Hector Berlioz’s Beatrice + Benedict and Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana will be performed at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Steinmetz Hall on Friday & Sunday, April 25 & 27, 2025. Show times are at 7:30 p.m. & 2 p.m.
I went to a dress rehearsal to sketch. Lighting cues were still being refined, but the opera flowed flawlessly.
This is a double billing. Both stories unfold on a fateful Easter day in the same town square of the Sicilian town of Messina. Since I was sketching, I didn’t read many subtitles, but one caught my eye as a woman set an Easter curse on a lover who clearly had scorned her. I didn’t realize there was such a thing as an Easter curse.
In this scene Beatrice, sung by mezzo-soprano Raphaella Medina, has sworn off love and marriage. The other women can not understand her callous nature and they try and convince her of loves charm. Beatrice is not so easily swayed. Berlioz’s comedy, is based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. An arrogant and cavalier soldier named Benedict, sung by tenor Pedro Valdez has also made a pact to avoid marriage. Both were tricked into believing that the other has fallen for them and they battle wits and barbs before surrendering to love.