Oakland East Bay Symphony 'Passionate Celebration' with Otello (Act I) March 20, 2009

Oakland East Bay Symphony (OEBS) presents "Passionate Celebration," a concert showcasing renowned opera singers in Act I of Giuseppi Verdi's great tragic opera from 1887, "Otello," including tenor Richard Crawley as Otello and the renowned soprano Talise Trevigne as Desdemona, as well as the Oakland Symphony Chorus under the direction of Lynne Morrow. Also on the evening's program are "Sala: Symphonic Elegy for Orchestra," a 2007 Magnum Opus commission which premiered at Marin Symphony by Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, and Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 49, "La Passione" (1768).

The opening of Verdi's Otello is widely considered one of the most thrilling scenes for orchestra and chorus in all of opera, and the OEBS concert hall staging will lend a particular intensity and focus. William Shakespeare's original play telling the tumultuous love story of the white Desdemona and the Moor Othello was a point of much interest, and some controversy, hundreds of years ago. The OEBS concert staging, in a twist typical of the adventurous, out-of-the box programming for which the orchestra is known, features a Caucasian Otello and an African American Desdemona.

Singing the role of Desdemona is a rising star of opera, soprano Talise Trevigne, who has "a major league voice and a star quality to match" (San Francisco Classical Voice). Opposite Trevigne as Otello, the accomplished singing actor and orchestral soloist, tenor Richard Crawley opened the 2008 Athens Summer Music Festival in Greece, performing the role of Don Jose in Carmen opposite Denyce Graves.

Additional featured soloists in the OEBS performance of Otello include baritone Scott Bearden (Iago), First Prize winner in the 2008 Irene Dalis Vocal Competition presented by Opera San Jose; tenor AJ Glueckert (Cassio); baritone Zachary Gordin (Montano); and tenor Trey Costerisan (Rodrigo).

$20 to $65.

Official Website: http://www.oebs.org/page/mar.htm