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Virtual Zoom presentation
Registrants will receive Zoom link day before presentation
$10/talk or register for all 3 & save!

Music historian Jeffrey Engel will Live Zoom lecture on three productions originally scheduled for the Metropolitan Opera's
Fall simulcasts Including:

Oct. 15, 1pm - "Aida"
by Giuseppi Verdi

Nov. 12, 1pm - "Il Trovatore"
by Giuseppi Verdi

Dec. 3, 1pm - "Fidelio"
by Beethoven

Giuseppi Verdi has been called “The Colossus of Italy and an “Olympian figure in Italian opera.” A former Italian minister of culture stated that “Italy without Verdi would be like England without Shakespeare.” We should not be surprised by such accolades.

For some 51 years Verdi dominated Italian opera. Of the 25 operas of this period at least 15 are fixtures in the current repertory. It has been calculated that at least one live performance of a Verdi work has taken place in the world every single day for the past 100 years! Few, if any other opera composers, can make such a boast.

“Aida” is a relatively late work. It is full of lyrical and dramatic arias, duets and stirring ensemble numbers. Jeffrey Engel will detail the story of “Aida’s” creation and play recorded excerpts

About the presenter: Music Historian Jeffrey Engel has been giving lectures devoted to music history for more than 20 years. He believes that such lectures should be entertaining as well as informative. To that end, his explanations are never too technical and he infuses his material with amusing anecdotes and musical illustrations.