Love Is in the Air!

Ed Batutis, Program Coordinator; Jeffrey Brody, Music Director and Pianist
August 2, 2015 at 7:30pm
Christ Episcopal Church, Needham, MA

Where'er you walk - Semele - Handel
The god Jupiter sings of his love for Semele. Semele feels the same, but it all leads to ashes in the end!
- Sean O'Donnell

O mio babbino caro - Gianni Schicchi - Puccini
"Oh my dear papa!" Lauretta asks for father's pity: she loves Rinuccio and will either buy the wedding ring at Porta Rossa or, if her love is in vain, throw herself off the Ponte Vecchio.
- Alexandra Cedolin

Prince Gremin's aria - Eugene Onegin - Tchaikovsky
Prince Gremin confesses to Onegin that he loves Titiana. She has brought light to his dreary life, filled with dull and evil people. All ages surrender to love.
- Andrew Boisvert

Si ritrovarla io giuro - La cenerentola - Rossini
"Yes, I will find her again" the Prince vows - Cinderella is gone, but he will find the matching bracelet, and so find his love!
-Mathew Hennek

Una voce poco fa - Il barbiere di Siviglia - Rossini
"A voice a little while ago" penetrated Rosina's heart - it was "Lindoro" the "student" (really the Count in disguise). Rosina will make him hers -- or else her fangs will come out!
- Sara Michale Smith

No, Pagliaccio non son - I Pagliacci - Leoncavallo
"No! I am not Pagliaccio!" Canio isn't a harlequin (his stage persona) - he is a man - betrayed! A man who gave Nedda everything! And who was in turn betrayed when she gave her love to another.
- Adam Russell

Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux - Le Cid - Massenet
Chimène's love for Rodrigue, who has killed her father in a duel, is as strong as her desire to avenge her father's death. Torn between her love for both father and beloved she finds it hopeless to find a positive outcome.
- Karen Amlaw

Dein ist mein Ganzes Herz - Das Land des Lächelns - Lèhar
"You are my heart's delight". Prince Sou-Chong sings of love for Lisa - and his hopes his love will be returned.
- Maxwell McGrath

Comme autrefois - Les pêcheurs de perles - Bizet
Leila, a Hindu priestess, muses on the times she would meet with her secret lover Nadir and imagines he is watching over her.
- Caroline M. Spaeth

Teco io sto - Un ballo in maschera - Verdi
Riccardo announces "I am with you" but Amelia is torn because she has given herself to Riccardo's best friend. He demands that she admit her love for him, and, reluctantly, she does. But she is tortured by her sense of duty to her husband.
- Adam Russell/Michelle Trainor

Ah! Mes amis - La fille du régiment - Donizetti
Tonio announces that he has found his love (the "daughter" of the regiment - Marie) and so will enlist!
- Mathew Hennek

INTERMISSION

Dies Bildnis - Die Zauberflöte - Mozart
"This image is enchantingly lovely" - the image of Pamina that Tamino sees causes him to fall hopelessly in love - even though he does not yet know who or where she is.
- Maxwell McGrath

Soll ich dich Teurer nicht mehr sehn? - Die Zauberflöte - Mozart
Pamina asks "May I, dear one, never see you again?" Tamino faces the ultimate test at the hand of Sarastro, and she fears the worst. The two sing of the pain of separation.
- Andrew Boisvert/Ethan Bremner/Evelyn Griffin

Ach, ich liebte - Die Entführung aus dem Serail - Mozart
Having been captured by the Pasha Selim, Konstanze explains that she cannot possibly love him because she is in love with another. Now that she has been torn from him, all of her happiness is gone and she has nothing but tears and sorrow.
- Stephanie Mann

Un'aura amorosa - Così fan tutte - Mozart
Ferrando tells his friend to forget food - hope for love is all anyone needs.
- Stanley Wilson

Come scoglio - Così fan tutte - Mozart
When two men disguised as strangers attempt to woo Fiordiligi and her sister Dorabella to prove that no woman is faithful, Fiordiligi will have nothing to do with them. She declares her loyalty to Guglielmo and asks the strangers to stop attempting to win them.
- Carla Maniscalco-Giovinco

Appressati, Lucia - Lucia di Lammermoor - Donizetti
"Approach, Lucia" - Enrico bids his sister be happy on her wedding day, but Lucia has given her heart to another man. Enrico argues that her love is unworthy, foolish, and will result in his downfall! Lucia, however, is helpless and hopes for death.
- Sara Michale Smith/Gary Thies

Una furtiva lagrima - L'elsir d'amore - Donizetti
The lovable idiot Nemorino spots (imagines) "a furtive tear" falling from the eyes of Adina - proof that she loves him!
- Kartik Ayysola

I've known I Loved You - Cold Sassy Tree - Floyd
Rucker Lattimore (the patriarch and proprietor of a local general store), weds the young milliner at his store, of which his family and the community don't approve. Originally the marriage was a platonic, name-only marriage;, however, Rucker later confesses that he has been in love with the young milliner from the very start.
- RaShaun Campbell

Chi il bel sogno (La Canzone di Doretta) - La Rondine - Puccini
Doretta's life is now a "beautiful dream" - a student has kissed her, and what a kiss it was! Passion! Intoxication! Her life is a golden dream!
- Evelyn Griffin

Marietta's Lied - Die tote Stadt - Korngold
Paul, grieving the recent loss of his beloved wife, has given Marietta his wife's lute and shawl and begs her to sing. She chooses a sad song of loss and farewell, true love that must die here on earth, and hope of reunion in another life. Originally written as a duet between Paul and Marietta, a dancer who strongly resembles Paul's lost wife; tonight it is sung as a soprano solo.
- Karen Amlaw