The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Michael Slon And Bridgid Eversole Joined Alex Urpí & Michael Urpí On "Today y Mañana!"

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

Michael Slon of The Oratorio Society of Virginia and Bridgid Eversole of Charlottesville Opera joined Alex Urpí & Michael Urpí On “Today y Mañana!” “Today y Mañana” airs every Thursday at 10:15 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Today y Mañana” is presented by Emergent Financial Services, LLC, Craddock Insurance Services Inc and Matthias John Realty, with Forward Adelante.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Today y Mañana. I'm Alex. This is Michael. We're very excited to have you join us on a beautiful morning here in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is certainly sunny. It is certainly warm. It has certainly been warm. It has been warm. It has been mildly humid.

So you should get into a nice, cool place. Get your café con leche or your iced café con leche and watch some Today y Mañana, because we are going to be joined shortly in the show by two fantastic guests that we are welcoming back. We're going to be joined shortly by Michael Slon, the conductor, well, conductor for the Oratorio Society of Virginia, and Bridget Eversol, education coordinator for Charlottesville Opera. We're going to be talking the festival this weekend,

an amazing event happening this Saturday, so in two days. That is free for all. So you are going to be learning about that and all the amazing partners involved with that. So we're looking forward to that. As always, love being here on the Isle of Seville Network set. Thank you to our presenter, Emergent Financial Services, and our amazing partners at Matias Yon Realty, Charlottesville Opera Credit Series Insurance Forward Adelante. And, Michael, I'm glad to be on with you. I'm happy to be here, Alex.

I've heard it's been a couple, what is it, a couple weeks? A couple weeks, a couple weeks. In fact, last time you and I were on, we were talking Music Man. That's right. And you had the chance to see Music Man. I did, I did. I was able to go. So after, so I think Nick and his wife, Elizabeth,

who I think always is a great watcher of the show, the amazing Elizabeth Erby. Is she watching today? She is watching, and so is my amazing doctor, Elizabeth Erby, watching the show this morning. I was about to say, do we have to send that text? Why aren't you watching the show? Oh, and we have a couple other people tuning in this morning.

Salvador Raona, muchisimas gracias, amigo del programa, watching the show this morning. Monica Miller from Montana joining us this morning uh salvador raona muchisimas gracias amigo del programa watching the show this morning monica miller from montana joining us this morning nicholas erpy would never miss a uh watching something to do with music so he is watching this morning and joanne blakemore thank you for tuning in this morning so we got some fantastic people already tuning in to the show and yep i had the uh pleasure so nick and his wife were already going to the music man and then right after that segment that you and I had done a few weeks ago, my wife texted me. She's like, can we go? And I'm like, I was already planning on asking

you if we could go. But I'm glad you asked me if we could go. And so we did. And it was just beautiful. Like so wonderfully done. And we'll chat maybe a little bit on it with Michael and Bridget just beautifully done great singing and I knew I had only met you and I had met Danny and Kathleen who was doing the directing

and we met Danny and I knew you know when you get the feeling like this guy has the charisma he's going to be a great main character and sure enough he was just fantastic, he had the charisma, the charm, the way he would smile and the kind of sly

look that he has at the beginning and just a beautiful story a lot of songs, I could tell people in the audience kind of like would recognize some of the songs but not have known that it was from the music man. They were like, oh, yeah, that's where that song is from because I've heard it.

And let's just say for three days afterwards in the office, I'm pretty sure this past week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, at some point in the office, Nick was walking around the office going, 76, drum, and he's like, I can't get it out of my head. And I said, why? And he said, you have to remember because he went to see the 70s. It's drum, and he's like, I can't get it out of my head. And I said, why?

And he said, you have to remember, because he went to see the dress rehearsal. He says, you have to remember, I saw that two days in a row. It is in my head,

and it's not going anywhere for a while. Well, that's the fun thing about great music, though. It does kind of get stuck in your head,

and you kind of find yourself humming it throughout the day. It really does. I feel like the beauty of some of the great musicals and operas that George Swapp has been putting on is that they're so hummable. And that you really find yourself thinking about them a week later, two weeks later.

And that's really just the mark of how much people really enjoy it. I mean, there's something that has to be said. I mean, you love sometimes the very creative and really artistically done classical pieces but there has to be something said to for every once in a while like other pieces of music that just have a simple kind of motif that you could just hum like that and just kind of like hum throughout

the day you know like because you can think of maybe like a Brahms piece or something like that or like a Chopin there's so many different themes going on it's like sometimes it's hard's hard to hum a single one. But you get a Tchaikovsky, and you could easily just hum a little Swan Lake or a little...

