December 4-10, 2003
artpicks
"Separate Tables"
opera
Opera should be "entertaining at all costs," says Chas Rader-Shieber. A truth said in jest, if ever there was one. When the director teamed up with Curtis opera boss Mikael Eliasen a few seasons ago for "Scenes of Love and Hate," there was entertainment aplenty, if occasionally of a quirky nature. That team is back with another operatic omnibus called "Separate Tables," a string of dramatic scenes from different operas, though hardly a greatest-hits parade.
Eliasen and Rader-Shieber have actually reshaped the bits into a continuous narrative. "It will be silly and sweet," says the director, "involving a bunch of disparate and dysfunctional people having dinner in a cheesy Italian restaurant." There will be familiar music by Mozart, Verdi and Bernstein, as well as a few surprises from more obscure sources. Donald St. Pierre will lead the music from the piano, and the Curtis singers will get a foreign-language workout as they jump from Italian to French to English and back again.
"Separate Tables," Thu.-Sat., Dec. 4-6, 8 p.m. and Sun., Dec. 7, 2:30 p.m., $30, Opera Studio, Curtis Institute of Music, 1726 Locust St., 215-893-7902.
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