Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 2, 2007|Volume 36, Number 9

Members of Yale Baroque Opera Project, featuring undergraduate musicians from a variety of campus groups, rehearse a scene for their upcoming performance.

New Yale opera group will debut with a performance of 17th-century music

The newly established Yale Baroque Opera Project will present its first production, “Ardo, Ardo: Monteverdi in Motion,” on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 10 and 11, at 4 p.m. in Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St.

“Ardo, Ardo” (“I burn, I burn” — words that recur throughout the text of the librettos) is a theatrical entertainment created from a series of madrigals and other dramatic works by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643).

“Monteverdi was both the last great madrigalist and the first great opera composer,” says Ellen Rosand, the George A. Saden Professor of Music. “Famously dubbed by one recent historian as ‘the creator of modern music,’ he was especially renowned in his own time for his powerful sense of drama and his profound understanding of human passions, both qualities that speak eloquently to audiences today.”

Conceived by Richard Lalli, musical director of the Yale Baroque Opera Project and professor of music, “Ardo, Ardo” aims to combine the theatrical impact of an opera with the lyrical flow of a dance concert. Yale College senior Ethan Heard directs the performance. Choreographers include Lalli, Heard and undergraduates from Yaledancers.

More than 35 costumed singers and dancers will be joined by an early music ensemble playing on strings, theorbo, lute, harp and harpsichord. Performers come from a variety of campus groups, including the Yale Schola Cantorum, directed by Simon Carrington, and the Yale Voxtet, directed by James Taylor, both supported by the Institute of Sacred Music; and the Yale Collegium Players, directed by Robert Mealy, as well as other undergraduate singers and dancers.

Performances are free, and the public is welcome. Reservations and tickets are not required; doors will open 30 minutes before each performance.

The Yale Baroque Opera Project was established this September to introduce Yale College students to the aesthetic, stylistic and performance aspects of 17th-century Italian opera. During each semester for the next three years, the project will present a performance of music from this period featuring undergraduate musicians. For more information, contact ybop@yale.edu.

The Yale Baroque Opera Project is funded through a Distinguished Achievement Award given to Rosand by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Rosand’s definitive work, “Opera in 17th-Century Venice: The Creation of a Genre,” has just been released in paperback. Her newest book, “Monteverdi’s Last Operas,” will be published later this year.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Alumnus makes major gift to new cancer care facility

New Yale ALERT system to allow instant communications . . .

Microsoft-Yale project will provide worldwide access to . . .

NIH honors chemist for innovative work on antibodies

NIH-funded study to explore how damaged cancer cells mend

Study: New brain cells listen before they talk

Study shows tiny RNAs play big role in controlling genes

Yale geologist honored for research on climate variations

New Yale opera group will debut with a performance of . . .

Yale singing groups come together for a concert to benefit United Way

‘The Future of Energy’ conference to assess issues of next 25 years

Ten Yale scientists are honored with election as fellows of the AAAS

Funding cuts have created a ‘crisis’ in the battle against cancer, says panel

OCR chief testifies before Congress

Memorial service for Kitty Lustman-Findling to be held on Nov. 10

Frederick Douglass Prize awarded for book exploring . . .

Autumn’s paintbrush

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes