This is the second program of one-act operas presented by Fletcher Opera this year to maximize performance opportunities during the pandemic.
LaCosse, artistic director of the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, said that singers have been called âsuperspreadersâ in these COVID-19 times.
âIt is especially challenging for opera singers to perform during the pandemic because their vocal projection can carry respiratory droplets farther than speaking,â LaCosse said.
He said one-act operas were chosen because they have small casts and allow for socially distant staging. There are three cast members for âSophie Arnouldâ and five for âLâheure espagnole.â
âSimply put, the one-act operas created a space with fewer people onstage for a shorter period of time,â soprano and Fletcher fellow Virginia Sheffield, who performs the title role in âSophie Arnould,â said in a press release.
8 am ET: Wigmore Hall presents Jonathan Plowright. The British pianist opens this concert with Busoni’s arrangement of Bach’s D minor
Chaconne which was performed by Busoni himself at the opening of the Hall almost 120 years ago. This is followed by the six pieces that make up Liszt’s
Consolations S172. The concert closes with Grieg’s
Holberg Suite Op. 40, originally written for piano before Grieg adapted it for string orchestra. Register, view here and on demand for 30 days. LIVE
1 pm ET: Wiener Staatsoper presents
Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci. Conductor: Marco Armiliato, director: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. With Eva-Maria Westbroek, Brian Jagde, Ambrogio Maestri, Zoryana Kushpler, and Isabel Signoret; Roberto Alagna, Aleksandra Kurzak, Ambrogio Maestri, Andrea Giovannini, and Sergey Kaydalov. Production from November 2020. Register for free and view here.