Opera scenes resonate with the blessed and grim

Opera practice

In the words of coordinator John Baril, Yale Opera will present "a gift to the community" this weekend. Under the direction of Hans Nieuwenhuis, the 16-member company will perform scenes from various operas, including Hansel and Gretel, Falstaff, The Elixir of Love, The Italian Girl in Algiers, The Barber of Seville, Faust, and I Capuleti e i Montechhi.

An annual event, "Opera Scenes" serves various functions. All 16 singers are pursuing professional careers in opera, and the program is designed for them to "really get to know the parts," according to singer Joanna Mongiardo. By rehearsing and performing large portions of operas--for instance, two entire acts of Hansel and Gretel--singers will gain experience in works that are chosen specifically to match their abilities.

"Opera Scenes" also whets the audience's appetite for other Yale Opera performances. There will be no charge for this weekend's shows, but the Opera will charge for future events in an attempt to cover the often gargantuan costs of mounting an opera production. This year's featured opera, La Traviata, is a full-scale performance with costumes and a full orchestra coming to the Schubert Theater in February or March of 1997.

For those new to opera, this Friday and Saturday's performances will be an excellent introduction to the art form. More casual than the Schubert winter performance, "Opera Scenes" nevertheless comprises some "wonderful, wonderful standard repertoire," in the words of Joanna Mongiardo."The music," she said, "is just delightful."

The program, dominated by Italian works from the late 18th- and early 19th-centuries, occasionally departs from the standard repertoire. Bellini, composer of Norma and I Puritani, will be represented by his lesser-known I Capuleti e i Montecchi, an interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. Offsetting Bellini's tragic opera, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel presents a light-hearted interpretation of the fairy tale by the brothers Grimm.

Passages of Hansel and Gretel are said to be heavily influenced by Wagner, whose compositional style differed radically from that of Rossini and his contemporaries. Falstaff, Verdi's last opera, written when he was nearly 80, counters the youthful naiveté of Hansel and Gretel with the aged idealism of Sir John Falstaff, one of the most compelling characters in the Shakespearian repertoire.

While two pianos will stand in for a full orchestra and garments from the Salvation Army may approximate costumes, the singers will not have to "make do" with their director. Hans Nieuwenhuis, a noted Dutch director, heads the International Opera Centrum in the Netherlands, a foundation dedicated to discovering and working with young talent. The program's two music directors will accompany on the piano. John Baril, in addition to handling administrative aspects of the performance, will conduct four of the scenes.

In the past, "Opera Scenes" has packed Sprague Hall with an overflowing audience of New Haven residents, Yale students, and University faculty. Many in the audience are avid devotees of Yale Opera who follow the careers of one or several singers from their time at Yale to their entrance into professional opera. Year after year, the students prove worthy of such devotion.