Les Contes d’Hoffman – Met Opera at Orcas Center

||| FROM BETHANY MARIE for ORCAS CENTER |||

Start the New Year off right with an incredible performance of Les Contes d’Hoffman on Tuesday, January 14 at 12pm on the big screen at Orcas Center. Filmed live in HD, these on-screen events presented by The Metropolitan Opera offer a diverse sampling of the world’s best performers at the height of their careers – giving you the best seat in the house from the comfort of your own island!

An ensemble of leading lights takes the stage for Jacques Offenbach’s fantastical final work, Les Contes d’Hoffman, headlined by tenor Benjamin Bernheim in the title role of the tormented poet. Hoffmann’s trio of lovers are sung by soprano Erin Morley as the mechanical doll Olympia, soprano Pretty Yende as the plagued diva Antonia, and mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine as the Venetian seductress Giulietta. Marco Armiliato conducts Bartlett Sher’s evocative production, which also features bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the Four Villains and mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya in an important company debut as Hoffmann’s friend
Nicklausse.

After becoming the toast of Paris with his witty operettas, Jacques Offenbach set out to create a more serious work. He chose as his source a successful play based on the stories of visionary German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann. Three of these tales—at once profound, eerie, and funny—were unified in the play by a narrative frame that made Hoffmann the protagonist of his own stories. Each episode recounts a catastrophic love affair, and throughout the opera, Hoffmann is dogged by a diabolical nemesis and accompanied by his faithful friend Nicklausse.

Ticket prices range from $10-$63 with an additional $2 ticketing fee. Tickets are available online at www.OrcasCenter.org by phone at 360-376-2281 ext 100, or in-person at the Box Office an hour prior to the performance.