Speaking my language there. Exactly, yeah. It's just sort of like every once in a while, it's kind of nice to kind of have that. Exactly, exactly. Nicholas putting in a comment here saying, Elizabeth and he were doing trouble this morning. She was the music man, and he was the chorus.

It's still in their heads, which I think will probably be said for a lot of people. I don't think that reenactment was probably as good as in the play. Probably not. But it was really beautifully done and we enjoyed it tremendously. So if you're sad that you missed out on it, that's what this segment is for, because there are many more things.

There is hope. There are many more things coming forward. So I think that's a great way to set Ray into our two fantastic guests for today. So we're excited to welcome to the show this morning Michael Sloan, conductor of the Oratorio Society of Virginia, and Bridget Eversol, education coordinator

at Charlottesville Opera. Michael, Bridget, thanks so much for coming on this morning. Thank you. Thanks for having us, as always. Excited to be here. It's a joy to have you both on. I mean, I guess the best way to open it, so the next thing for people who are like, oh man, how did I miss the Music Man? I should have been watching today, Mignogna, two weeks ago. The festival coming up this Saturday, starting at 5 p.m. So maybe to start, Michael, could you tell us maybe some of the things on the music side

that, including the event partners, that people can be looking forward to this saturday yeah absolutely so um good morning to all your listeners nice to be with you uh we did this for the first time last year at the ting pavilion and it was something that leanne at charlesville Opera came up with as a concept and people there. And the idea is that we do a concert open to the public, and in a sense, not just the public, but if you saw the young kids there last year, it's for all ages, clearly. Kind of a very welcoming, open, outdoor atmosphere.

And the idea is then that in one program, we would feature our eight emerging artists, 16 very talented singers from around the country and beyond who are with us here in Charlottesville this summer, along with the opera orchestra,

singers from the Oratory Society of Virginia, the largest community course here, and then also the ballet, Charlottesville Ballet, yes, in a kind of incredible smorgasbord program, which will have opera highlights, musical theater highlights, to your point, music man, a few excerpts, if you missed it at the Paramount last week, you can come hear it again a little bit. And a bunch of kind of what we might call greatest hit moments from opera. Solos, duets, you know, arias and duets and so on. Along with some orchestral pieces as well,

including a little bit of, you just mentioned it, Tchaikovsky with the ballet and capped off by some very inspiring moving big chorus numbers including One Day More from Les Miserables oh wow it'll be quite a program in two days

absolutely and those are some great partners and that part I know begins at 7pm is when the concert part. But as Bridget is going to tell us, there's some things going on beforehand. Right. You do not have to get there. And there's some great arts partners, too. We are.

Well, first of all, we want to emphasize that this is a free event for everybody. And thanks to our sponsor, our season sponsor, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation. And then our event sponsor, the Smith Vickers Family Foundation. Again, free for everyone. So we want people to take advantage of it. We've got a group of community arts nonprofits that are involved with us. And from 5 to 7, we'll have activity tents for the kids and kids of all ages, really. The Charlottesville Ballet, the Charlottesville Symphony, the Oratorio Society, Empowered Players, the Virginia Theater Festival, the Paramount, and of course, Charlottesville Opera will all be having tents with activities. I believe there's a musical petting zoo. We'll have face painting. We'll have all sorts of fun activities for the kids to do during that time we'll also have food trucks pharmacy as an f-a-r-m pharmacy food truck it

fantastic and la floor popsicles and um some other fun things so i think it's going to be a great event for everybody and you know we want to invite as many people as we can have from that five to seven time and then turn it over to michael and the wonderful um groups so that everybody can see how accessible this music is and how fun and we'll also have some kids up on stage with you um at one point we're gonna kids. We had kids in the music, man, from our community. These are some talented young people. Amazing. Including if you saw the Winthrop and Amaryllis kids that were in the show.

And they're going to reprise a little bit of their numbers. But I think Caroline Warr, our artistic director, and with the help of those kids, they're going to actually teach children in the audience a little bit of choreography so they can move with the music during maybe 76 Trombones. So maybe

Nick can get to move around too. Do you want Nick to jump in the chorus too? Well, I think he should just do his moves out there. To be honest, he and I probably need the choreography lesson even more than that. Move with the music as opposed to being out of tune with it. Kimberly Louder watching the show this morning. Terrence Hyde, thanks for tuning in.

