Director Bartlett Sher’s season-opening new production of Verdi’s masterful Otello probes the Moor’s dramatic downfall with an outstanding cast led by Aleksandrs Antonenko in the title role, Sonya Yoncheva as Desdemona, and Željko Lučić as Iago. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.
For the first time since the opera was first staged at the Met in 1891, a white singer performing the title role will not be wearing makeup to darken his complexion to play the Moor at the center of the tragedy.
The New York Times raves about Sonya Yoncheva’s “luscious sound which has just enough of an earthy tinge and texture to balance the shimmer of her singing…What other soprano right now can sing the ‘Willow Song’ and ‘Ave Maria’ more beautifully?”
Huffington Post writes that Željko Lučić “is superb as Iago, a chilling and malevolent portrait of evil personified…A stark and simple yet often powerful new production of Verdi’s passionate and masterful rendering of one of Shakespeare’s greatest play.”
Come join us for a rich and fulfilling Sunday afternoon!
Check out Otello trailers, behind the scenes, cast and photos at www.orcascenter.org.
Tickets for The Met: Live in HD Otello are $18, $13 for students, $2 off for Orcas Center members, and may be purchased at www.orcascenter.org or by calling 376-2281 ext. 1 or visiting the Orcas Center Box Office open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from noon – 2 pm. $5 Subsidized tickets available at the Box Office. For more information about Orcas Center’s 2015 season visit www.orcascenter.org.
