Tickets are now on sale for this year’s opera production by Ars Minerva and its Artistic Director Céline Ricci. The opera to be presented will be Astianatte, composed by Leonardo Vinci with a libretto by Antonio Salvi. It will mark the seventh “resurrection” of a long-forgotten Baroque opera. The title is the Italian version of “Astyanax,” the name of the son of Hector, the crown prince of Troy, and his wife, Princess Andromache. In just about every account of the Trojan War, Astyanax dies from a fall from the walls of Troy after the Greeks have breached those walls and conquered the Trojans.
One would think that any opera about Astyanax would be about as grim as one could get. However, past Ars Minerva productions have presented operas that were performed during the pre-Lenten Carnival. As a result, farce is the prevailing rhetoric for both the plot and the characters involved in that plot. This seems to be the case also for Astianatte. The announcement of this production describes the narrative as “a topsy-turvy story of grim beauty where maternal love counts for little, erotic attraction excuses all cruelty, and conventional gender roles are reversed. Male heroes are at the mercy of their emotions, while women are the cold voice of duty and honor.”
Contralto Jasmine Johnson in the role of Andromache (photograph by Valentina Sadiul)
Mind you, in Euripides’ The Trojan Women, Hector’s mother Hecuba provides that “cold voice of duty and honor” throughout the entire play, including the sacrifice of Astyanax. However, she does not appear in Salvi’s casting. Indeed, the only character from Euripides that appears in Astianatte is Andromache, whose part will be sung by contralto Jasmine Johnson. The other members of the cast will include mezzo Deborah Martinez Rosengaus in the role of Piro, mezzo Nika Printz as Orestes, and soprano Aura Veruni as Hermione. The production will be staged by Ricci. As in the past, the music will be provided by a chamber ensemble of historically-informed instruments performed by Cynthia Keiko Black (violin), Gretchen Claassen (cello), theorbo (Richard Saviano), harpsichord (Matthew Dirst, serving as Conductor), and bass (Steven Lehning).
As has been the case with previous productions, there will be three performances taking place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 21, and Saturday, October 22, and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 23. The venue will be the ODC Theater, located in the Mission at 3153 17th Street on the southwest corner of Shotwell Street. Ticket prices are the “Gold” rate of $98 and the “Silver” rate of $79. Students will be admitted for $27 and there is a special VIP rate of $250 that includes a post-performance reception with the artists and a tax-deductible contribution of $130. Tickets may be purchased through separate event pages for the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday performances.
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