Artistic Director of the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Marianne Cornetti, talks about their upcoming event, "An Evening Under the Stars with Our Stars".
Artistic Director of the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Marianne Cornetti, talks about their upcoming event, "An Evening Under the Stars with Our Stars".
The concert presents seven singers individually and as ensembles with pianist, Maeve Berry, for an evening of the most beloved operatic arias and Broadway tunes. Marianne will sing an aria from "Il Trovatore" by Verdi and "Memory" from Cats. Benjamin Werley sings "Maria" from "West Side Story" and "Vesti la giubba" from "I Pagliacci" by Leoncavallo.
Sadie Cheslak sings Wagner’s "Weiche, Wotan!" From "Das Rheingold" and Sondheim’s "Losing My Mind" from "Follies." Thomas Shivone sings several favorites, and joins Victor Cardamone for "au fond de Temple Saint" by George Bizet from "The Pearl Fishers." Alexa Frankian performs "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from the "Wizard of Oz" and "Quando M’en vo" from "La Boheme." Megan Cumming sings "Wo bin Ich" from "Hansel and Gretel" by Humperdinck.
Lastly, Kevin Glavin sings "La culunnia" from the "Barber of Seville" by Rossini and Frank Sinatra’s classic hit "My Way." It will be an exciting evening in the perfect of settings!
You can see "An Evening Under the Stars with Our Stars" at the Schenley Tent in Oakland's Schenley Plaza on August 27th at 7pm. Visit PittsburghFestivalOpera.org for more information. Tickets are $55 or $45 for young professionals.
You are listening to WQED's Voice of the Arts podcast. I'm Emily Brunner. This is where we dive deep into the stories behind the art scene in the region. Today, our host, Jim Cunningham, spoke with Marianne Cornetti, Artistic Director of the Pittsburgh Festival Opera. Festival Opera is hosting an Evening Under the Stars at the Schenley Tent on August 27th at 7 p.m. They start the conversation by talking about the magnificent setting of the tent for the event. I tell you, Jim, it's a magical spot. We come in, we bring in lights, and it really is an evening under the stars because there's stars, we put stars in the tent, and then of course we're under the natural stars, and it's one of our most favored concerts. People love to come to this concert. I'm sure there are folks listening to us now who've not been to one of your events. What would you say to them about this happening? Well, you know what? It is a lot of fun. ah I believe that opera can be so much fun and you can have a really good time listening to phenomenal arias. And I put on my concerts, I always have opera arias or, you know, like we're doing the Lucia Sextet, we're uh duets from uh Elisir de More, but in the middle of that we have some of our most famous Broadway tunes also. And so it's really for everybody. This concert is really such an enjoyable evening and the piece de resistance, is that you are the emcee for the evening and you will will will move us along and uh... we're so looking forward to it. I'll try to keep the pace brisk because you've got a big program. Yes we do. after hit after hit. What are you singing from Oklahoma with the whole gang? Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. Everybody loves that. everybody somewhere over the rainbow from the Wizard of Oz. This will be Alexa Frankian. Tell me about Alexa. Oh, Alexa. Alexa was here three years ago. She won the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition. She was one of the winners and at 23, you knew that this girl was was something special and a very important voice. And three years ago, she got out and she was gone out on her career and she was just coming back uh this past week from Merolaand she's been out there and she's doing very well and she is the real deal. It's so wonderful to have a young singer come back like that and show her growth, you know, what she has done and she'll be singing uh Quando Me Envoe from La Boheme and also Senza Mamma. from Sua Rangelica that will make you cry. But then on the other hand, she's singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. And uh I'm thrilled to have her back, because of course the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition is something that's going to be coming up September 20th.And we have record numbers coming in for that also. We find new talent. Jim, I have been around the world. I've done this for almost 40 years now. My joy is to give it back. to the next generations. This is what I love to do. And so having some of these winners and ones that are coming back from the Young Artist Program, it makes my heart so happy. Marianne, what's the ticket going to set me back? $55. Hey, it's a bargain. It is a bargain. You know what? You get an atmosphere. You get great singing. It's a lot of fun. The porch will have a bar there. You can have a drink. I do have to say, the weather will be little bit brisk so please please please dress accordingly because I think that's going to be really important. You'll hear on Wednesday night Pearl Fisher's duet, Georges Bizet's music. It's Yussi Buehling and Robert Merrill here. Who will sing it on Wednesday? Yes we're having Victor Cardamon and Thomas Chivonne and they are both local young singers around and that is one of the most famous duets that we all love. And I program that pretty often on my programs because it's one of those pieces that really grabs you and you know it's Nadir and Zorga and uh even though they're best of friends, they're in love with the same person. And they vow to not let this get in the middle of their, to ruin their friendship and so they vow to reaffirm their friendship. ah And so it's a really strong duet. makes my arms tingle just thinking about it and hearing Buehrling and Robert Merrill. What would you say about their singing? What was special about those two? They're legendary figures in the opera world. Well, as you just hear, their sounds are so well matched, you know, the resonance of both of those singers. um I mean, they were two of the greatest, you know, there we have a... of Buehrling and then we have Robert Merrill uh that those two sounds