Mark Allan
Special to the Record
The Strathcona Symphony Orchestra will do something during its two season-opening December concerts that it has never done in its 18-year history: opera.
Music director Helena Jung decided to feature some of the most popular opera composers of all time as well as showcase some local singing talent during A Night at the Opera.
Vancouver Island residents Jennifer Rasor (soprano), Shante Van Horlick (mezzo-soprano) and Michael MacKinnon (bass-baritone) will perform pieces from The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così Fan Tutte (Mozart), Carmen (Bizet) and The Barber of Seville (Rossini).
The soloists have performed on Canadian, American and European stages.
Rasor is known for her beautiful voice and for her acting abilities. One reviewer praised her for her excellent comedic timing.
Although Jung has performed all of these opera arias as a cellist, she has never done so as a conductor.
While playing classical music is enough of a challenge, opera increases the complexity by adding singing, acting, dancing and costuming.
While Jung describes it in an interview as “one of the most complex art forms,” she and the SSO will make it more manageable by not creating full-blown opera conditions for the hand-picked arias.
“I picked the most well-known and beloved ones,” she explains.
The SSO is a community orchestra with members of all ages and skill levels drawn from the Comox Valley and Campbell River.
Even without the trappings of a full opera, A Night at the Opera will be more demanding for SSO’s amateur players than usual, Jung agrees.
“We need to understand what kind of piece, what kind of scene to know the whole story of the opera, then we can play those themes. This is why I asked all my members, ‘Please watch the whole opera.’ ”
She’s confident her amateur musicians will rise to the occasion. “They love a challenge.”
If the audience demands an encore, the orchestra will present special selections reflecting additional opera and symphonic music highlights.
The Dec. 10 performance begins at 7 p.m. and at 2 p.m. the next day. Both concerts are at the Native Sons Hall in Courtenay.
Tickets are available at https://strathcona-symphony-orchestra.tickit.ca.