Opera and Society

College of Fine Arts
Boston University
April 18-19, 2008
The Marshall Room

Program

Friday, April 18, 2008

• 9:00 - 9:30 registration
• 9:30 - 10:00 welcome
  • Walt C. Meissner, Dean, Ad Interim & Assoc Dean, College of Fine Arts, College of Fine Arts, Boston University
  • André de Quadros, Director, School of Music, College of Fine Arts, Boston University
• 10:00 - 12:00 session 1 - Early Opera
  • Cynthia Verba: "Rameau as 'Conservative Progressive': Cultural Expectations and Musical Tragedy in the French Enlightenment"
    • musical interlude: Lydia Brotherton and friends
      • Lydia Brotherton, soprano
      • Tatiana Daubek, violin
      • Leon Schelhase, harpsichord
      • Zoe Weiss, violoncello
  • Martin Pearlman: "Performing Baroque Opera Today: issues in Monteverdi and Handel"
• 12:00 - 1:30 lunch break
• 1:30 - 4:15 session 2 - Mozart, Paisiello and Beaumarchais
  • John Platoff: "Mozart writes a sequel: 'Figaro,' Paisiello's 'Il barbiere di Siviglia,' and Operatic Life in Vienna"
  • Sidney Friedman: "Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais: Playwright, Harpist and Clockmaker"
    • musical / dramatic interlude: Mark S. Cohen, faculty, Boston University School of Theater, James Demler and Allison Voth, faculty, Boston University School of Music
  • Deborah Burton: "In his shoes: The Marriage of Figaro and the Movies"
• 6:00 - 9:00 banquet at The Castle, 225 Bay State Road

Saturday, April 19, 2008

• 9:00 - 9:15 registration:
• 9:15 greeting: Victor Coelho, Associsate Provost, Undergraduate Education, College of Fine Arts, Boston University
• 9:30 - 12:15 session 3 - Rossini and his time
  • Patricia Brauner: "Fiasco! Fallacies, Facts, and the New Critical Edition of Il barbiere di Siviglia."
  • Helen Greenwald: "Rossini on the Road: Barbiere, Beethoven, Belloy, and Vienna"
    • musical interlude
  • Hilary Poriss: "The Myth of a Lost Original in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia"
• 12:15 - 1:45 lunch break
• 1:45 - 5:30 session 4 - Later Opera
  • John A. Davis: "Politics & Melodrama: Opera and the Italian Risorgimento"
  • Gottfried Wagner: "The Wagner Salvation, Inc. - from Richard Wagner to Hitler and New Bayreuth's Philosemitism"
    • musical interlude
  • Composer's round table: Sam Headrick, John Musto, Peter Westergaard, Scott Wheeler
• 5:30-6:30 reception
• 7:30 performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, BU Opera Institute at the BU Theater

This program made possible through a generous grant from The Humanities Foundation.