il trovatore

Il trovatore

October 14, 2011 8:00 p.m.
October 16, 2011 2:30 p.m.

Opera Insights pre-curtain talk: one hour prior
Shaftman Performance Hall - Jefferson Center

Leonora: Hope Briggs website
Azucena: Jennifer Roderer website
Manrico: Scott Piper website
Conte di Luna: Gary Simpson website
Ferrando: Keith Read

Absent from the Opera Roanoke repertoire for 30 years, Verdi's Il Trovatore returns in a new production designed especially for Shaftman Performance Hall in the Jefferson Center. An outstanding cast of acclaimed Verdi singers joins the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Roanoke Chorus and Young Apprentice Artists for one of romantic opera's greatest hits. Full of rousing choruses, breath-taking arias and fiery ensembles, Il Trovatore is one of the most thrilling shows of the operatic stage.

Opera Roanoke favorite Scott Piper (Rigoletto, '04) headlines the cast and makes his role debut as the Troubadour title character. One of the great mezzo-soprano roles in all of opera is the gypsy woman, Azucena. Another local favorite, Jennifer Roderer (Falstaff, '08) returns to make her role debut as the gypsy. Internationally acclaimed baritone Gary Simpson returns home to his local roots to sing the imposing role of the villainous Count. Appearing in Roanoke for the first time is soprano Hope Briggs, whose San Francisco Opera debut was described as "nothing short of sensational." Another notable Opera Roanoke debut in this production features Roanoke newcomer Keith Read, who sings the bass role of Ferrando, the Captain of the Count's guard.

HEAR

the action-packed drama of one of opera's greatest stories!

SEE

Verdi's beloved music come to life before you with a quartet featuring the finest young Verdian singers in the country and the world-class musicians of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.

BELIEVE

fully-staged opera is back, with a vengeance! Mistaken identities & brothers on opposite sides of a civil war, in love with the same heroine, in a plot driven by the fury of a gypsy mother wronged!