Céline Ricci in the role of the “Mediterranean woman” Circe (courtesy of Ars Minerva)
Hopefully, some readers will recall when mezzo Céline Ricci, Artistic Director of Ars Minerva, brought an imaginative program entitled Women of the Mediterranean to the Italian Cultural Institute at the end of March in 2018. She was joined by two performers from past Ars Minerva productions, soprano Aura Veruni and mezzo Kindra Scharich. All instrumental accompaniment was provided by Derek Tam at the harpsichord. All of the selections were taken from pre-Classical operas.
At the beginning of next month, Ricci will revisit this approach to programming. She will again be joined by Scharich and Veruni, but the this time the harpsichordist will be Kelly Savage. The program will alternate opera arias for female roles with spoken text to provide the setting for each of the arias. The female characters to be portrayed will include Cleopatra, Dido (Didone), the Carthaginian queen abandoned by Aeneas, and Claudia Octavia (Ottavia), the first wife of the Roman emperor Nero, whom he condemned to death to allow him to marry Poppaea Sabina.
This performance will take place at the beginning of next month, on Saturday, October 5, at 7 p.m. The venue will be the 906.World Cultural Center, located at 906 Broadway near the northwest corner of Mason Street (near the east end of the Broadway tunnel). This building was formerly the Roman Catholic Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. After having been abandoned for over 25 years, the structure was renovated at a cost of about $10 million, spent over the course of three years; and it was reopened as 906.World in 2018. General admission will be $25 with a $45 charge for VIP seating. Tickets are currently available online through an Eventbrite event page.
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