Opera Talks

OPERA TALK: SHAKESPEARE AND OPERA SERIES

Famous literary figure, William Shakespeare’s timeless works always make an excellent opera. Tanisha delves into how Shakespeare's famous lines evolved into opera masterpieces. This series is offered in two parts.

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PART ONE:

William Shakespeare’s timeless works always make an excellent opera. Join Tanisha as she discusses how opera breathes life into Shakespeare’s works through famous operas like Romeo et Juliette, Otello and Macbeth.

Part one includes these operas:

ROMEO ET JULIETTE BY CHARLES GOUNOD

OTELLO BY GIUSEPPE VERDI

MACBETH BY GIUSEPPE VERDI

PART TWO:

Famous literary figure, William Shakespeare’s timeless works always make an excellent opera. Join Tanisha as she discusses how opera breathes like into Shakespeare's works through famous operas including Falstaff, Midsummer Night's Dream and I Capuletti e i Montecchi.

Part two includes these operas:

FALSTAFF BY GIUSEPPE VERDI

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM BY BENJAMIN BRITTEN

I CAPULETTI E I MONTECCHI BY VINCENZO BELLINI

Tanisha's top Joan Sutherland Moments

Opera Composers who were inspired by Shakespeare’s plays
The following composers took Shakespeare plays and expanded them with the power of music. -Tanisha

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British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), used Shakespeare's play, Midsummer Night's Dream as the baseline of his opera that premiered in 1960.

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Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) used an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in his 1830 opera, I Capuletti e i Montecchi.

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Like Bellini, French composer, Charles Gounod (1818-1893) also used Romeo and Juliet as the subject of his opera that premiered in 1867.

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Prolific Italian composer, Giuseppi Verdi (1813-1901) used three Shakespeare plays in his three of his operas throughout his career. The operas were Macbeth (1847), Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893).

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