Norm Hollingshead will give a free preview of Seattle Opera’s upcoming production of one of the most popular operas ever written – Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ – at the Burien Library Multipurpose Room from 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. this Wednesday, Sept. 21st.

“Bizet’s sexy thriller about a soldier’s ill-fated obsession with the ultimate femme fatale is arguably the world’s most popular opera,” reads the Seattle Opera website. “Featuring truly brilliant orchestration, an unrivaled procession of hit tunes, and a stage full of gypsies, smugglers, factory girls, and ‘tor-ee-a-dors, Carmen packs all the sizzle of Spanish culture into an irresistible theatrical event.”

Here’s more about Hollingshead from his website:

Norm Hollingshead gives more than 100 opera-related lectures each season.  Many of these lectures are “Opera Previews” related to upcoming Seattle Opera productions. Norm retired in June of 2007 after 35 years as a middle-school teacher in the Seattle Public Schools.  Opera is his hobby and he was lucky enough to have been invited to give an “opera preview” lecture for the Seattle Opera Guild in May of 1976 and he has been giving “opera previews” and other “opera-related lectures” ever since.  In the new millennium Norm was averaging 90 to 100 lectures a year but since 2008 the number of lectures has increased to more almost 180 in 2011 (including 70 or so in middle school classrooms).

Here’s more on ‘Carmen’ from the KCLS website:

Ever since its’ premiere in 1875, Carmen’s glorious melodies have conjured up images of a fantasy Spain for generations of opera-lovers. Yet many Carmen-lovers forget that this opera is really a tale of sexual obsession and murder. It doesn’t seem possible that an opera that begins with such dazzling crowd scenes outside a picturesque tobacco factory could end with a fatal encounter between two star-crossed lovers, alone on a side-street outside the bull-ring. Such is the amazing power of Bizet’s music that the opera’s tragic ending makes perfect dramatic sense.

Seattle Opera’s production of Carmen opens on October 15.

These Carmen previews will be presented by local opera expert, Norm Hollingshead, who will illustrate his commentary with recorded musical excerpts.

VIDEO:
Here’s a scene of singer Julia Migenes doing the song ‘Habanera’ from ‘Carmen’ in a film (this is NOT from the Seattle Opera production):

Click here to view the embedded video.

‘Carmen’ will run from Oct. 15th – Oct. 29th at the Seattle Opera. More info here.

The performance, called Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas will include opera singers and percussionists performing original work by Seattle Composer Byron Au Yong at Seahurst Park, Eagle Landing Park, Des Moines Marina, Des Moines Beach Park, and Salmon Creek Ravine.

Performers will be David Stutz and Stuart McLeod, and it’s basically an on-location opera performed at/near the water.

UPDATE: We now have a schedule, thanks to Mike Min:

• 10:30am: Salmon Creek Ravine
• 11:30am: Seahurst Park
• 12:30pm: Eagle Landing Park
• 1:30pm: Des Moines Marina (Farmer’s Market)
• 2:30pm: Marine View Park
• 3:30pm: Des Moines Beach Park

From their press release:

By taking opera out of the opera house, the Bottled Operas connect the power and beauty of traditional operatic voices with a musical experience intimately connected to nature. The site-specific performances allow Au Yong to take his music directly to places where people interact with many forms of water, creating opportunities for audience members from all walks of life to experience heightened awareness, understanding, and awe of the powerful forces of nature and humanity in a natural environment.

Percussionists play the water found at these locations with instruments that include wood, stone, bamboo, bone, rope, hide, plants, and metal. Libretti are written by eight writers from diverse cultural and artistic traditions not often represented in opera; the 64 Bottled Operas will be anything but a traditional operatic experience.

Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas will be performed by opera singer/water percussionist duos in rivers, lakes, fountains, ravines, and other waterways as part of 4Culture’s Site-Specific Performance Network on August 4, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 26, and 28.

4Culture Site-Specific Performances are FREE to the public.

Byron Au Yong creates ceremonial musical events for voices with Asian, European and hand-made instruments. His works have been performed in Canada, China, England, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. Local projects include Piao Zhu: Flying Bamboo created for the Seattle Asian Art Museum and YIJU: Songs of Dislocation presented at the Jack Straw New Media Gallery. Au Yong was the only American selected for the Jerwood Opera Writing Programme where his mini-opera The River Museum was performed at Aldeburgh Music.

Performance Schedule available online at hearbyron.com and sitespecificarts.org.

NOTE: If you miss this on-location local performance, you can still see Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas at Bumbershoot in two weeks (full details here).

Here’s a musical taste of some of Au Yong’s work:

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