Wednesday, January 4, 2012

New season, great new music!

We had a great first rehearsal of the season last night, dipping our toes into some of the fantastic music that we'll be singing for our concert in May. The theme of the concert will be music for change, music that took a stand for some political or social cause. Sound dry? SO not true. I was choking back tears during more than one first reading of a piece last night. Of course, as an opera lover, the highlight of the evening for me was getting to work on Va Pensiero from Verdi's Nabucco, an anthem for unification of Italy when it was first written and performed. Check out this video from the Rome Opera recorded this fall to see what is means to modern Italians. Not a dry eye in the house!

Thanks to Roger in the tenor section for first posting the video on our Facebook page. Unless your Italian is really good, be sure to click on the CC button at the bottom of the player for the English translations!

2 comments:

  1. Then there's the version sung at the Opening Gala for the Oslo opera house in 2007. The attire is an homage to the workers who built it.

    And Ballard, home of Market Street, once had a connection with Norway.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3Qx_oMH62U&list=PLC7D855F33BDE4FA3&index=34

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  2. That's wonderful. I love the outfits and the opera house looks fantastic. And can I just say...YAY! Somebody commented on the blog!

    Want the link to Gordon's video suggestion? Click here.

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