On this episode of Opera Apéro, I talk to my friend Maxwell (he/him) about Leos Janacek's opera Jenůfa. It's the story of a young woman in a small town in love and pregnant by a man who can’t commit. As time progresses, they face the consequences of the decisions made to avoid community shame. We discuss parallels with other operas like Madama Butterfly and Pagliacci, how story meaning can change based on opera director’s artistic choices, and we mispronounce many Czech names. This is also the first episode where we play a drinking game along to the opera so tune in to hear how many times we need to take a shot. Play along if you’re feeling brave.

Let me know what you thought on social media: on Instagram @opera.apero and on Twitter @OperaApero.

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Chapters

Act 1 - 08:31

Act 2 - 21:42

Act 3 - 40:33

Discussion - 58:15

On this episode of Opera Apéro, I talk to my friend Caitlin (she/her) about Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci. It's the story of a clown burying his feelings under his makeup and costume leading to an explosive ending. We talk about all kinds of clownery: toxic masculinity, the American double sided friendliness/fakeness, and The Simpsons. Stick around at the end to hear more about what I've been up to during the show hiatus.

Let me know what you thought on social media: on Instagram @opera.apero and on Twitter @OperaApero. You can find show notes for this episode and more about the podcast on operaapero.com

If you like this show, please consider supporting me through Buy Me a Coffee.

Chapters

Prologue - 11:13

Act 1 - 12:00

Act 2 - 21:33

Discussion - 26:40

On this episode of Opera Apéro, I'm talking about my recent opera "binge" where I attended 4 live operas in one month. They were all different and special in their own way: attending a local opera house vs one while traveling; going on a swanky Saturday vs a weeknight; seeing operas I've never seen before vs those I seen many times over; going with opera newbies vs attending alone. Hear all about how my nights out validated my advice (sometimes) from the last episode on attending opera tips.

You can see photos from the opera and let me know what you thought on social media: on Instagram @opera.apero and on Twitter @OperaApero.

If you like this show, please consider supporting me through Buy Me a Coffee.