Holly Slong, the wonderful Holly Slong. She's pretty great. Movie, watching the show this morning. So we appreciate everyone. So I have a quick question. So how did you kind of, when you were kind of setting up the music program of kind of like what

pieces you want to play, how does that like come into effect? How do you kind of decide what you want to play? Is it like a group of you that kind of thinks that out? Yeah. That's a very interesting question, Michael. Normally as you know, if I'm doing something at UVA or with the Oratory Society, usually I'm the one

that would propose a program. People sometimes have to approve it financially, but I come up with the vision. This is a little different model, right? So we sit down, excuse me, Leanne, right, Claymore, who's the general director, and Caroline, the artistic director and I,

all kind of put our heads together, especially Caroline because she has auditioned these emerging artists, right? And that comes, she loves to quote this number, but Bridget, am I right, 650 or so? Yeah, over 600 people auditioned for this this year. And so we have these 16 spots. So, I mean, these are some of the top emerging singers all over the world, which is super exciting.

And so I think with that, they want to showcase all of their strengths and what they can do and also want to give them the chance to sing what they love. Exactly. And with an orchestra, which they wouldn't always, as a young artist, have a chance to do, right? And so that what we do is Carol and I would Caroline and I would look through and kind of suggest well what is good for this person's voice you know like is this mezzo a Carmen or is this soprano a queen of the night and I mentioned those because we're gonna hear both of those this weekend. The classic Carmen song? Yeah, Habanera, of course.

Which is Cuban, originally. Very interestingly. We can talk about that later. But in any case, the idea is to find the sweet spot for these artists. What is something that works well for them? But then also balance the program

so we don't just have all from one time period or all from one composer. And then I also intersperse either big choral numbers. We're going to reprise this beautiful medley of You'll Never Walk Alone from Carousel and Climb Every Mountain from Sound of Music, one of my favorites, that we did with the Oratory Society on a concert earlier this season. But now we'll do it at this concert with orchestra and I think be very moving. And then of course we started with an overture too, so this year Magic Flute Overture.

Oh yes, that's excellent. And that's an excellent one to start with. You have to think about, do you think at all about, okay, what are great entry-level things for newcomers to hear that would maybe get them more interested in opera or music? And I'm curious to hear what Bridget thinks about this in a minute, too. I think one of the great things about this program, if you see the young people, you can look at the photos from last year, just kind of listening with rapture to some of these things and you never

know right who it's going to touch in in the more than uh just normal way meaning one of these kids could go on a music any kind of music some will just become interested as audience members some might become arts administrators i mean there's any number of paths. But you do hope that, that's the whole point of it in a way, is to plant seeds that will then grow. And I think, I think, when you look at the list on this program, the musical theater numbers, I mean, people that know Newsies,

which is a little, you know, it's a little after our time, but younger people know that music well, and one of our singers is going to do that. But also the duet from Bizet's Pearl Fishers, which people always call a top ten duet in all of opera.

So you have these kind of greatest hits, so I think the attraction will be immediate. Don't you think? I think so. And when you're talking to singers, or anybody really, we all have a different piece that captured us and I think that's part of the variety of everything but also having these emerging artists on stage who look

like all of us who you know we're just normal people up here singing and then we have you know even at Music Man my 12 year old daughter came with me and some of her friends and they said, oh my gosh, I know Winthrop or oh my gosh, I didn't know she was Amaryllis and they were so excited just seeing not just the people and the older singers, not old older, but then the kids

the adult, thank you but then having the kids up there too I think it makes it even more accessible for everybody. And, you know, Carmen was my first opera that I saw. Is that right? It was. Mine was Marriage of Figaro.

Was it? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, mine wasn't until I was in college. Same. Yeah. So I think, yeah, there's something for everybody. And there's enough variety that it will reach somebody out there. Absolutely. I think so too. And the beauty of something like the Emerging

Artist Program is that I think sometimes, I mean, if you were to own if your first, like my first foray opera was a recording one, I watched Cavalier Rusticano with my grandmother. But my daughter, she knew that really well. But like if your first foray sometimes

is the most famous people then you're like oh well that was placer domingo i'll never yeah right but to be able to see but of course like before placer domingo was at his peak doing these big roles he was a young guy an emerging artist doing it but we don't have a lot of video recording of him doing that. So to be able to see these emerging artists, young artists, who are doing this, to kind of maybe help them say, hey, you know what? You can be a normal person

and do that. You don't just wake up one morning and you are Pavarotti. You know what I mean? You start off as a young emerging artist as a child sometimes, but as a young adult, and you see the talent there, and you see what they're doing,

and the work they're putting in. To cultivate it. I don't know if it's normal. But yeah, it's true. People can become these things. Yeah, absolutely. I think the other great thing about this, I have a college-age nephew

who's living with me this summer. He's here for an internship. And he said, I don't know if I can go to a three-hour opera. And I said, sure you can. But let's start with the ting on Saturday. And then you can see this is just a string of these wonderful pieces

put together. So I think it makes it more accessible just for the length of time and being able to move around and everything. And he will be going to Elixir too for the record this is a good program for the modern attention span because it jumps around very quickly all over the place yeah I think I think that's the problem sometimes with opera is that it feels daunting because people have this in their head of kind of like a three four hour or people singing I'm not sure I'm going to like everything,

but I think it's a good way sometimes to just introduce people to these little opera pieces, like see how good it can be. You can watch it for three, four hours. I mean, and I've always had problems with people's like, I don't have the attention span. I'm like, today people binge watch a Netflix show for like five, five hours. You have the attention span.

