Camerata Casting Call
Singers sought for October operas
Opera Camerata has announced a casting call in April for its double bill of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi to be performed in October 2016.
The amateur company is looking for all voices to join up, although it is particularly keen to hear from any tenors who would like to take part.
The production will take place from Wednesday 12 to Saturday 15 October 2016 at the Church Hill Theatre.
The auditions will take place on the weekend of April the 9th and 10th, running 2-6pm. They will be held in halls of St Ninian’s church, 144 St John’s Rd EH12 8AY, contact MD Alison Rushworth to book a slot.
Purcell based his first opera, Dido and Aeneas, on Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid. Composed at some point in the mid-1680s, it recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her.
Puccini composed the comedy Gianni Schicchi in 1917/18 as the third in a triptych of one-act operas. Based on a reference in Dante’s Inferno, it tells of the peasant Schicchi who helps the relatives of a rich Florentine change the dead man’s will when he has left everything to a monastery – but who then double crosses them.
Amateur company Opera Camerata stage one opera every year at the Church Hill Theatre. Their last production was The Tales of Hoffman in October 2015. Hugh Simpson’s review is here: ★★★☆☆ Enjoyable fantasy.
Listing
Audition for Dido and Aeneas and Gianni Schicchi
St Ninian’s Church, 144 St John’s Rd EH12 8AY
Saturday 9/Sunday 10 April 2016
2pm to 6pm.
Phone or email MD Alison Rushworth (0131 441 4894, alisonrushworth@btinternet.com) to book an audition slot.
The set audition pieces are to be found in the Novello vocal score for Dido and Aeneas and the Ricordi Vocal Score, translation by Anne and Herbert Grossmann, for Gianni Schicchi.
Details on on the facebook event page: www.facebook.com
Dido and Aeneas, and Gianni Schicchi
Church Hill Theatre, 33a Morningside Road, EH10 4DR
Wednesday 12 – Saturday 15 October 2016
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Opera Camerata website: http://www.operacamerata.org.uk/
Opera Camerata on Facebook: OperaCamerata
The set audition pieces are:
Dido pp 6-8 + lament
Aeneas pp 15-16, 52-53
Sorceress pp 27-28 + p 61
1st & 2nd witch pp 34-35 (sung together)
2nd woman pp 44-46
Belinda pp 55-56
Sailor pp 55-56Schicchi pp 90-96
Lauretta pp 71-72
Rinuccio pp 49-55
Relatives pp 28-32 (or any of the above pages)
For the lawyer, doctor, shoemaker, dyer – just express an interest
ENDS