were just fantastic. um Again, it's that older generation sound that uh we knew them so so well. Everybody does something special with it and Wednesday night you will not be disappointed. You will not think, oh it's not Buehrling and Merrill. no no Believe me. Oh my goodness sakes. know Victor Cardamone is just finished his Adler Fellowship in San Francisco three years ago. He is from Vandergrift and he is a one very talented young tenor. He's so talented. Thomas Chavonne uh was a uh product of the Curtis School and he's here living in Pittsburgh and his wife is also, uh she plays with the symphony and so he is back singing um and I just got to meet him recently and I love his voice. It's gorgeous, gorgeous baritone voice. So they won't disappoint either. We're talking to Marianne Cornetti about an evening under the stars with our stars Wednesday night seven o'clock at the tent in Shenley Park and it works acoustically or up close in any case. You can't imagine the the natural acoustics in that place. It's phenomenal. You feel as though you're on a microphone and you're not. uh And it holds about, we'll have about 150 people there. It's like a sort of cabaret style with tables and chairs and whatnot. uh it's really, it's an intimate setting, but the singers are right, right, I don't wanna say on top of you, but they're very close to you. And it's just, it's an intimate setting. You'll be singing Verdi. I will be singing Verdi, of course. You know, uh not, there's, uh I got the opportunity to sing Trovatore herewith Pittsburgh Opera in 23, but it's always good to pull out, you know, something that Adzucena sings, and that's the condotta, Elle, Re, In, C'eppi, because it's not done. We don't hear it that often. So I'm gonna let loose on that. should be spectacular and you'll be participating in the ensemble duty solute efforts okay more of the hits that we're going to hear run down some of the repertoire so folks know this is an all hits program memory from cats you're going to say oh yeah that's one of my most favorite pieces it's um it's just a fantastic hit um but like vesti la giubba ben whirly is going to sing uh from pagliaccium uh donna non non vidi mai from a nola scope ben where he's going to sing. don't hear that aria very often. Kevin Glavin and Megan uh Cumming are singing the wonderful duet from um Elisir de More, um Belladina. He's also going to sing My Way. Oh, he's also going to sing My Way and he's also going to sing La Calugna. Oh my gosh. um Let's see, who else? Megan Cumming will be singing um When You Wish Upon a Star. Sadie Cheslak and Ben Werley are gonna sing, you know, everybody thinks, maybe everybody maybe is not aware of this, but Mon Queu S'Ouverra-Tavoie, the most famous, one of the most famous. My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice. was my grandfather's favorite aria. Oh my gosh, it's such a wonderful piece. But they are going to do it as the duet, as it is in the opera. So, and Sadie, Sadie Cheslak was one of our young artists with Pittsburgh Festival Opera in 2021. She's gone on. uh She went into another, uh she got her master's or artist diploma somewhere, I can't remember where. Anyway, this year, this past year, she was one of the Met Grand Finalist winners, so we're very proud of her. In fact, I'm going to pick her up at the airport here right after this. So I'm happy to have her back, a wonderful, gorgeous sound of a mezzo. We have to close, but have you mentioned Maeve Berry? What's Maeve Berry doing? Oh Maeve, Maeve is, I'm very proud of Maeve. Maeve Berry is the pianist for the resident artists at Pittsburgh Opera. And the connection with she and I is we went to high school together. Or we didn't go together, no, no, no. It's about 40 years difference. You went to the same high school. We went to the same high school, Nock High School. So I'm so happy to have her on this program. She's a really fine pianist. It's a lot of music, but I guarantee you, you will love this program. There's lighting, there's everything that you can just sit for two hours and not think of anything but what's inside that tent. there's an intermission you might meet another opera fan. You might absolutely and there's there's going to be a lot of people there again it's one of our most favorite concerts that we do. Marianne Cornetti such a joy to see you I don't want to make you late for the airport but you got to tell me how your fundraiser went with the Met Opera auditions. Well again one of my you know things that I'm doing here. I'm the chair of the Metropolitan Opera LaFont competition uh for Pittsburgh and it's for our districts and this year we're also doing the regionals. And so we had a big fundraiser at 1000 Grandview with wonderful singing, wonderful food and I called it, we did it that evening on Friday because 1000 Grandview, their party room, you get this magnificent view. over the city. Well, PNC, the pirates, were putting off their fireworks and we knew that that evening was a fireworks night. So I called it fireworks, Falstaff, Fjordeligi Faust, Flirtini's, Martinis, and more. And we had a magnificent time. Wonderful. We raised really good funds and you know, Jim, I'm here. I want to give back to my community. I love this city. I love giving back all of this experience that I've gotten over the last 40 years. It's my passion. Wednesday night, seven o'clock, an evening under the stars with our stars. can ask Marianne Cornetti all about Mariss Janssen and what he said after the concert. Yes, I will tell you. She'll tell you that on Wednesday night. And you'll hear amazing singing and Kevin Glavine, Maeve Berry, Sadie Cheslake, Victor Cardamon, Megan Cummings and Alexa Franklin. All hit program. Absolutely. I hope to see everyone there. I guarantee you it'll be a wonderful evening. It's magical. And that's all for this Voice of the Arts podcast episode. Make sure to subscribe to Voice of the Arts wherever you listen to podcasts so you're notified when new episodes become available. You can also discover arts events happening in Pittsburgh on our cultural calendar at wqedfm.org. I hope you enjoyed listening. I'm Jim Cunningham. This is the Voice of the Arts.