SUOR ANGELICA by Giacomo Puccini - a contemporary tragedy

Name: SUOR ANGELICA by Giacomo Puccini - a contemporary tragedy
Start: 2024-06-30T15:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-06-30T16:30:00-04:00
Location: St. Joseph University Parish

Schedule

Sun Jun 30 2024 at 03:00 pm to 04:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

St. Joseph University Parish | Buffalo, NY

Experience this stunning one-act opera by the great Giacomo Puccini, presented in a new way that transcends time and space. The show will feature beautiful singing from founding, returning, and new members of our opera collective, minimal staging that highlights the stunning sanctuary of St. Joseph University Parish, and multi-media elements that demonstrate how Suor Angelica's story is repeating itself in our world today.
The show runs about an hour in duration, with a reception to follow. The opera will be sung in the original Italian with English subtitles. Parking is available in the rear of the church and the entrance to the performance space is on the side of the building, off of the parking lot.
SYNOPSIS
Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica), is a very isolated nun living out her life in a convent. As the story unfolds, we discover that she was forced into the convent by her family after having a child out of wedlock. At the time of the opera, she has been in the convent for seven years, waiting all the while for some news of her child. When her cruel aunt finally comes to visit her (with selfish ulterior motives), it is revealed that the child that Angelica was forced to abandon has died in her absence. In her despair, Angelica chooses to take her own life.
Not only is this a moving piece of fiction, but it is a true work of “verismo” or "operatic realism" that unveils the gruesome truth of how society throughout the ages attempts to erase those it sees as unnecessary persons. Despite the opera's dark themes, its miraculous ending demonstrates the power of faith in redemptive love that can transcend humanity's punitive institutions.
OUR TEAM
Alex Huddleston - Stage Director
Ky VerHoef - Stage Manager/ Flautist
Na'Mia Kelly - Assistant Stage Manager
Jonathan Vogtle - Pianist
Jessie Downs - Sister Angelica / Artistic Director
Ola Rafalo - Angelica's Aunt, the Princess / Guest Artist
Julia Anne Cordani - Sister Genovieffa / Choral Director
Jamie Gangemi - The Monitor
Erin Alexander - The Mistress of the Novices
Laurie Pastena - The Abbess/ Second Lay Sister
Aleksandra Tirone - First Lay Sister/ Second Traveling Sister
Emily Yancey - First Traveling Sister
Maria Parker - Nursing Sister
Maria Jacobi - the Novice
Rosa Vu - Sister Dolcina
Sarah Arrowsmith - Sister Osmina