An opening night at La Scala & San Antonio

by John Clare

Saturday night begins a run of Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier through October 20th at La Scala. Philippe Jordan leads a cast that includes Marcelo Álvarez, Anne Schwanewilms, Peter Rose, Hans-Joachim Ketelsen and an old friend Joyce DiDonato.

Joyce blogs, vlogs and keeps fans up to date on Facebook - she even skype'd recently with students in Louisiana. She'll perform the role of Octavian...and took this shot at a rehearsal:
We were both at Wichita State University, and in between music history and opera, would ham it up in the lobby and at "Silly Concerts", so it is easy to see Joyce having some fun - not in Duerksen Fine Arts Center but on one of the world's great stages. It was fun seeing her last spring in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking and she'll return to Houston next spring for Donizetti's Maria Stuarda.

Tomorrow night locally you can experience opera on stage with Romeo and Juliet, presented by San Antonio Opera. Inspired by Shakespeare and an overwhelming fan favorite since its Paris premiere, Charles Gounod's opera delivers a timeless tale of love, loyalty, romance and revenge, as it underscores the power of passion to heal the deepest, darkest divides. Never in the history of romance were two lovers more star, crossed than Shakespeare's passionate Romeo and Juliet. This universal story has been adapted in countless plays and films, in popular culture and in dance, but perhaps no medium better expresses the love, longing and ultimate tragedy of this fated pair than Gounod's sweeping and supreme opera. Replete with ecstatic French melodies, this heartbreakingly beautiful production opene the San Antonio opera's 2011/2012 season!