Palm Beach Opera
Encyclopedia
Palm Beach Opera, a professional opera
company in West Palm Beach, Florida
resident at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, was founded in 1961 as "Civic Opera of the Palm Beaches." Over its history, the company has presented a season of fully staged operas ranging from a single production in early years to four beginning in the mid-1990s; in lieu of a fourth production in the 2009-2010 season, the company scheduled a performance of Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony
with soloists including Ruth Ann Swenson
. Works presented are primarily drawn from the Italian and, to a noticeable but lesser degree, French standard repertory; in 45 years, the company mounted La bohème
eight times, La Traviata
seven, Rigoletto
six, and Carmen
five, but among German operas only two productions of Hänsel und Gretel and a single production each of Fidelio
, Der fliegende Holländer
, and Tannhäuser
. On occasion, however, the company has ventured somewhat farther afield with works such as Dialogues of the Carmelites
and Fedora. The company also sponsors an annual competition for young singers, with the final round programmed as the season closer. In the 1980s the company was led by impressario Joseph Conlin
. Anton Guadagno
served as the company's director from 1984-2002.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
company in West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
resident at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, was founded in 1961 as "Civic Opera of the Palm Beaches." Over its history, the company has presented a season of fully staged operas ranging from a single production in early years to four beginning in the mid-1990s; in lieu of a fourth production in the 2009-2010 season, the company scheduled a performance of Beethoven's
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
with soloists including Ruth Ann Swenson
Ruth Ann Swenson
Ruth Ann Swenson is an American soprano who is renowned for her brilliance in coloratura roles.Born in Bronxville, New York and raised in Commack, New York on Long Island, Swenson studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and briefly at Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut...
. Works presented are primarily drawn from the Italian and, to a noticeable but lesser degree, French standard repertory; in 45 years, the company mounted La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
eight times, La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
seven, Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
six, and Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
five, but among German operas only two productions of Hänsel und Gretel and a single production each of Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, Der fliegende Holländer
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
, and Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
. On occasion, however, the company has ventured somewhat farther afield with works such as Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead a screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on the...
and Fedora. The company also sponsors an annual competition for young singers, with the final round programmed as the season closer. In the 1980s the company was led by impressario Joseph Conlin
Joseph Conlin
Joseph H. Conlin was an American impresario and opera director. Born in Chicago, Conlin founded Conlin Associates, a New York based talent management agency which presented many important European artists via United States tours, including Beniamino Gigli, Jussi Björling, and Renata Tebaldi...
. Anton Guadagno
Anton Guadagno
Anton Guadagno was an Italian operatic conductor.Born in Castellammare del Golfo, Italy, Anton Guadagno studied at the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory in Palermo and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He worked with Herbert von Karajan while studying at the Salzburg Mozarteum, and won first...
served as the company's director from 1984-2002.