Coffee at Kerr
Lecture Series
The Coffee at Kerr series will continue through our 2023/24 Season and feature previews of our upcoming productions this season.
Join us for a FREE music and lecture series at the ASU Kerr Cultural Center. Get a detailed look at each opera and receive exclusive, behind-the-scenes information about our productions. This lecture series is ideal for all opera lovers – of all ages.
Schedule:
Frankenstein
Date and Time: Wednesday, October 11, 2023 at 10:30 AM MST
Location: ASU Kerr (In-Person or Online)
THIS EVENT WILL BE A PREVIEW OUR UPCOMING PRODUCTION OF FRANKENSTEIN.
Arizona Opera’s eagerly-awaited third World Premiere, based on Mary Shelley’s iconic novel by the same name, comes to the stage to open the 2023/24 Season in the McDougall RED Series. With a riveting, cinematic score and libretto by Gregg Kallor, the living, feeling Creature is brought to life only to be forsaken by its creator, Victor Frankenstein. Embracing Shelley’s original text, Frankenstein gives poignant voice to The Creature’s struggle and lays bare the horror of alienation and “otherness” with exquisite nuance. At the core of this heartbreaking tale lies an exquisitely wrought plea to look deeper within ourselves to find our commonality and to uphold our responsibility to one another.
Presented by Gregg Kallor, Composer and Librettist of Frankenstein.
The bARBER OF sEVILLE
Date and Time: Wednesday, Jan 17, 2024 at 10:30 AM MST
Location: ASU Kerr (In-Person or Online)
Love, mistaken identity, and humor are woven throughout The Barber of Seville, Rossini’s comic opera masterpiece. The Barber of Seville is considered one of the greatest opera buffa of all time, maintaining its popularity for over two hundred years.
Count Almaviva falls hopelessly in love with the beautiful Rosina, the young ward of a grumpy and elderly Bartolo who intends to marry her and claim her dowry. Dressed in disguise, Almaviva tries to earn Rosina’s affection for who he really is, rather than for his money and status. Almaviva assumes multiple identities including a poor student, a drunken soldier, and a singing tutor and priest. With the help of his companion Figaro, Almaviva stops at nothing as he pursues Rosina through a series of comical hijinks and bait-and-switch facades. Eventually revealing his true identity, he manages to win Rosina’s heart and the pair evade the disgruntled Bartolo, with love and laughter triumphing in the end.
Presented by Joshua Borths, Director of The Barber of Seville and Lecturer, and Jennifer Hoppe, collaborative pianist.
Roméo & Juliette
Date and Time: Wednesday, Feb 21, 2024 at 10:30 AM MST
Location: ASU Kerr (In-Person or Online)
Gounod's romantic and rapturous music sets the stage for this tale of star-crossed lovers, based on Shakespeare’s play about the feuding Montague and Capulet families in Verona.
Roméo Montague and his friend Mercutio don masks to sneak into the Capulet’s ball, where Juliette Capulet has been presented to the party guests. Roméo falls instantly in love with Juliette, who fervently loves him back despite being pledged to marry Count Parîs. Juliette’s cousin Tybalt recognizes Roméo as he shares a tender moment with Juliette, but is prevented from attacking as Roméo and his friends flee.
Roméo and Juliette affirm their forever love in the iconic balcony scene. Outside the Capulet palace, Roméo breaks up a fight between Mercutio and Tybalt, asking him to forgive the feud between families. With nothing but scorn, Tybalt kills Mercutio and Roméo stabs Tybalt. Knowing their families will never get along, Roméo and Juliette plan to fake their deaths in a desperate attempt to be together, culminating in an ending for these lovers that is as tragic as it is heartbreakingly beautiful.
Presented by Arizona Opera Ambassador Helen Hendricks, soprano, and Jennifer Hoppe, collaborative pianist.
Don Giovanni
Date and Time: Wednesday, Apr 10, 2024 at 10:30 AM MST
Location: ASU Kerr (In-Person or Online)
Mozart’s Don Giovanni, regarded by many as one of the greatest operas of all time, tells the centuries-old story of the libertine Don Juan.
Don Giovanni tries to seduce Donna Anna, which goes awry and he ends up killing her father, the Commendatore, unbeknownst to her. Donna Anna asks her fiancé, Don Ottavio, to avenge her father’s death. The opera follows Don Giovanni’s salacious escapades, aided and abetted by his servant Leporello. Giovanni makes his rounds seducing and duping numerous characters, bragging along the way and escaping accountability by obscuring his identity. In a cemetery, Giovanni meets the Commendatore’s statue, who forebodingly warns him that he will laugh no longer. When offered the chance to change his ways, will Don Giovanni repent?
Presented by Dr. Miriam Schildkret, mezzo-soprano, and Jennifer Hoppe, collaborative pianist.