| 'Bandanna' | |
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| Music | Daron Hagen |
| Lyrics | Paul Muldoon |
| Book | William Shakespeare's Othello |
| Daron Hagen |
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Operas
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Bandanna is an English language opera in a prologue and two acts by Daron Hagen, first performed by the The University of Texas at Austin opera theater in Austin, February 25, 1999. The libretto is by Irish poet Paul Muldoon based on a treatment co-written with the composer. The story of the Venetian Moor is recast and updated to 1968 by combining elements of the original Venetian story, William Shakespeare's Othello, Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello, and new, original characters and situations. The opera's unifying concept is the idea of the borderlines between emotional, metaphysical and moral states. The commission itself is notable for two reasons: first, it stipulated that there be no strings in the pit, second, it was financed by a consortium of over one hundred college bands from across the United States, all members of the College Band Directors National Association.
Contents |
Synopsis [link]
Miguel Morales (Othello) is the police chief of a small town on the USA-Mexico border. His lieutenant Jake (Iago) is spiriting people across the border illegally; Kane (a Caucasian labor organizer from Chicago) is stirring up trouble. The action centers on the wedding of Jake and Emily (Emilia), the unfortunate planting of Mona's bandanna by Kane and Jake in Cassidy's (Cassio) pocket, and the subsequent murder of Mona by her husband.
Prologue [link]
The desert. Day of the Dead 1968. Illegal immigrants cross the border into the US, where they are met by Jake.
Act One [link]
The border town. Day of the Dead celebrations are in full swing. Mona and Emily talk about Emily's impending wedding, and how Morales won't forgive Mona's recent marital infidelity. Cassidy, Jake, and Kane are introduced: Jake fears Morales is on to his illegal activities; Cassidy seethes with racial hatred; Kane observes that much mischief can come of such a situation. A fistfight breaks out, is interrupted by the arrival of Morales, who has Cassidy arrested. The crowd disperses.
Later, Morales and his wife attempt a reconciliation; Jake expresses how much he hates living a double life, but that he feels morally bound to help the people he is bringing across the border. Kane convinces Jake that, by planting Mona's bandanna on Cassidy, they'll be able to drive Morales into destroying himself.
The next morning, Kane's labor rally is broken up by Morales and his men. Jake is exposed by one of the workers and realizes that he has no choice but to plant the bandanna. While Jake and Morales recall their service together in Vietnam, Jake pulls out the bandanna, which has the intended effect: Morales vows that, if what Jake is saying is true, he'll kill Mona.
Act Two [link]
A few days later, Jake and Emily's wedding is in full swing. Over the course of a handful of formal dance numbers, Jake and Kane arrange for Cassidy and Mona to end up dancing. Morales loses control, lunges at the couple. Mona flees.
The wedding guests having left, Kane finds himself alone with a young serving girl from the local cantina. He seduces her, but, at the last moment, decides that physical consummation is irrelevant. His work here is done. He leaves.
A few weeks later, Emily brings groceries to Mona who has been hiding out in a cheap hotel room. Morales has been stalking her. The two women discuss what to do next. Mona seems to realize that it is only a matter of time before her husband finds her and kills her. After Emily leaves, Mona says her prayers and drifts off to sleep.
Morales silently breaks into the room, strangles Mona with the bandanna, then shoots Jake as he responds to Mona's cry; realizing what he has done, Morales turns the pistol on himself. As the shot rings out, a chorus of 'Disappeared and Dispossessed' sings a requiem for Mona.
Roles [link]
| Role | Voice type | World Staged Premiere Cast 25 February 1999 |
Premiere Cast Recording 29 February 2000 |
European Concert Premiere 29 April 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conductor | Michael Haithcock | Daron Hagen | Mark Heron | |
| Director | Robert DeSimone | |||
| Miguel Morales | tenor | William Lewis | Mark Thomsen | Christopher Turner |
| James Kane | dramatic baritone | Paul Kreider | Paul Kreider | Alistair McCall |
| Jake Lopez | lyric baritone | Daniel Terrazas | James Demler | Thomas Eaglen |
| Mona Morales | soprano | Kerry French | Darynn Zimmer | Sara Lawson |
| Cassidy | bass baritone | Edward White, Jr. | Travis Lewis | David Butt-Philip |
| Emily Lopez | mezzo soprano | Diane Rae Schoff | Lesley DeGroot | Charlotte Stephenson |
| Leader of the Company | tenor | Keith Gipson | Alfonse Anderson | |
| Townspeople, Etc. | mixed chorus | UT-Austin Chorus | UNLV Opera Chorus | Manchester Chamber Choir |
| Orchestra | UT-Band | UNLV Wind Symphony | North Cheshire Wind Orchestra |
External links [link]
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https://wn.com/Bandanna_(opera)
Opera
Opera /ˈɒprə/ (Italian: [ˈɔːpera]; English plural: operas; Italian plural: opere [ˈɔːpere]) is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (libretto) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing: recitative, a speech-inflected style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 1800s has been led by a conductor.
Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. It started in Italy at the end of the 16th century (with Jacopo Peri's lost Dafne, produced in Florence in 1598) and soon spread through the rest of Europe: Schütz in Germany, Lully in France, and Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century. In the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe (except France), attracting foreign composers such as Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his "reform" operas in the 1760s. Today the most renowned figure of late 18th century opera is Mozart, who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas, especially The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze Di Figaro), Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte, as well as The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), a landmark in the German tradition.
Opera (song)
"Opera", written by Buğra Uğur and Aysel Gürel, was the song performed by Çetin Alp & The Short Waves that represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983.
The song was performed 6th on the night, following Italy's Riccardo Fogli with "Per Lucia" and preceding Spain's Remedios Amaya with "Quién maneja mi barca". The song received no points from the 19 other countries taking part, placing joint last of 20 together with Spain who also failed to score.
The song was succeeded as Turkish representative at the 1984 contest by Beş Yıl Önce, On Yıl Sonra with "Halay".
References
External links
Opera (Tosca album)
Opera is the debut studio album of Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber's electronic music project Tosca. It combines new material and previously released singles, including "Chocolate Elvis". "Irresistibly funky" (BBC), "the blues, and the thick sultry bass, makes it as sexy and melancholy as cigarette smoke after a one-night stand in a strange city" (Mixmag). It is "one of the few sure things in a modest genre" (Sasha Frere-Jones, LA Weekly).
Track list
All tracks written by Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber.
References
External links
http://www.toscamusic.com/discography/66-opera
