Strauss’s elegant romance brings the glamour and enchantment of 19th-century Vienna to a sumptuous production by legendary director Otto Schenk that ‘is as beautiful as one could hope.’ – The New York Times
JACKSON, Wyo. — The Grand Teton Music Festival presents Arabella, with music by Richard Strauss and libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, this Sunday, Feb. 1, at 3 p.m. at the Center for the Arts.
Strauss’s elegant romance brings the glamour and enchantment of 19th-century Vienna to a sumptuous production by legendary director Otto Schenk. Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen stars as the title heroine, a young noblewoman in search of love on her own terms. Radiant soprano Louise Alder is her sister, Zdenka, and bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny is the dashing count who sweeps Arabella off her feet.
The Grand Teton Music Festival presents this live cinema transmission as part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.
Arabella is set in Vienna around 1860. The historical moment that drives the plot is the situation of a fading landed gentry attempting to keep up appearances while somewhat adrift in the modern urban melting pot, according to the Met.
Strauss’s most exalted domains — his writing for the soprano voice and for the orchestra — are magnificently apparent throughout this score, with the title character’s introspective soliloquy in Act I being just one stunning example, per the Met. He also calls upon the orchestra to create unforgettable effects, nowhere more notable than in the touching final scene, in which the listener is transported into a musical experience of forgiveness, wisdom, and the burgeoning of true love.
Tickets are $25, or $5 for students/children.
Still to come this season:
- Massenet’s Cinderella: Sunday, March 15 at 3 p.m.
- Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin: Sunday, June 7 at 3 p.m.
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