Opera San José to Stream Three One-Acts

Next month Opera San José will kick off spring by streaming a 75-minute program entitled Love & Secrets: A Domestic Trilogy. The program will consist of three one-act operas, each of which explores its own perspective on the relationship between a man and a woman. All three of the operas were composed during the twentieth century, covering the period from the first decade of that century to the last. The operas will be presented in the chronological order of composition.

1917 photograph of Mario Sammarco and Lydia Lipkowska as Count and Countess in “Il segreto di Susanna” (scanned from The Victrola book of the opera, from Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright restrictions)

The first of these operas, “Il segreto di Susanna” (Susanna’s secret), was composed by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari and first performed in Munich on December 4, 1909. The title character is a twenty-year-old countess (soprano Vanessa Becerra) married to Count Gil (baritone Efraín Solís). The “punch line” of this 40-minute opera will probably strike many as absurd, and the above photograph deserves a spoiler alert!

Four Dialogues is actually a song cycle that Ned Rorem completed in 1954, scored for soprano (Marnie Breckenridge), tenor (Carlos Enrique Santelli), and two pianos. The texts are taken from the poems of Frank O’Hara. Somewhat in the tradition of song cycles by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann, the narrative follows a couple’s relationship from love’s first blush to the pangs of the bitter end. However, O’Hara’s texts are given to more irony and whimsy than can be encountered in those nineteenth-century song cycles.

The final selection is also a chamber work, lasting only about ten minutes. Tom Cipullo composed “The Husbands” in 1993 for soprano (Ashley Dixon), high baritone (Eugene Brancoveanu), flute, viola, and piano. The text is the prose poem “Rain” by William Carpenter. The libretto serves as a rumination of widows, tenderly keeping their departed spouses forever present in their hearts.

All three operas will be staged by Resident Director Tara Branham. Instrumental accompaniment will be provided by members of the Opera San José Orchestra, and conducting duties will be shared by Music Director Joseph Marcheso and Resident Conductor Christopher James Ray. Streaming will launch at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 15, after which there will be a Zoom-based “virtual cast party” at 7:30 p.m. The video will be available for streaming for 30 days. Admission is on a pay-what-you-can basis through a Web page that is set up for $15, $25, and $40 admission rates. For those wishing to attend the cast party, there is a $50 charge; and, once payment has been processed, a Zoom link will be sent on the morning of April 15. The Web page also allows purchasing a ticket as a gift.