Last week, Mount Horeb’s longtime fire chief Charles Himsel passed away at the age of 67. The funeral for the beloved chief was held this morning, according to WKOW. Former Madison Opera General Director Ann Stanke reports the little known fact that Mr. Himsel also performed the role of Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Madison Opera in 1973. “He was an unschooled tenor with a beautiful voice and it was his first and probably only opera role. However, he acquitted himself admirably,” she wrote today in an e-mail.
UPDATE: The Wisconsin State Journal covered today’s funeral for “Fire truck Chuck” and mentions his performance with Madison Opera.
The Overture Center for the Arts–of which Madison Opera is a resident organization–has released a study conducted by AMS Planning and Research that demonstrates the center’s sizable financial impact on downtown Madison and Dane County.
Details of the study can be found on the Overture website and in today’s Wisconsin State Journal.
A few highlights:
Since opening, nearly 1.8 million people have attended more than 2,200 Overture events.
Since opening, more than 500,000 people have attended resident organization performances.
In 2008 alone, Overture audiences spent an additional $9.8 million related to their attendance, above and beyond the price of tickets, including meals and lodging downtown.
Also in 2008, Overture Center activity helped generate nearly $4.5 million in tax revenues for state and local governments.
As a resident organization, we take pride in the positive impact Overture has had on the Madison community and in the world-class performances this unique space has allowed us to produce.
Before we dive into The Flying Dutchman, here’s a look at what the critics are saying about our new production of The Turn of the Screw, which had a four performance run in The Playhouse this past weekend…
“Richly theatrical…Gorgeous set and lighting designs make the story come alive while grounding it in fantasy.” –The Capital Times
“It was brave and ambitious of the Madison Opera to choose Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw for its mid-season production…In all, an absorbing production of a thought-provoking opera.” –The Isthmus
“…the company knows how to mount a big production on a small stage…[they] pulled it off brilliantly…My advice if you don’t have tickets: Find a scalper.” –Channel 3000
“That intimacy [of the Playhouse] amplifies fine performances and it was a pleasure to watch the singers practice their craft so near. Anyone with a heart will thrill to soprano Caroline Worra…Her performance as the Governess is exhilarating.” –Dane101.com
“…ghostly projections on the gauze-like screens sometimes slowed down the action to an otherworldly effect. It was powerful and original use of visual imagery…” –The Well-Tempered Ear
Thank you to our incredible cast and creative team–audiences won’t soon forget this powerful production!
All photos by James Gill.
The Turn of the Screw is currently sold-out for this weekend, but we do still have seats available for tonight: go ahead and get your tickets now! The opera clocks in at 2 hours, so DVR “The Office” and come out for a night of music drama you won’t soon forget. To quote our director, “Let the haunting begin…”
Interested in reading more about our new production? Check out these previews:
We left off a month ago (sorry for the delay!) with Benjamin Britten as a young man at the Royal College of Music in London beginning to find his musical voice. In 1933, he composed the choral variations for unaccompanied voices A Boy was Born. When the work was broadcast by the BBC in February 1934, Britten immediately gained recognition as a composer of great promise. The same year, his Phantasy was chosen for performance at the International Society for Contemporary Music Festival in Florence. While away at the festival, Britten’s father passed away.
By this time Britten was already signed up as a composer for Boosey and Hawkes publishing house, and he soon also was employed by the General Post Office Film Unit. The GPO produced a series of documentaries that examined aspects of English life, particularly in the world of industry. It was here that Britten first collaborated with the poet W.H. Auden, who wrote the narrative for some of the films with Britten’s music. During this period, Britten also used a text by Auden for his symphonic song cycle Our Hunting Fathers, written for the Norwich Festival in 1936. A new play by Alan Bennett, titled “The Habit of Art,” examines the creative relationship between Britten and Auden (pictured left).
In 1937, Britten was devastated by the sudden death of his mother. Shortly after, a close friend of his, Peter Burra, was killed in a plane crash. However it was out of this latter tragedy that he came to know the young singer Peter Pears: they were both left to sort out Burra’s papers, and in turn became friends. This friendship would develop into a life-long personal and artistic partnership. Throughout the late 1930s, Britten was receiving commissions for film music from the BBC and for incidental music for the theatre.
Despite new fame in his native country, Britten was frustrated by the opportunities or lack thereof available in England and so in 1939, he and Peter Pears followed Auden and the playwright Christopher Isherwood to the United States. They gave concerts throughout the US and Canada, with the goal of ending up in Hollywood where they had a tentative film commission. However, they ended up on Long Island, and when war broke out in September 1939, despite their wanting to return home, they were encouraged to stay in the US in order to increase sympathy for Britain there. After the US entered the war, Britten and Pears tried to go home again but faced enormous difficulty getting visas.
Britten and Pears at Jones Beach on Long Island, NY
And so their little trip across the Atlantic would last three years, until 1942. While in America, Britten write his Violin Concerto, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and other instrument works including Young Apollo for piano, string quartet and string orchestra, Canadian Carnival and the Sinfonia da Requiem in memory of his parents. Most significantly, however, was another collaboration with Auden.
In 1940, Britten and Pears moved into a house in Brooklyn Heights with Auden and other artists, where they collaborated on the operetta Paul Bunyan, based on the classic American folk tale. It premiered at Columbia University and was well received, though both Britten and Auden would distance themselves from the work later. This was Britten’s first full music drama, though there would be many more to come as he matured into the mid-twentieth century’s most prolific and arguably most popular operatic composer.
Come back to the MadOpera Blog throughout the week as we examine Britten’s life and work in anticipation of The Turn of the Screw, which opens Thursday, and visit the wonderful Britten-Pears Foundation website for much more information on the composer.
Last week, Mount Horeb’s longtime fire chief Charles Himsel passed away at the age of 67. The funeral for the beloved chief was held this morning, according to WKOW. Former Madison Opera General Director Ann Stanke reports the little known fact that Mr. Himsel also performed the role of Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Madison Opera in 1973. “He was an unschooled tenor with a beautiful voice and it was his first and probably only opera role. However, he acquitted himself admirably,” she wrote today in an e-mail.
