"Fitting portrait puts Puccini in fine focus" John Slavin, The Age, 23/9/2008

September 2008

The Puccini Story

A tribute to mark his 150^th anniversary

We are proud to present The Puccini Story as a tribute to Giacomo Puccini in this the 150th anniversary of his birth. This will be a narration of his life, analysing his characteristic traits and his musical vocabulary. It will also examine how Puccini's personal characteristics impacted on the creation of his characters and the composition of his music. This will be the backdrop to some of Puccini's most glorious musical moments - from Le Villi, La Bohème, Tosca, Madame Butterfly, and Turandot, as sung by such glorious singers as Susanne Donald, Vanessa West, Marco Cinque, Gary Rowley, Salvatore Granata and others. All accompanied by the Melbourne City Opera orchestra and chorus.

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The Puccini Story written and narrated by: Dr. Joseph Talia OAM, Artistic Director, Melbourne City Opera. "I feel that audiences know Puccini’s music. Almost everybody has heard bits of Butterfly…bits of Bohème, even if you haven’t seen the whole thing. I think Puccini, the man, is much more elusive and I felt that for his 150th anniversary it would be an opportunity to let our audience know much more about Puccini, the man; how his passions, his philosophy and his personality fed into his music. ..." " We’re going to represent his music right from the beginning – Anna’s aria from Le Villi where you will hear that Puccini stamp right from the word go. We then follow through to the end with Turandot – and not just Nessun Dorma!...." Read the whole transcript here.

Featuring a renowned cast: Kerrie Bolton, Marco Cinque, Lucio Coceani, Paula Coster, Sebastian Giacobello, Sam Granata, Mylinda Joyce, Suzanne Ribet, Gary Rowley, Vanessa West and the Melbourne City Opera Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Patrick Miller and Sue Robinson Melba Hall Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne Royal Parade Parkville Friday September 19 Saturday September 20 Sunday September 21

Enquiries by email: click here.
Telephone: +61 3 9596 2952

Details of future Programmes will be posted here when finalised.

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