You have it. You just have to apply yourself. Yes, exactly. You have to apply yourself. And Elixir is not the longest opera. Oh, no. So it's, I think, and it's very charming. It's very charming.

And Goonies. A lot of people know Goonies, and that's the one that they listen to, Una Fortiva. Am I right? Am I right? I can't remember. I didn't remember that. I know Elixir, but I don't know Goonies. Yeah.

It's by now. Oh, no. That's why I wouldn't be able to answer. I'll have to check that out and see which one they're listening to. But the beautiful thing about something like Greatest Hits, too, is people will have a lot of those reactions, I think. How many times in commercials and in TV shows and in movies

will you hear a piece of an opera, and it's usually going to be a great experience. So let me name two more pieces on the program we haven't mentioned yet. One is the flower duet from Lakme. That gets used in movies and commercials all the time. It's a stunning, I mean that duet is breathtaking, beautiful. Also, for those who are fans of musical theater from the late 80s that have endured for a long time, I mentioned Les Mis already, but

for the first time ever that I'm aware of in recent times, we're going to be doing some excerpts from The Phantom of the Opera. And that is something that I know there will be a whole segment of that audience, as soon as they hear that chromatic organ or diva, they will

respond to that. Oh, I'm looking forward to that. That's probably my favorite musical. Is that right? It's Phantom of the Opera. Well, yeah, certainly. I've never watched too many musicals. That's the one that the music kind of just really hits you,

and I find every song captivating, and it's kind of like, plus the Phantom music, like you said, with the organ, it's kind of like dark, but enchanting in a way. And that's something when you grow up as a classical music fan, you gravitate towards the Phantom of the Opera.

Yeah, one of the singers or one of the coaches said that he was in opera partly because of hearing Phantom of the Opera as a little kid. It's a musical really, but it has operatic elements. Exactly.

The way the music is written kind of guides you towards opera. And of course it's set written kind of guides you towards opera. And of course, it's set in one of the most famous opera houses in the world. Exactly. It's that thing. And Danny had talked about it

a couple weeks ago, Danny Belcher, that we like to make, and for a long time historically, we've made distinctions between musical theater and opera. But a lot of opera houses, and Charlottesville Opera,

I think, is kind of at the forefront of this, at least in our community, of saying, well, it doesn't really have to be this distinction. They have so many elements in common. I mean, the style of music may be different, but especially

when you talk about Mozart operas, right? I mean, sometimes people think of opera and you think of a continuous stream of music like Wagner and it is essentially a line opera. It never stops. But a lot of the older operas like Don Giovanni and stuff

Magic Flute would be It's kind of like a musical because they sing a song and then they do the little sing-songy talk thing with the harpsichord and then they sing another song and that's kind of what a musical is. It's sing a song talk maybe sometimes in a sing-songy voice thing with the harpsichord, and then they sing another song. And that's kind of what a musical is. It's sing a song, talk, maybe sometimes in the same songy voice, and then do another song.

And so there are really beautiful ways that you can kind of do between. There's two ways you can think about that. One is you have these pieces that bend the genre lines, like Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. It's been done as a musical on Broadway. It's also

been done in opera houses, you know? But also, you could think about it in terms of the types of voices. And one of the, I think one of the great things about Charlottesville Opera is, you mentioned Danny, Danny Belcher, and also Lindsay, or Marion, both of them are just beautiful singers. And so to hear Music Man, a kind of classic golden age in a sense musical, sung at that level, that's one of the things this company does

really quite beautifully. And it was really enjoyable to hear it sung that beautifully. Exactly. Good singing is good singing, no matter what it is. That's true. That's a great point. And you know because you teach it, too. Right. And I think just being able to adapt to the different styles is really important.

And singers need to be able to do that nowadays because so many people are doing the crossovers. So I think that is important. And really just I think the power of the voices is what struck me because obviously with a musical, you can, you do often have the mics, which you don't have in opera. But to hear, of course, two in Lindsay and Danny, two people who have the voices for opera singing, it just, I mean, when they start singing, it just booms. Because you already have such a powerful voice that particularly if you're first foray into, like, Music Man or, like, last year's Guys and Dolls, like, my first time I watched Guys and Dolls was the movie.

