Love, Fidelity & Temptation
An Opera Gala
We are delighted to present this Opera Gala, performing some of opera’s most beautiful music for Festival visitors.
Beatrice Floyer-Acland
Bronwen Stephens-Harding
Guy Murgatroyd
David Powton
Nick Dwyer
If you'd like to know more about the pieces, please click on the cards below for translations and information about the music.
First Half
Champagne Chorus
Champagne Chorus
At Prince Orlofsky’s New Year’s Eve ball, all everyone wants is champagne!
Habanera
L’amour est un oiseau rebelle
Love is a rebellious bird
Carmen teases, warns and beguiles with her statement of what love is… a rebellious, untameable bird.
La Fleur
La fleur
The flower
While he was in prison, José cherished the flower Carmen threw to him at their first encounter. He cannot free himself from his love for her.
Votre Toast
Votre Toast
To your health!
Escamillo, revelling in his celebrity and the thrill of the bullfight, toasts the soldiers in the tavern as fellow fighters…
Un bel di
Un bel dì
One fine day
Cio-Cio-San – Madam Butterfly – is certain Pinkerton will return to her one fine day.
Soave sia il vento
Soave sia il vento
Gentle be the breeze
Two sisters, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, are led to believe by Don Alfonso that their fiancés have been called up to fight. The trio pray that the wind will be gentle on their journey to battle.
La ci darem
La ci darem la mano
There I’ll give you my hand
Don Giovanni charms Zerlina with his seductive promises of a shared future.
Madamina
Madamina
Catalogue Aria
Leporello reveals to Donna Elvira the catalogue of Don Giovanni’s numerous conquests.
Second Half
Mir ist so wunderbar
Mir ist so wunderbar
I feel so wonderful
A beautiful quartet giving very different perspectives on the scene unfolding: joy, trepidation, hope, dejection.
Parigi o cara
Parigi o cara
We shall leave Paris
Alfredo and Violetta dream of a life together away from Paris, to restore Violetta to health.
Jewel Song
Ah, je ris de me voir
Jewel Song
Marguerite delights in an unexpected gift of beautiful jewels – left by Méphistophélès as he aids Faust in his seduction of this young girl.
Au fond du temple saint
Au fond du temple saint…
In the depths of the holy temple…
Envisioning their perfect women, two old friends weave a spellbinding ode to beauty and brotherhood.
Una voce poco fa
Una voce poco fa
The voice I just heard…
Rosina has found true love in the sound of Lindoro’s voice, and she is determined to make him hers.
Zitti, Zitti
Zitti, zitti
Softly, softly
Rosina, Count Almaviva and Figaro are in a flurry to escape detection as they plot to outwit Rosina’s guardian…
Ah! Je vais l’aimer
Ah! Je vais l’aimer
Ah! I will love her
Bénédict finally admits to himself that he does love Béatrice.
Song to the Moon
Song to the Moon
Rusalka, a water nymph, has fallen in love with a prince. She asks the moon, which shines everywhere, to tell him of her love.
O du mein holder Abendstern
O! du mein holder Abendstern
O you, my lovely evening star
Wolfram, in love with Elisabeth, asks the evening star to guide her soul to paradise.
