The First Coast Opera (FCO) is presenting “Opera’s Most Haunting Melodies” Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Mark Lance Armory in St. Augustine and Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.
The concert will feature ghostly encounters and tunes from gypsies, phantoms, "mad" scenes and a séance. According to FCO Artistic Director Curtis Tucker, the program is intended to inspire and uplift rather than frighten.
“Many of classical music’s most memorable melodies come from opera, especially in ensembles for two, three, four or more singers,” Tucker said. “We’re going to highlight many of them in this program, and those melodies, or ‘earworms,’ just may haunt audience members until Halloween."
The program will include excerpts from Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor, Faust, Tosca, Menotti’s the Medium, Gilbert and Sullivan and others. Headlining the cast will be soprano Kirsten Chambers, who made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the last year; Clearwater tenor Samuel Hall and New York-based baritone Ron Loyd. Joining them will be soprano Brittany Fouché from Jacksonville, mezzo sopranos Janet Rabe-Meyer from Ormond Beach and Sarah Nordin from Tampa and baritone Dirk Gavin McCoy from St. Augustine. New York-based music director Keith Chambers, who conducted last season’s Madama Butterfly, will play piano.
Attendees are invited to attend in costume. Tickets cost $35 for both shows and are available at www.firstcoastopera.com.
