Opera and orchestra lovers gathered on Saturday, March 1st, in the auditorium of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Academy, at 5902 6th Avenue, for the Regina Opera Company’s performance of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s legendary opera, Pagliacci, and a live orchestra performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra. The Brooklyn-based opera company is in its 55th season.
The performance began with Sinfonia Concertante, an orchestra ensemble led by Veronica Carpenter and Joshua Hunton, who played the violin and viola, respectively, with Scott Jackson Wiley as the principal conductor.
“It feels absolutely wonderful,” Wiley said. “This piece is very famous. We do only standard repertoire here at Regina Opera, so all of the works that we do are famous. We are not famous, but we deserve to be famous. It’s just a great pleasure to work with such fine singers and such a fine, fine orchestra.”
After an intermission, Pagliacci followed, directed by Sabrina Palladino. Linda Cantoni provided the supertitles, lyrics that were translated from Italian to English and projected onto the screen above the stage.
Pagliacci is an Italian opera that has a prologue and two acts that follow the story of Canio (Paolo Buffagni), the boss and leading actor of a traveling acting company, who, upon discovering his wife, Nedda (Yeawon Jun), has been unfaithful, is consumed by murderous rage. Unfortunately, he is encouraged to act out his thoughts by the unscrupulous Tonio (Peter Hakjoon Kim).
It is a story of rage, deceit and betrayal.
“Everybody really worked hard, and it was a big collaboration with the principal singers and the chorus, the set design, the lighting, the orchestra, all of it,” Palladino said. “It was beautiful. As a stage director, you sit back and watch all of the work that everybody put in and when you see the performance like that, that is so alive and everybody’s really into what they’re doing, it’s wonderful.”
The standout performance was Jun’s, playing the role of a woman caught in her deception, unsure if she could get away with her life.
“It’s the first time for me to prepare and perform for a very small opera,” Jun said. “It’s totally different from what I’ve done. I learned a lot and it’s very expressive. I enjoyed every moment that I was involved with this opera and this role.”
These events are important, not only for the Regina Opera, as they continue to perform at their best, but also for the community who get to experience and love opera and orchestra.
“Everyone was magnificent; they played their heart out,” Francine Garber-Cohen, president of the Regina Opera, said. “I think that the orchestra loved to play these pieces and gave it their all. I think the audience was very responsive to the selections.”
If you missed the performance, the Regina Opera Company will be performing Pagliacci again on Saturday, March 8th, and Sunday, March 9th, at 3 p.m.
For more information on the Regina Opera Company, visit reginaopera.org or call (718) 259-2772.
