MUSIC

The Lone Star Lyric Theater Festival 2009 presents Women - A Celebration Of The Fair Sex.

The sublimely serious alternates with the ridiculously comic as Lone Star Lyric Theater presents four miniature operas exploring the complex facets and foibles of women, all in one fabulous show!

Sung in English.

Featuring:

Lady of Monte Carlo by Francis Poulenc This depiction of genteel tragedy is quintessentially Poulenc. An aging courtesan turns up on the Riviera in her tattered finery for one last fling before throwing herself into the sea. A defiant gesture from one no longer young or loved and taking the quickest way out of her now-dismal life. Beautiful music, strong emotions.

Maid to Mistress by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi A clever maidservant is determined her master will marry no-one but her. She devises an outlandish plot to make sure she gets her way! Originally an intermezzo paired with the composer's first opera, this delightful little gem achieved instant success when it premiered in 1733. It has been considered the archetypal opera buffa ever since.

The Women by Thomas Pasatieri A compelling, surrealistic study of the on-going tensions between a man, his wife and his mother as the two women vie for dominance. By setting the opera in “afterlife,” the composer-librettist stresses, with clarity and empathy, the unresolvable nature of their conflict.

Doctor Miracle by Georges Bizet Silvio is madly in love with Lauretta, but her father is dead set against the match. How to get around the old curmudgeon? By whipping up an omelette, of course! This hilarious farce by the creator of Carmen had them rolling in the aisles at the Théatre des Bouffes-Parisiens 150 years ago, and is every bit as much fun today.