This is the opening line in the script for our presentation of Opera Highlights. After a long period without making music, four singers come together to sing a selection of arias and duets in a celebration of opera and live performance. The soprano has been the driving force in its organisation and is determined that things should run smoothly. And the mezzo-soprano and tenor have found that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.
Creating and rehearsing a show in a world full of restrictions and guidelines has presented many challenges for us all. The design of the production is based on distance between the singers, which, despite being problematic in a traditional staging, has also created opportunities for new ideas. I do hope you enjoy this very special production as much as we have enjoyed creating and presenting it.
This Opera Highlights production has a narrative and characters of its own. For now, though, all is happiness and delight as the pair toast together the delights of wine and love. In this duet, which forms the opening of the opera, Mistress Ford is aggrieved to receive a love letter from the elderly Sir John Falstaff, but is further aggrieved to discover her neighbour, Mistress Page, has received an identical letter.
The lovesick but shy farmhand Nemorino yearns for the seemingly unobtainable Adina, owner of the local farm, but when he suddenly comes into money, he becomes very popular with all the local girls. In this famous number, Carmen presents her views on love: it is unpredictable as a bird in flight; men may love her, but she will not necessarily love them back; and if she does, they should beware.
Norina has been persuaded by Dr Malatesta to pretend to be his demure, convent-educated sister in order to dupe Don Pasquale into marrying her. Charlotte is married to the dutiful but dull Albert. The poet Werther is deeply attracted to her, and when she sends him away, he writes passionate letters to her. Re-reading them brings the realisation that she returns his feelings, and when her sister, trying vainly to cheer her up, mentions his name, she breaks down completely.
