Temp That's Amore: An Early Valentine

TEXAS EARLY MUSIC PROJECT presents That’s Amore: An Early Valentine Saturday, February 7, 2015 at 8PM & Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 3PM Both performances are at First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive, Austin Please visit www.early-music.org for general or senior tickets, or donations. Tickets are available online at: https://temp.ticketbud.com/thats-amore or at the door, payable with cash, check, or credit card: $30 general, $25 senior (age 60+). $5 students (with student ID at door) For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message. The best opera tells a story that is, if not totally–or even the slightest bit–believable, at least one that we can connect with, either through the characters or the music. We continue our celebration of Italian music with a newly formed opera pastiche using music from the early Baroque (Cavalli & Cesti) and late Baroque (Handel & Vivaldi) in Italy. Weaving a plot around music from about 100 years of beautiful operas, we seek to entertain and delight you with arias (and only a very few recitatives) from the early Baroque with selections from Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto and Antonio Cesti’s L’Orontea and L’Argia. We have incorporated music of the late Baroque from George Frideric Handel’s Rinaldo, Tolomeo, and Giulio Cesare and Antonio Vivaldi’s Il Giustino, La Fida Ninfa, and Orlando Furioso. The selections from Cavalli and Cesti are typical of the early Italian Baroque: tuneful, direct, full of harmonic surprises and unmatched beauty. By the mid-18th century, opera was a glamorous and sophisticated activity for the cultured and not quite cultured. Both Handel and Vivaldi are well known, of course, though the casual listener might be surprised at the power and beauty of Vivaldi’s vocal works (he did write more than The Seasons, it turns out…) and the wide range of emotions he creates. Our lively, witty, and loving pastiche of beautiful music from these four masters contains some of the most popular and should-be-popular works from the world of Baroque opera. Some of the leading lights of early music, rising stars from New York Peter Walker (baritone) and renowned countertenor Ryland Angel, join TEMP core-members Jenifer Thyssen & Meredith Ruduski (sopranos) for this unique production. The accompanying period-instrument ensemble includes German violinist Veronika Vassileva with violinist Bruce Colson (Austin), violist Andrew Justice (Denton), and TEMP regulars Jane Leggiero (cello), Scott Horton (theorbo), and Austin Baroque Orchestra director Billy Traylor on harpsichord. As an early Valentine present, treat yourself and your sweetie(s) to a the beauty, brilliance, and passion from four of the best composers in Italian opera in an intimate setting. We’ll tell a story that will warm your heart, make you laugh, and put your toes to tapping. The passion! The jealousy! The love! Will there be a happy ending? We aren’t sure, but there will be a minimal amount of recitative, and there will be super-titles!