Opera

» kenny3868 - Looking for operas to perform

I am a member of Edinburgh Grand Opera who are a semi-pro opera company that is run by, and principally for, the chorus. We are having increasing difficulty finding chorus heavy operas that are performable by our ensemble or within our budgets(!). Does anyone know of a web resource on the performability of operas? By this I mean not just a list of the roles but the complexity of the parts, quantity of chorus etc.

-- posted by kenny3868

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» Smorg - Looking for operas to perform

In response to Looking for operas to perform posted by kenny3868:

Hiya,
I'm not sure how helpful they will be for ya, but perhaps this site is worth checking out:
Opera Talent ( http://www.operatalent.com/Safe/Operas/L... ) They haven't got details on all the opera listed, yet. But the ones that do are pretty good.

A while back I read a book called 'Getting the Most Out of Mozart: The Vocal Work' by a David Hurwitz. He discusses 5 opera by Mozart in great details, listing all the numbers and discussing the complexity of the music for each principal. Don't know if he had written the same kind of book on other opera composers, tho.

Really, when you asked for a chorus-heavy opera, I think of Mozart's Idomeneo... with something like 9 choruses. But then it also demands 4 great lead singers. :o(

I don't really know many chorus-oriented opera... I imagine the best shot is the Verdi ones.

But if you can afford 2 good soloists... maybe short opera with them dominating (like Gluck's Orphee et Eurydice or Strauss' Elektra) wouldn't be budget-busting? Verdi's Macbeth, on the other hand, features the chorus as much as the 2 leads. I think Lehar's The Merry Widow and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas are mostly ensemble opera with the chorus singing something like half the music of the whole thing, too.

Wish I know more for ya', mate. Good luck!! :o)

-- posted by Smorg

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