Shepherd School to perform Mozart opera

Shepherd School to perform Mozart opera

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

The Shepherd School of Music continues its celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth by presenting his comic opera “La Finta Giardiniera” — “The Pretend Gardener” — Nov. 8, 9, 11 and 12 as part of the Leon Wilson Clark Opera Series.

An exuberant exploration of the excesses of love, the opera was composed by Mozart when he was only 18 years old. First performed in 1775, “La Finta Giardiniera” demonstrates the development of Mozart’s unique style.

His mastery of the operatic traditions of his time and the originality that he displays even in this early work make this opera a fascinating, energetic composition with great emotional range.

Mozart delves into the madness caused by passion, and this tangled web of romantic intrigue involves unlikely coincidences, plot complications, disguises and mistaken identities: Nardo is in love with Serpetta, who is in love with Podesta, who is in love with Sandrina, who is in love with Belfiore, who is in love with Arminda, who used to be in love with Ramiro, and so on. The question is, Who ends up with whom?

Many consider this to be the most underappreciated of Mozart’s operas. It had only three performances initially. At some point, Act I of the original opera was lost, and for almost 200 years, the only complete version of the opera that existed was a German translation. It wasn’t until a copy of the missing
Act I was discovered in the 1970s that the original could be performed.

This production will be sung in the original Italian with English surtitles and conducted by Richard Bado, director of the Opera Studies Program, and directed by Debra Dickinson, artistic teacher of opera studies.

The first three performances begin at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday’s performance begins at 2:30 p.m. Admission is $10, $8 for students and senior citizens. For tickets, call 713-348-8000.