Opera on the Spot Returning to C4NM

Opera on the Spot poster (from the Eventbrite event page)

When I first reported on a forthcoming show by Opera on the Spot, they had prepared performances of two twentieth-century operas, Samuel Barber’s “A Hand of Bridge,” with a libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti, and Menotti’s own opera, “The Old Maid and the Thief.” These performances took place at the Center for New Music (C4NM). However, I did not get a chance to see this group, which calls itself “San Francisco’s pop-up opera troupe,” until they returned to C4NM last season. On that occasion they performed Lee Hoiby’s “The Italian Lesson,” composed in 1981 (and therefore “newer” than either of the operas by Barber and Menotti) with a libretto by Mark Schulgasser based on a monologue by Ruth Draper. This would coupled by “not-so-new music,” Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s one-act “La serva padrona” (the servant mistress).

At the end of this month, Opera on the Spot will pay a “return visit” to C4NM. Program specifics have not yet been announced beyond the statement that the program will be “a fun mix of classical and contemporary opera scenes and arias.” However, the performers are likely to be those included on the “singers” Web page on the Opera on the Spot Web site. Sorted by vocal range, they are:

• sopranos: Autumn Allee, Jordan Amann, Aisha Campbell, Cara Gabrielson, Emily Thebaut
• mezzos: Emma Lacenski, Claire MacKenzie
• tenors: Kevin Gino, Marcus Paige
• baritones: Sergey Khalikulov

Those who attended the last C4NM performance will probably recall the first-rate account of Pergolesi given by Amann and Khalikulov and Campbell’s tour de force approach to the only role in “The Italian Lesson.”

This program will begin at C4NM at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 28. Admission will be $15. C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through an Eventbrite event page.