The U.S. Tour of Le Opera
Noli Me Tangere
U.S. Tour of Le Opera
NOLI ME TANGERE
Boston, Mass
MAFFAA/KGB Productions in cooperation with The Leadership Education and Transformation Foundation is thrilled to partner with Opera Brittenica to bring Le Opera Noli Me Tangere to Boston.
When:
| Friday, June 16 at 7 PM
Saturday, June 17 at 7 PM Sunday, June 18 at 3 PM |
 |
Where:
STRAND THEATER
543 Columbia Road
Boston, MA United States
From Maria Pietra Santa
Director, DaCorneto Opera (Chicago IL)
Tackling Felip de Leon’s Noli Me Tangere is a daunting task… We definitely feel the enormous weight of responsibility to both Rizal & composer Felipe de Leon
…(and) we are especially proud of our very diverse cast of many colors, comprised of singers and musicians from countries including the USA, The Philippines, Canada, Bulgaria, Greece, Brazil and Mexico…
We Think it would give Jose Rizal (& Felipe de Leon) great satisfaction to see their work performed by a group of diverse individuals gathered together toward a common goal, in this case, the musical representation of his great work and the message that a brighter future is possible for all with an open educated mind
CRITIC’S REVIEWS
From a Florentine Opera Critic…
I really did enjoy hearing and seeing the work. It is a “national” opera and as such I am not sure that there is a big audience outside of the home country (in this case the Philippines) for these works. I am starved to hear new and different works and so I will never dismiss a national opera of a rarely performed opera like Noli Me Tangere
The singers were quite good. Of course there was variability, but the principals sang well. The Production was simple and clean and for the most part direction made sense.
There is a tour de force scene where the woman driven crazy has her mad scene. If we ere at a party and you played this music for me, I would have guessed Donizetti had written another mad scene besides Lucia.
But this opera was written in 1957 and that was the same year that Poulenc premiered Dialogues of the Carmelites. In this case, the composer Felipe Padilla de Leon has written music that sounds as though it was written in 1835.
In the composers defense, perhaps his musical training was caught in an island culture, and his conservatory training did not expose him to the waves of change of the early 20th century. But all in all, once something has been written (and written well by the composers of the bel canto) I think it is good to see an evolution and new sounds from a contemporary composer. I will say that there were lots of verismo moments in the opera too.
So I had a very good evening enjoying an extremely rare opera. The production put its best foot forward and the efforts and talents did all credit
By Rick Boyum
Opera Critic
From the Theater of One World
a media project in pursuit of cultural diplomacy & international understanding
Talk about transnational. And diversity. An opera with a Latin title that talks in Tagalog. But is sung in a U.S. production by non-Tagalog singers. A Filipino opera written by a prolific composer who advocated for a nation’s ideals through his music creations: Felipe de Leon. A classical opera version of a historical novel by Jose Rizal tracking the twilight of Spanish Colonization in the Philippines. A novel that rocked that country into political consciousness in the late 19th century. A country whose classical opera tradition borrowed greatly from the introduction of European opera.
If Felipe de Leon were alive today, it would most surely please him to see non-Filipinos attempting to convey and sing one of his most treasured creations. A prolific writer and music education, De Leon cared very much for Filipino folk music and cultural traditions
Randy Gener
Award winning international journalist and a champion for cultural exchange
Opera At The Crossroads 