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Making Sense of Giuseppe Verdi

Photo: Jiyang Chen
Up to 80% of the proceeds from the event go to the performers.
Nov 2, 2022 - Nov 30, 2022
$50.00 - $125.00
This event is pay-as-you-wish: you can choose to pay any price within the given price range.
ExclusiveLive

Explore the life and work of Italy’s greatest opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi, in this real-time, interactive course. Your host, opera expert Fred Plotkin, will be joined by leading singers, conductors and directors who will offer precious insights garnered in performances and study of this incomparable musical dramatist.

Each class will be 90 minutes, beginning with an introduction from Fred Plotkin, who will then be joined in conversation with his guests. Afterwards, participants of the course will be able to ask questions and discuss in real time.

All sessions will be recorded and are available to participants for re-watching until Sun, Nov 1, 2037.

Composers
Giuseppe Verdi
Hosts
Fred Plotkin
Featuring
Thomas Hampson, 
soloist
Christian Van Horn, 
soloist
Nadine Sierra, 
soloist
Anita Rachvelishvili, 
soloist
Luca Salsi, 
soloist
Eleonora Buratto, 
soloist
Marco Armiliato, 
conductor
Gregory Kunde, 
soloist

About Fred Plotkin

Fred Plotkin is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading opera experts. Since April 2020, he has hosted Fred Plotkin on Fridays on IDAGIO in which he has in-depth conversations with the foremost figures in opera, music, theater, film, literature and visual arts. He has been the opera correspondent for WQXR, America’s oldest and largest classical music radio station, since 2011.

Fred is the author of Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera, the best-selling standard text in America for opera education. He has led a course at the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò of New York University since 2009 called Adventures in Italian Opera. He was the opera expert for New York Times Journeys and has worked at more than 40 opera companies, most notably Teatro alla Scala and the Metropolitan Opera. He has taught and spoken at many festivals, including Salzburg, Verbier, Bayreuth, Parma, Pesaro and Verona. He was opera consultant on the film Moonstruck and Ron Howard’s documentary about Luciano Pavarotti.

Additional Resources

Here is a list of the complete operas and the Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi, compiled by Fred Plotkin. You will also find the date of its premiere and the theatre where it took place. Fred has included one recommended recording that you can access on IDAGIO. There is no definitive recording and you should take the opportunity to explore other performances to understand the comprehensive greatness of Verdi’s genius.

Available until Sun, Nov 1, 2037

VERDI: THE FORMATION OF GENIUS

Learn about Verdi’s birth in a small farming community, his early influences, personal life and his youthful operas, including Nabucco, with a special focus on Ernani, Attila and Macbeth. Special guests for this episode include acclaimed baritones Thomas Hampson and Christian Van Horn.

Session duration: 120 minutes

VERDI: FAMIGLIA

Discover how Verdi explored the complicated family dynamics in his middle trilogy — Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata — that established him as the world’s leading opera composer and forever changed how the art form presented human relations on a family scale.

Special guests for this session include sopranos Nadine Sierra and Anita Rachvelishvili as well as Italian baritone Luca Salsi.

Session duration: 120 minutes

VERDI: POLITICA

Verdi was, arguably, the most politically-engaged composer of all, using his dramas to hold a mirror to the flaws and hypocrisy of government and others who wield power, including the church. While some of his early works promoted Italian unification, his more mature works, including Un Ballo in Maschera, Simon Boccanegra and Don Carlo, are sophisticated explorations of corruption and the limitations of power.

Fred will be joined in conversation by Metropolitan Opera soprano Eleonora Burrato and Italian opera conductor Marco Armiliato.

Session duration: 120 minutes

VERDI: LEGACY

More than 200 years after Verdi’s birth, the composer’s mature masterpieces Aïda, Messa da Requiem, Otello and Falstaff are still as popular as ever. Learn about the way Verdi changed opera and built what he called “my most beautiful work”, a retirement home in Milan for musicians that still welcomes residents 120 years after it opened.

Fred Plotkin will be joined in conversation by tenor Gregory Kunde.

Session duration: 120 minutes

LEGAL NOTE:

This content is provided by Fred Plotkin, Fred Plotkin, 66 West 94th Street, #17F, New York, NY 10025-7153, fplotkinpromo@gmail.com. By purchasing access to this content you will be entering into a direct agreement with the provider. IDAGIO is acting as an intermediary of the respective services only. For further information please see section 2 and 3 of our General Terms and Conditions (GTC) and section C 4 of our Privacy Policy.

After you have purchased access to the content, we will provide the above mentioned provider with your name and email address which have been stored with your user account for the purpose of processing of the agreement. The provider may use your email address to inform you about similar goods and services from time to time. You have the right to object to such use at any time e.g. by sending an email to the above email address of the provider, free of cost.

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