Opera NEO, a San Diego program for young opera singers, will perform three operas as a part of its annual summer festival. The program\u2019s first opera, “La Cenerentola,” strips the classic fairytale of its magical element and critiques socio-political classes.<\/p>\n
“Cinderella falls for the prince when he\u2019s dressed as the valet, and he falls for her when she\u2019s dressed as herself \u2014 not when she\u2019s in her beautiful ball gown,” says “La Cenerentola” director, Ophelie Wolf. “There\u2019s this whole critique of social classes, and so the question is what you do with that today and keep that really important.”<\/p>\n
Opera NEO\u2019s interpretation of the Cinderella story, like all of NEO\u2019s performances, will be performed in contemporary dress rather than period dress. Opera NEO, meaning “new opera,” modernizes its operas to appeal to younger audiences. This season, NEO will also produce a modern take on Cavalli\u2019s “La Calisto” and Tchaikovsky\u2019s “Eugene Onegin.”<\/p>\n
In addition to making this art form appealing to a larger audience, Opera NEO also serves as an excellent opportunity for young, talented artists all over the world.<\/p>\n
South African baritone Langelihle Mngxati plays Greek god Giove in “La Calisto.” Not only does Mngxati star in one of the festival\u2019s operas, he also won the Nathan Ward Memorial Award in NEO\u2019s first vocal competition earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mngxati grew up in the ghettos of post-apartheid South Africa, and he attributes music to saving his life. “Music came into my life when it was on a verge of taking a wrong turn. When I started singing in choir, I felt better about myself as a person. I was willing to let go of the anger I held onto from my past; and for the first time, I felt that I mattered as a person.”<\/p>\n
This is Mngxati\u2019s first time singing with NEO. “I’ve enjoyed the support and the sense of family here at NEO. It’s an intense program, but it doesn’t sit heavily because the environment is so supportive.”<\/p>\n
Soprano Rachel Blaustein agrees with her colleague, “There\u2019s so much support at NEO, and that\u2019s something I value. Everybody is so talented and friendly.”<\/p>\n
Blaustein sings the role of Tatyana in “Eugene Onegin,” and also marks her first time singing with the company. She has performed small and supporting roles with multiple young artist programs domestically and internationally, but she appreciates NEO for trusting her with a role that demands such emotional weight and vocal endurance as Tatyana.<\/p>\n
“Opera NEO has helped me grow as an artist and musician. I\u2019ll always remember NEO as the first company that gave me my first shot at a leading role. This experience has been life-changing for me.”<\/p>\n
See the culmination of Wolf\u2019s, Mngxati\u2019s, Blaustein\u2019s, and other artists\u2019 work starting with the opening of “La Cenerentola” on Friday, Aug. 2. “La Calisto” and “Eugene Onegin” open the following weekend. All performances will be held at the Four Flowers Theatre at La Jolla Country Day, 9500 Genesee Ave. For more information, visit operaneo.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Opera NEO, a San Diego program for young opera singers, will perform three operas as a part of its annual summer festival. The program\u2019s first opera, “La Cenerentola,” strips the classic fairytale of its magical element and critiques socio-political classes. “Cinderella falls for the prince when he\u2019s dressed as the valet, and he falls for […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":270786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Opera NEO to perform three main-stage operas within its summer festival","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}