Right. Brando. I forget the name of the gentleman who sang Stye last year in Dies Adults, but he was classically, he was appropriately trained. The difference was night and day. I mean, you just, the music just comes out of his mouth and it's melodic and beautiful

and I think for a lot of people who maybe saw their first foray was the movie musical of the Music Man where I mean they're on a sound stage, the audio quality is nothing like they have today to then go see and have the opportunity to hear something like that which they'll be able to do

again this weekend, hear those actual beautiful voices singing it You know and I would just put a plug in for one of the things I do a lot, which is work with choruses. That was another aspect I thought of Music Man that was just stunning, was we had all these wonderful community singers and the emerging artists together.

And those choral numbers really came to life. Also with Casey's beautiful choreography. I mean, they really came to life in a way you might not hear elsewhere. And part of that, too, I want to give credit to the sound engineers because part of that with the mic, you have to really know how to mic a classically trained singer.

There's 30 mics in play. There were a ton of mics, and they were so, kudos to them. I would have a little bit of anxiety about that Nick had told us when he went to the dress rehearsal you know like the mic guys they had to kind of keep adjusting when you raise one guy's mic then someone had to

come on stage so you quickly had to raise the other and it was constantly adjustment even to the last minute during the dress rehearsal it's like okay do that a little earlier do that a little later it's a lot of work. Which speaks to the quality of the production that it just it is do that a little later. It's still a lot of work. Which speaks to the quality of the production. Absolutely. It is as high a quality as you could have possibly imagined.

It's just so beautifully done. And it says, yeah, Keith Fares. Yes, Keith, Keith, exactly. Ashley Elizabeth watching the show, Donna Given tuning into the show. Just want to keep giving the shout-outs to those who are tuning in. Speaking of beautiful production, so obviously this weekend is going to be a festival starting at 5 p.m. I did want to ask you, Bridget,

do people need to RSVP in any way for that? It will be helpful if they RSVP, which they can do that on our website, charlottesvilleopera.org. I believe it's under the education or events. It's under both pages. But you don't have to. So if you decide that day you want to come, absolutely.

The more the merrier. Just come on. And I would just add, you know, obviously the weather's been a little warm lately, but the good news is we'll be under the canopy of the Ting Pavilion. And hopefully by then it'll cool off a little. And you can get the popsicles too. Yeah, and 7 o'clock concert, if it's nice like it was

last year. We had a thunderstorm in the middle of the day, and then the sun came out last year, and it was quite lovely. And it'll be beautiful. I'm sure of it. And the kids' activities, will those also be underneath the umbrella? Will that be, like, towards the Ting area? Where will those be? I think last year was right under the back of the canopy.

Got it. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, once you find the downtown mall, once you find the downtown mall, you can't just go to the big pavilion and it'll all be towards that direction even if it's a little more forward or more back

I did want to talk a little bit about we've touched on it a little bit but the next opportunity after this weekend, there's actually going to be a couple one for kids that Bridget can speak to but maybe you can tell us a little bit about that Bridget, the event for the children coming up. Okay.

So we have Kids Fest for the Elixir, which is, I believe, July 9th. July 9th at 1.30 p.m. That's a terrible day, July 9th. Terrible day. She's making fun of my birthday. Oh, well, see, you can come celebrate. So this is another free event. Again, we are so grateful that we have such wonderful sponsors and donors.

But what we do, we just did one for the Music Man, and we had about 200 people there. And the only admission for adults is that you must bring a child. So there is an RSVP online as well. But what happens is the kids come in. We do kind of a mini tour of the Paramount. We show them the pit and all the production stuff behind the scenes from the orchestra level. And then we have a few of the artists come out and talk to the kids.

And they can ask any kind of question that they want. And then they get to go up into the balcony, eat some popcorn, and watch the first act of, we did the Music Man, and so now we'll do the first act of Elixir. And it's really fun. And then they get some swag to take home

that is themed on whatever, we can't really send them home with wine for this one. So we're working on that. Again, my 12-year-old's helping me out with that one. What will it do? What will it do? Get a little vial of cranberry juice and say it's a love potion. She said, what if you get

grape juice or something with grapes? We'll keep it a surprise. I won't say too much. That's something to look forward to. That's a beautiful thing thing I think it's worth mentioning because one of the things I love about charge of opera is that there really is a concerted effort

probably led by yourself really to make sure that the next generation comes and can learn to appreciate opera in their own way and see maybe a role for themselves if not on the stage, but in all the different aspects of putting on such a beautiful production.

