Stay ConnectedOpera for Everyone is a radio show and podcast that makes opera understandable, accessible, and enjoyable for all. Pat Wright hosts the show, inviting guest co-hosts to participate in the mission she and Keely Herron developed after lively discussions of operas they had enjoyed seeing together. Music soars. Epiphanies abound. Hilarity ensues.
The show airs Sundays from 9.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. on 89.1 KHOL in Jackson, Wyoming.
Cover artwork by illustrator Rosie Brooks (www.rosiebrooks.com)
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In Puccini’s final opera, the icy princess Turandot inspires The Unknown Prince to risk his life in the hope of winning her hand. His quest does not require the usual feats of derring-do... Instead, he must battle wits with her. Though he ultimately triumphs, the cost is terrible.
In Giacomo Puccini's first major hit, Manon Lescaut, we meet the adventurous young Manon as she is headed to a convent to live out the rest of her days. Soon, however, she finds herself torn between a man she loves, and a man whose wealth she loves. Based on the novel by Abbé Prévost, this story found its home in opera, serving as the basis for two wildly successful versions. Come hear how magnificently the "medium of excess" tells a story of a woman who wants it all. Hosted by Pat Wright with special guest Petria Fossel.
Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette is an operatic take on Shakespeare’s timeless and tragic tale of young love bursting through old hatreds. Gounod’s sumptuous music exquisitely transports us into the world of the Juliette Capulet and Roméo Montague. Just say yes to this timeless love story's sweet sorrow. Hosted by Pat Wright and Keely Herron.
Hector Berlioz’s opera “Les Troyens” is an opera on a truly epic scale, with a story based on the oldest and most successful fan fiction ever written: The Aneid, Virgil's take on the great warrior from the siege of Troy presented in Homer's Illiad. This opera’s tale includes three continents, two legendary founders of empires, and one love story that definitely doesn’t go according to plan. If roaming Romans romancing roving refugee rowers is your thing (or maybe if you just like operas that give costumers a lot to work with), you will love “Les Troyens!” Hosted by Pat and guest co-host Grant.
Even if you think you don’t know Opera, you know something of Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen. The tunes pervade our culture, and for good reason, popping up in films, television, and advertisements. They not only convey the passion and identity of characters who seduce and beguile, but the melodies remain long after the show has ended. Join us for Bizet’s masterpiece, the story of woman who insists on freedom, but cannot escape her fate. Hosted by Pat Wright and special guest co-host Greg.
This episode we present, Handel’s Xerxes, an opera that initially failed at the box office for being too silly and unorthodox. Today’s audiences love it. . . for being so silly and unorthodox. This Baroque opera features the ancient king of Persia, mistaken identities, disguises, and an unusually seductive tree. This work is distinguished by its unusual arrangement of vocal parts: a woman singing as a man, a man singing in the female range, and one part whose casting requirements are totally different now than they were 300 years ago. With Pat and special guest co-host Grant.
Rossini’s exuberant Opera Buffa, The Barber of Seville, features the irrepressible jack-of-all-trades Figaro. This Bel Canto masterpiece is where you will hear the quintessential opera piece “Largo al Factorum,” best known for the glorious (and comic) repetitions of “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro. . .” Everyone clamors for Figaro’s attention, and in this wild romp he assists Count Almavia to wed Rosina, the lovely ward of the greedy Dr. Bartolo. No marriage for Figaro here—that’s a different opera! With Pat and guest co-host, Petria Fossel.
Have you ever wondered just who that woman with the blond braids, shining breastplate, and iconic opera helmet might be? Meet Brünhilde and her clan in the in this epic tale. Dwarfs, water nymphs, giants, dragons, forbidden love, heroes, gods, mortals, greed, pride, lust, resentment, the beginning of time, the end of time, what happens in between, fire, marriage, blood, flying horses, a magic sword, contract law—it’s all here in one of history’s greatest works of art, Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, the story of the accursed golden ring of infinite power. With Pat and guest co-host, Petria Fossel.
With unabashed romanticism, Gaetano Donizetti sweeps us into the passions of the final days of Mary Queen of Scots in his Bel Canto masterpiece, Maria Stuarda. Donizetti seeks not accuracy in history and politics, but to explore the boundaries of affection and loyalty by imagining a tragic love-triangle involving Mary Stuart, Queen Elizabeth I, and Elizabeth’s favourite, the Earl of Leicester. Only one woman will survive. Keely and Pat co-host. Now you can feast on all three of Donizetti’s “Tudor Queen Operas” on Opera for Everyone: Anna Bolena, Episode 53; Maria Stuarda, Episode 54; Roberto Devereaux, Episode 44.
Donizetti dazzles in the Bel Canto masterpieces that comprise his Tudor Queen “trilogy.” In Anna Bolena, the first of these, Henry VIII has turned against his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and decided to make Anne’s lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, his next queen – in this take, for reasons of passion not dynastic politics. Opera For Everyone will soon be presenting the second Tudor Queen opera, Maria Stuarda, and you can find the third opera, Roberto Devereaux, as Episode 44. Enjoy these presentations of English “history” from an unabashedly Italian perspective. Keely and Pat co-host.
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