Photos above by Linda Petzing. Click for full-size images.
​Photos below by Mike Thompson ed. Ian While

Ticket sales continue with great speed, increasing day by day as we get nearer to the opening night next Monday. Our two casts are ready to go and new costume fittings have been completed. We have a great treat in store.

​Here are some more comments from Falmouth to spur you on to a second viewing:

"The first night was sparkling with excitement from both  the  Company and audience."

One opera aficionado in particular was full of compliments , saying he could hear every word from both chorus and soloists; much better than the ENO he had been to! 

Lovely appreciative comments from the Friday audience on their way out, enthusing: "the best for years",
how much they had "enjoyed every moment". Some were coming the following night as well as they had enjoyed it so much!

The next morning a FODO member phoned to say she had been to 17 Traviatas all over the country / world and this was the best!

Similar comments were expressed on the Saturday night.  “Thank you for inspiring and enthusing our FODO members to keep supporting our fund raising efforts, enabling us to give you a substantial cheque towards future productions. "

​Can I add that we really appreciate all the support, financial and otherwise, that we receive from our Friends (FODO) and we are so glad that you enjoyed yourselves so much.

​The cast and crew were delighted to be treated to champagne in the bar afterwards by our President John Nettles, who also gives us great support. Thank you John!

​Minack Tickets: www.minack.com 01736 810181

                                                                                                                                                                                 (Photo: Linda Petzing)

Thanks to Karen H who spotted this in last weekend's Mail on Sunday.

​The opera world resounds with tales of bribery and corruption but fortunately such tactics were not needed by Duchy Opera in persuading P&J Print (Newquay) to halt their imminent print run of 4000 programmes for an urgent edit.A demanding schedule of performances of Verdi’s much-loved opera La Traviata at the Minack Theatre necessitates double casting the leading roles but when one of the designated Violettas suddenly had to withdraw from th...e role last Monday consternation ensued. Director of the show, Penzance-born Richard Jackson, with his connections as teacher in the main London Music Colleges, pulled out all the stops and to the delight of all concerned succeeded in engaging Alinka Kozári for this demanding role. Hungarian born soprano Alinka, now resident in the UK, is a graduate of the Franz Liszt Music Academy, Budapest and the National Opera Studio, London and made her début in the role of Violetta for Iford Arts Festival in summer 2013, also singing the role with Diva Opera in France and in Drapers’ Hall, London.
La Traviata will also be performed in Falmouth’s Princess Pavillion on June 9th & 10th when leading local soprano Cheryl Brendish will be singing the role of Violetta , sharing it with Alinka at the Minack (July 3rd – 7th). Falmouth Tickets are available from www.crbo.co.uk/duchyopera 01726 879500; Minack tickets: www.minack.com 01736 810181

Thanks to Ann McC for highlighting this fascinating 30min programme on Radio 4 yesterday. "La Traviata: Tales From the Stave". Listen to it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08npns8

"Frances Fyfield is joined by the Soprano Irina Lungu and the musicologist and conductor Nigel Simeone to explore the Manuscript of Verdi's enduringly successful Opera La Traviata. The handwritten score telling the tale of Violetta's noble humility amidst the conventions and hypocrisy of 19th... century Paris is held by the Ricordi Archive in Milan. With the kind permission of the Archive and their leading expert Gabriele Dotto, the team get to see the precision and brilliance of a score that contains some of the most familiar music ever to grace an Opera stage. There are also surprising omissions and examples of the striving of a perfectionist."
Producer: Tom Alban.

Rehearsals are well under way now for La Traviata, ​next year's big Duchy Opera production:
our orchestra is in place, soloists have been auditioned and new singers have joined the Chorus in preparation for this musical treat. Costumes are being designed, colours chosen and staging envisioned.

​​The opera is based on Alexandre Dumas' (fils) novel La Dame aux camellias and was first performed at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice in 1863. Apparently, the soprano was 'unsatisfactory', the tenor was 'not in good voice', and the baritone was unhappy singing in an opera with 'no intrigues', 'no duels', and 'none of the trappings of high romance'. After the first night Verdi himself described it as a 'fiasco' after the audience had laughed at the thought of an extremely stout lady dying of consumption.

​Before you decide to cross the tickets off your Christmas list let me reassure you. The Venetians heard La Traviata again just over a year later. This time it was pronounced an overwhelming success and was produced throughout Italy. then Europe, and soon became the most talked-of opera of its day. Fiona Maddocks in the Guardian described it as one of the top 50 operas, and as perhaps Verdi's most performed work, containing all the elements of operatic addiction: a beautiful, consumptive, fallen-woman heroine, grand Parisian party scenes, the travails of love, a troubled father and a deathbed scene, all set to Verdi's faultless score.

​What's not to like?

If you have already contacted us about auditioning then you will receive a personal email this evening or tomorrow. Please contact us if you do not receive this.
​
DUCHY OPERA – LA TRAVIATA
AUDITION EXTRACTS [Page numbers refer to the Ricordi edition]
VIOLETTA ***                                  Soprano                31-44                     95-112                   331-335
FLORA                                                Mezzo-sop.           204                        212                         244
ANNINA                                             Soprano                 119-122                322-328                 343-345
ALFREDO ***                                   Tenor                     27-30                    113-119                 350-354
GERMONT PERE ***                       Baritone               138-140               186-192                 194-197               
GASTON, VISCOUNT                        Tenor                     16-17                    19-24
BARON                                               Baritone                18-19                    245-6
MARQUIS                                           Bass                       205-6                    212-3
DOCTOR                                             Bass                      205-6                     213                         324-326
JOSEPH (V’S SERVANT)                      Bass                      131-2                        
MESSENGER                                       Bass                      184-5
 
NB.  Extracts should be sung in the English translation of the Ricordi edition (by Joseph Machlis).

***Those auditioning for principal roles should prepare at least two of the three given extracts.

Those auditioning for smaller parts which have no complete “set-piece” may wish to sing
​a (non-Traviata) piece of their own choosing as well as the brief extracts listed above.

​To arrange an audition time and to receive further information please use the Contact Form