I think, yeah, I think Leanne, right, who heads up the company, also Melissa Young, one of our board members, I think they very much are into that as well. I mean, they really believe in that. Yeah, I mean, they're so supportive of all of it. And it's wonderful. We had a, when I came, the first project I did was a Finding Your Voice, Sing Me a Story, that we put on at the Paramount

in the spring, and it was just that, showing all of the different aspects of what happens in opera. It was good. I think it was wonderful. But it was, you know, the production side, as well as the singers, the choreographer, everything. So, yeah, we want the kids to be able to see there's lots of different aspects

and it takes a village to put on these wonderful shows. It absolutely does. And Elixir is a great one, I think, for them to get into because it's a very lighthearted opera. For those who maybe aren't familiar with the story in the audience, it's basically a young man, he's in love, he wants to get this young girl to love him back.

Conman comes into town selling wine, which he claims is the elixir of love. The young man tapes him and then does begin to find that everyone, for a mysterious reason, which he attributes to the elixir, is treating him very differently. And you don't find out until later on in the story why that may be.

But it has some fantastic music and songs in the opera, and it's definitely very lighthearted. There's something, I realize there's kind of a humorous thread that runs through starting last year with Guys and Dolls. Oh, right. All of the con. You've got all these con guys. Then we had Harold Hill, right? He shows up in town and he's going to

sell something. Although in his case, he gets transformed. That's true. Presumably by Marian. I just don't know what he does as well. In this case, yeah, we've got another con man show up. We'll have to ask Leanne about all of this. Elixir, yeah. There's clearly a theme.

I think she's already pointed that out. Right, through it this year. This year, certainly, but I think you're right, starting way back to last year. Apparently it's something that attracts people who write musical theater productions. But it's, I mean, what did, I mean, from a music side,

what can maybe you tell the audience about the style of music and what they can find? Well, Donizetti, that'll be beautiful. That's a beautiful opera, and as you say, it's certainly more accessible and light-hearted, right? It's meant to be charming and funny in a lot of cases,

and I don't think the audience ever feels angst. Nemorino may feel angst right about his situation but so I think that it's a great place for someone who's younger or also young in their

experience of opera to come out and enjoy it and I think it's certainly one of those that gets listed on the top 15 operas performed, you know, all the time. Una Fortiva is, of course, the famous aria, but

I think it'll be lovely. And I think here's one way we could relate it to younger or newer audiences. As you were just, you were talking about the plot also. If they've read Harry Potter, right? Isn't there an exact same thing where Ron takes this potion

and it's supposed to be helping him, but really it's a bunch... Yeah, it happens in Sweeney Todd with the miracle elixir, Pirelli. I mean, this is a through theme. Yes. And it lends to a lot of hijinks and good humor and high times, I think. Absolutely.

Actually, when we were talking about the swag bag for the kids' fest, that was one thing my daughter brought up was, well, you know, Harry Potter does all these elixirs. Exactly. What could we do? Good luck or love potion or whatever. Love potion. Truth serum, whatever.

I don't know what they have going on. So it's relatable. There's also, by the way, a lot of choral music, in Italian, of course, but there will be supertas. But this opera also has a lot of exciting choral music, and of course the orchestra will be there. And there's what you mentioned before, restative. Oh, yeah, those actives.

Those moments, as we know from music history, that kind of speed the action along or the plot and then you pause in an aria and get inside a character's heart or mind and hear what they're actually thinking and feeling which will be beautiful and Nick is trying to

connect the line even to Tosca last year that the two main characters kind of taunt each other also between Tosca last year, that the two main characters kind of con each other also between Tosca and the and the Scarpia. They're kind of fooling each other on that one there. And I think it's always

fun to see the variety of for anyone who attended Tosca last year, that's a very heavy opera, but opera isn't always heavy. I mean, your first one was The Marriage of Federer, but opera isn't always heavy. I mean, your first film was The Marriage of Federer, which is not quite as heavy. Heavy moments, but mostly incredibly funny and brilliant.

Exactly, and a different style, because I think Bruchini's recitatives are kind of very musical, and I think if I'm remembering A Lecture of Love, it kind of harkens back a little bit more to pushing the action forward very quickly in those. Elixir would kind of come between

Mozart and Puccini obviously. As far as those are concerned. Don Azzetti just does a fantastic job making very hummable tunes to our early points. You'll come out of there, I think, humming a couple of them. One would hope, yeah.

And you'll have those moments too. Oh, I know this. This is where this is from. You'll have lots of those moments as well. Yeah, just like in Rossini, right? You go to Rossini sometimes and be like, oh, I have heard this before. I've heard this, exactly. Or will there be, out of curiosity, and it doesn't have to be a yes,

will there be any sneak previews of Elixir this weekend? Yes. Yes, Una Fortiva is on the program. The whole idea is that at Festival, we do highlight a little bit the main season, which is, of course, Music Man and Elixir of Love. So we have excerpts from both. Just so if they haven't been over to the main season, which is, of course, Music Man and Elixir of Love. So we have excerpts from both. So if they haven't been over to the Paramount,

they get a taste of what the company is up to indoors, so to speak. Exactly. Which is really just a beautiful thing, because it's an opportunity, particularly if you've missed out or weren't here for one, because the challenge, of course, with opera is that you can't do you can't do 30 shows

no you know it's not it's not the type of thing where it's gonna be oh yeah I have 20 opportunities to see the music band right you had your four opportunities maybe in New York and now you'll have two chances in July so on July 12th and July 14th to see The Illiterate Love. But here's this beautiful little concert in the middle where you can just learn, get an experience of what that would be like if it's the first time. Except not little, because we'll have a lot of people on that stage. Yeah, it's true. I say little as in one minute. 75 or something.

