LISA KRISTOFF Tue, 12/29/2020 - 8:45am
With his two faces, the Roman god of change and beginnings, Janus, looked back to the past and forward toward the future. We become Janus-like on New Year’s Eve, reliving the happiest moments of the year about to end and speculating on what the new year will bring: plans we have for ourselves on a personal health level, work projects, vacations, etc.
COVID-19 is sure to be a big part of the looking back on a year that ushered in a pandemic that changed everything from work and finances to travel, not just vacations, but trips to see family out of state. It was a year that had us sheltering in place in early spring; suddenly we found ourselves wearing masks whenever we were outside our homes, particularly in stores. Due to the pandemic, annual events were canceled; some attractions never opened.
Verdi’s
Un Ballo in Maschera. Starring Aprile Millo, Harolyn Blackwell, Florence Quivar, Luciano Pavarotti, and Leo Nucci, conducted by James Levine. From January 26, 1991. View here and for 24 hours.
Wagner’s
Das Rheingold. Conductor: Adam Fischer, director: Sven-Eric Bechtolf. With Tomasz Konieczny, Norbert Ernst, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Herwig Pecoraro, and Michaela Schuster. Production from January 2016. Register for free and view here.
Sunday, January 3 Handel’s
Semele. First streamed on OperaVision at its premiere in Berlin on May 12, 2018. Barrie Kosky’s production returns as part of the Komische Oper winter streaming festival. Konrad Junghänel conducts a cast including Philipp Meierhöfer, Nicole Chevalier, Katarina Bradic, Eric Jurenas, Allan Clayton, Ezgi Kutlu, and Nora Friedrichs. View here for one month.
Opera star and Oklahoma native Leona Mitchell will be the guest for the next âTulsa Opera Live!,â the companyâs series of conversations between composer and Artistic Director Tobias Picker and leading figures in the opera world.
The conversation will be aired at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15. To register for this event: tulsaopera.com/live.
A native of Enid, Mitchell made her professional debut singing the role of Micaela in a production of âCarmenâ for San Francisco Opera in 1973. Two years later, Mitchell made her debut at New Yorkâs Metropolitan Opera in the same role. That would be the start of Mitchellâs 18 years with the Met, where she was one of the companyâs leading spinto sopranos.