Replenished Repertoire

 

Replenished Repertoire

Debuted August 24th, 2012, at the WMP Concert Hall, Manhattan. Last performed December 1st, 2012, at the National Opera Center, Manhattan.

Think you’ve exhausted your favorite composers’ catalogues of works? We’ll make you think again – again – and throw in a few pieces from the standard repertoire for good measure.

 
In May of 2012, three opera singers and an accompanist set forth to have as much fun as possible through an entire rehearsal and performance process. After many hours of work and much laughter, aided along the way by a “knife,” a fez, a peacock, and yards of fabric, “Replenished Repertoire” was created.

“Replenished Repertoire” is a concert of fully-staged opera scenes ranging from the familiar to the unfamiliar, the light to the dramatic, the fast to the not-quite-so-fast, the (very) high to the (very) low, and the lovely to the deadly and back again, by some of the most well-known composers of opera.

Most pieces on the program are lesser-known works by better-known composers, chosen specifically to integrate repertoire that isn’t standard without alienating audiences who know and love the standard fare.
There are thousands of hours of beautiful music in the operatic repertoire alone, and only a minuscule portion of that is performed on a regular basis. We hope that, after attending this concert, our audience will be inspired to explore the dustier corners of their local music libraries.

 
Performed by:
Allegra Durante, soprano
Hayden DeWitt, mezzo-soprano
Nathan Baer, bass
Aaron Butler, piano

Composed by:
G. Donizetti
C. Floyd
C. Gounod
G. F. Händel
W. A. Mozart
J. Offenbach
R. Strauss
G. Verdi
G. Bizet (Aug. 24) or S. Mercadante (Dec. 1)

Director: See “Performed by”, above
Producer: Allegra Durante
Everything else: See “Performed by”, above

 
Producer’s note: When we decided to bring the show back for a second round in December after the success of the debut in August, I invited the woman behind Opera Obsession to attend the December performance. Her write-up of the piece is here.