It's the hugest. How big is the chorus going to be? The chorus will be, I think, around 45. And then you've got the orchestra, which is over 20. Some kids. Kids and ballet. Of course, the emerging artists, I counted them. But yeah, they'll be out front. I know it's true to say that.

You would think, oh, a free event at the Teen Pavilion. Yeah, it's just pretty fancy for a free event. I mean, this true to say that. You would think, oh, a free event at the Teen Pavilion. Yeah, this is pretty fancy for a free event. This is, I mean, this is a large production and really a chance. Particularly, I would say, too, if you haven't been to an Oratory Society. I mean, Oratory Society, you get the full, we went to the Beethoven time, you get the full 90. That's extraordinary and very special. We've talked about that on this very show. But there's not a lot of places where you

even get 45 chorus on a stage. And certainly on this repertoire. Exactly. To really hear great emerging artists with a complete orchestra. Great. Let's underline that. Exactly. A complete orchestra

and a large chorus and ballet in one place that you could hear it. And so it is the type of thing that if not in Charlottesville this Saturday, you would have to pay a lot of money. Yeah. And again, it's free. I mean, it's free. Yes, that is a great point. You would, yeah. You know, I mean, so yeah, if you're thinking, oh yeah, I'm going up to New York

and see, you're going to pay $200 to see this up in New York. Easily. So enjoy the opportunity to have world-class to your board bridge. I mean, between the emerging artists and the actual stars

that come to, I mean, Danny is now performing I don't know if he's already gone to Hawaii but he's been everywhere, Lindsay has been at the Met I mean and I'm sure the stars for Elixir I mean you're talking worldwide world class artists

here in Charlottesville where your next opportunity to see them may be in Vienna so it's not coming around again soon. That's been kind of a hallmark of the company in some ways, if you go back through its history, even back in the days when it was Ashlawn. I remember this having conducted years ago outdoors

up at the Monroe residency. And there would be emerging artists who are young artists that came through there that went on and had a big career. Eric Owens is of course one of the most famous examples. Brian Damaris, our wonderful conductor for Elixir

and for Music Man and all that. He and I were just kind of talking shop as conductors and talking about how many people at some point who are in the business have come through the company. Which is really a testament to the quality of what we're privileged to hear. Yeah, exactly.

And for free this weekend. So be sure to check that out. So I know the best place probably is charlottesfullopera.org for, I know for certainly for Kids Fest and for the festival this weekend. If you want to RSVP it, then you don't have to.

You don't have to, no. You can come for free, just show up. If you've got family in town and you're like, oh man, where do I take them this weekend? Well, you have a perfect opportunity. There's only one place to take them this weekend. There is only one place to take them this weekend. And so it'll be the Teen Pavilion down here,

starting at 5 p.m. a lot of the activities from 5 to 7. That's where you have your food trucks, your tents, and so forth. And then the concert itself. 7 o'clock. And if parents are concerned about younger children, it goes to 8.30, basically, no intermission. So 7, 8.30. Yeah, it's beautiful.

You'll get them to bed in time. Especially on a summer. I mean, the sun will still be out at this time of year. So you'll still have plenty of light, and it's going to be a beautiful time for everyone, for all. So it's going to be fantastic. And then everyone for all so it's going to be fantastic and then as far as tickets for Literature of Love there's two places

you can go to I believe it's theparamount.net theparamount.net you can purchase or you can go again to charlesvilleopera.org because once you get there there are links you can go yeah you can pick the elixir of love

and it'll have a link that'll help take you to the place to buy tickets for that at the Paramount Theater, so again, festival 5pm this Saturday is when it starts, Kids Fest is July 9th at 1.30pm, so right in

there, so it's great to stop by, hey if you need something to do with your kids. Because it's summer. Radiation is in full swing. And snacks and A.C. are provided. Can't get much better than that. For free. Free A.C.

