A Wagner and Verdi Bicentennial: Parallel Lives in the World of Opera
The Prystowsky Family Seminar
November 30-December 1, 2012
In Conjunction with the North Carolina Opera and the Governors Club Opera Guild
Opera can touch the soul as few arts can. It brings together the visual, dramatic, and intellectual excitement of the theater with the best musical possibilities of the orchestra and magnificent voice. Two great masters of the genre, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, were born in the same year (1813) and brought the craft to its highest expression in the nineteenth century. The two never met. This seminar brings them together on the eve of their 200th anniversary to examine their works and legacy.
John Nádas reviews Verdi’s life and art, contextualizing his work as a response to the Risorgimento and Italian Romanticism, and explains his musical evolution. Tim Carter offers a critical reexamination of Verdi’s most famous opera, Aida. North Carolina Opera’s General Director, Eric Mitchko, discusses performance challenges of Wagner operas, and reviews efforts to meet them. Annegret Fauser follows with a discussion of Wagner’s Valkyrie from its origins to its reception and legacy. Live arias will animate the discussion and our panel of experts will explore commonalities and differences between the two composers to end the seminar.
Topics and Speakers
Verdi’s World
John Nádas, Gerhard L. Weinberg Distinguished Professor of Music
Rethinking Aida
Tim Carter, David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music
Wagner in Performance: Challenges and Rewards
Eric Mitchko, General Director, North Carolina Opera
Die Walküre
Annegret Fauser, Professor of Music and Adjunct Professor of Women’s Studies
Parallel Lives, Divergent Legacies
A panel discussion with our speakers
Time and Cost
4:30 p.m. Friday, November 30, through 1:00 p.m. Saturday, December 1, 2012. The tuition is $125 ($110 by September 13). Tuition for teachers is $62.50 ($55 by September 13). 10 contact hours for 1 unit of renewal credit. The optional dinner on Friday evening is $20.00. If you would like to register and are a member of the Governors Club Opera Guild, please call to take advantage of the special discount offered to members.
For information about lodging click here.
Co-Sponsored by the General Alumni Association.
For information about GAA discounts and other scholarships available to Humanities Program participants, click here.