Music
Since Mary's whole family are musicians, it's in our blood. (Dave did play tuba in high school and marched with a Sousaphone.) Though the boys like Metalica (arrrgh), the folks prefer classical music, especially Opera. We are big supporters of Springfield Regional Opera (SRO) now SRO Lyric Theater. Dave is a Past-President of the SRO Board and Mary is a Board Member and a Past-President of the SRO Guild.
We have a good selection of classical music on CD and Dave prides himslf on the Home Theater setup which includes a Denon 3312 receiver, a Polk CSi20 center channel, two Altec Lansing Barcelona (Voice of the Theater) speakers up front - they have 18" woofers (no amplified bass-box here), Yamaha NS-10T's on the side, and smaller Yamahas at the rear! Classical wise, Dave really likes chamber music especially string quartets. Listen to some of the op 59 Beethoven quartets - you'll apreciate them more every time you listen.
Of course, to appreciate Home Theater you need a medium like Opera. (I do like shoot-em up's too...) Dave's favorite operas are Tosca and Turandot (Giacomo Pucccini), and Der Ring des Nibelungs (the Ring of the Nibelungs, by Wagner). For a light opera, Die Fledermaus (The Bat, by Johann Strauss) is the best! In the Summer of 2010, Dave and Mary went to Wagner's theater in Bayreuth to see the entire Ring! See our full report on the Travel Pages.
We urge you to support the arts (especially opera) wherever you live. If you live in the Springfield area, you'll enjoy local productions and invited companies. There's more to the Ozarks than Opry!
Dave's Debut
| Here I am as Roland, The Sketch Artist in Act 2 SRO's 2011 Production of Puccini's La Boheme. March 18, 2011. |  |
...next it’s as a soldier in SRO Lyric Theater's production of Carmen (March 2012)
Dave's Favorites (all hyperlinks below are YouTube videos).
Opera Overtures
Verdi seems to get right for me, but there's no better opening of an Opera than Bizet's Carmen. My favorite rendition online is James Levine Met here. Other favorites are La Forza del Destino here, I Vespri Siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers) here.
Opera Finales
Dave really likes dramatic, action packed opera. Here are his favorite endings:
Tosca (Puccini): (after all, it is the best)
Act 1 Scarpia's Te Deum,
Act 2 Tosca kills Scarpia - The Maria Callas/Tito Gobbi Act 2 finale is fantastic - see it here,
Act 3 Tosca jumps to her death - Kiri Te Kanawa really does it best here.
Il Tabarro (Puccini) - go see the superb Domingo/Pons/Stratus performance here (It's the entire opera....) - Stratas' blood-curdling scream at the end is awesome.
Das Rheingold (Wagner) Act 1 - the entrance to Valhalla (over the dooming foretelling of the Rheinmaidens)
Siegfried (Wagner):
Act 1 as Siegfried forges the sword Notung and splits the anvil;
Act 2 where he learns of Brűnhilde from the forest bird after having slain the dragon Fafner
Die Valkűre - Act 3 - incredibly touching scene where Wotan puts his daughter Brűnhilde to semi-permanent sleep and surrounds her with the magic fire - Enjoy the whole Ring on the Metropolitan Opera DVD. It's a great production (trust me, I've seen the Ring in Bayreuth too).
Tenor/Baritone Duets
Au Fond du Temple Saint - Bizets' Les Pêcheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers) - A favorite rendition (with the english subtitles) here.
Invano, Alvaro - Verdi's La Forza del Destino - Fantastic live performance by Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill here.
No matter where you live, please support the arts. After all, what's left after we're all gone?
Please do visit the SRO Web Site. (Dave was also the Webmaster.)
SRO changed it's logo away from the classic Wagerian soprano above - not classy, but I liked it!