Never turn that down. And then Elixir of Love. July 12th at 7.30 p.m. So that's your evening concert. And July 14th at 2 7.30pm so that's your evening concert and July 14th at 2pm so that is your matinee concert so you have some great opportunities to really enjoy fantastic music

and really Michael, Bridget it's always such a pleasure to have you on the show and art with you you guys appreciate it too your whole family. That's a wonderful thing. Some of our highlights of the year

are Charlottesville Opera season and then the Oratory Society season. It's magnificent. We have to organize a schedule around those events pretty much. It's like, okay, when's the concert series? When's the oratory? When's

the opera? We've got to make sure. I think pretty much back as soon as, I think we had you on, Michael, to talk Beethoven last year. We had you on last year to talk the Christmas concert. And that's right after

you and Christine had announced that May 12th was going to be Beethoven, I mean, I'm calling my wife after this concert, like, look, I don't know what you have to do. She's a resident at the U.S. I don't know what you have to do to get off call that weekend, but do it. And it worked. And it worked.

She did it. I think she had a trade with someone. Worth it. But I'm like, Beethoven's 9th at the Oratory of the Sun, the quality there is worth it. And she didn't have to trade anything to do it at the door of the Music Man, but she was calling me saying, hey, we're doing the Music Man. Good.

As a family, we're like, okay, you see these days, no vacation days. We're here on this weekend, this weekend, this weekend. Don't plan anything. That's beautiful that it means that much it's it's a beautiful thing and just just i think it's just important i think for our community it's kind of what we love having you on is for our community sometimes i think you know we you know we have a lot of entrepreneurs on the show and i think people in general i think are kind of realize how lucky they are to live in Charlottesville, but I think sometimes it's just worth pointing out and reminding people how lucky we are

to have just beautiful music like Charlottesville Opera and like Oratorios Society of Virginia here and like Charlottesville Ballet here in Charlottesville because not everyone is as lucky as we are to have that here. That is true. So it's important to remind people of it. Thank you.

So on that vein, thank you both so much. Yes, thank you both. Thank you. We look forward to having you back again soon. Beautiful. Thank you. Take care, take care. And yeah, a couple other people tuning in.

Abby Hobbs, John Blair, Danny Torobud, Otto Soto is tuning in. Sadiq Pathan, thank you so much for all tuning in this morning and watching the show. And yeah, it's been, it's been good. You know, like you mentioned, Alex, too, it's so wonderful to have so much of this, like, variety of music accessible to the community. And also, you know, like Michael and Bridget talked about, exceptional artists too, singers, the orchestra, the dancers, everybody. To have that quality of entertainment right here, you don't have to go

to Richmond or Washington D.C. You only have to go 10, 15, 20 minutes to Charlottesville to actually have that type of entertainment. It's pretty special. It's a beautiful thing. As we close out here, I did want to remind you, we didn't have a chance

I almost forgot to talk about Xavier let me get his last name was supposed to join us this morning. Xavier Taylor, he is a local composer. One of his pieces from his story song musical, Abiyoyo,

will also be performed at this concert. It's going to be a great opportunity. And he's a local composer from there? Yeah, to not only hear emerging artists, but to hear emerging composers. So that'll be really cool too. So if you go and go to the concert at 7pm this

Saturday, you'll be able to hear that as well. So that's going to be fantastic. So it's been a great show. Always love having Michael and Bridget on. Next week is going to be 4th of July. So there will be no Today in Manana. There will be several celebrating.

What's everyone going to be doing now? Watch, enjoy some fireworks and some... Not at 10.15 in the morning. What are they going to do? They're going to sit there Thursday morning and be like, I don't know what to do with myself. You'll find something. Yeah.

And then the 11th, we will hopefully be joined by Miguel Correa. Miguel, the programmer from series, credit series, Endurance, is going to be joining us

on the 11th. Always a great show with Miguel. It's always fun to have Miguel on. So, appreciate being here. No, thank you for having me, Alex.

Thank you to all our amazing viewers this morning. Really appreciate everyone who. No, thank you for having me, Alex. Thank you to all our amazing viewers this morning. Really appreciate everyone who tuned in. Be sure to share all the info again this weekend. Saturday starting at 5pm with a concert at 7pm. The festival, Arts for All Festival.

And then Elixir of Love, July 12th, 7.30pm, July 14th, 2pm, charlottesvilleopera.org. We'll have all your information. Thank you to Emerging Financial Services for presenting. Thanks to our amazing partners, Craterius Insurance, Matias Young Realty, Charlottesville Opera. Thank you to more viewers.

They keep coming in, so if I missed your name, sorry. Jess Walters, if it's sorry. Thanks for tuning in this morning, and really appreciate everyone who joined us. Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Alex, for hosting. Always love it. Thanks, Judah, behind the camera, making us all look good.

Thank you, our amazing audience. We look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks. But until that time, happy Fourth of July. And nos vemos. Hasta mañana. See you tomorrow.