If you missed The Marriage of Figaro, you can catch some highlights
April 11, 1996
All of the opera buffs who missed Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro when it was here earlier this semester still have a chance to hear some of the show’s highlights.
Sunday afternoon the Iowa State University Chamber Singers and several other students who had leading roles in Figaro will be joining forces for a concert featuring a variety of music from the baroque and pre-classical periods to the modern time, said Jeffrey Prater, the group’s director.
The first half of the concert will feature the leads from Figaro performing concert renditions of some of the opera’s better-known pieces. The concert will differ from the original performance in that it will include less stage action, no costumes and with a piano accompaniment instead of an orchestra.
The songs from Figaro scheduled to be performed include the group pieces “Via Resti Servita, Madama Brillante” (“To Greet You My Lady”), “Cosa Sento! Tosto Andate” (“That’s the Limit! Go this Minute!”), “Riconosci in Quest’amplesso” (“Now, at last I May Embrace You”), “Che Soave Zeffretto” (“The Romance of the Zephyr”) and “Tutti Contenti” (“We are all Contented”).
The group will also feature several individual soloists, including Chris Price (who played Figaro in ISU Theatre’s production of The Marriage of Figaro) on “Non Piu Andari” (“From Now On”), Erin Young (Countess) “E Susanna non Vien!… Dove Sono I Bei Momenti” (“And Susanna is Late… Are They Over, These Cherished Moments?”), Gabrielle Kimmel (Barbarina) on “L’ho Perduta, Me Meschina!” (“I have Lost it, Heaven Help Me!”) and Elizabeth Swanson (Cherubino) on “Non so piu Cosa Son, Cosa Faccio” (“I Can’t Give You a Good Explanation”) and “Voi Che Sapete” (“You Know the Answer”).
The second portion of the concert will feature “Windbourne,” a Prater piece commissioned for the ISU museums exhibit on the Loess Hills, with lyrics by Neal Bowers, an ISU professor of English.
The concert will also include pieces by a father and son duo — “Magnificat” by Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach and “Motet No. 2 for Double Chorus BWV 226,” by Johann Sebastian Bach. The concert will also feature the group on “Tois Chansons,” by Claude Debussy and “John Saw Duh Number” by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw.
The concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Recital Hall of Music Hall. It’s free and open to all.