Dear Patron of the Arts,

Welcome to The Sharon® L. Morse Performing Arts Center!

Much like the building’s namesake, my grandmother, Sharon L. Morse, we love all varieties of the performing arts here. It is in her memory that I, along with my amazing team of artists and arts administrators, strive to bring many different types of the highest quality entertainment here to The Sharon.

Since opening in 2015, we have strived to establish your trust, that a show at The Sharon is a show worth seeing. Perhaps you find yourself here today to see a concert of one of your favorite musicians, or to take in the national tour of a Broadway show. Either way, we encourage you to consider trying out a new show that perhaps you haven’t heard of before, knowing that it has been intentionally curated by our team.

We welcome you to The Sharon: a place for you to see an old favorite, but also a place to discover your new favorite. I sincerely hope you enjoy the show today, and I look forward to seeing you here again soon!

See You at The Sharon,

W hitney Morse Artistic Director

Magic Moment of Opera Scene and introduction to Opera concert.

During the nineteenth century the works of authors such as Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and many more enjoyed great success.

In general, the works of this period were influenced by national literature but also by the nascent European romanticism and by William Shakespeare consequently the plots are often based on the inner movements of the characters, not infrequently protagonists of passionate love stories and tragic actions. The most present figures are those of the tyrant and the woman in love. However, the many spectacular effects and twists are due to the French opera. The libretto usually consists of 2-3 acts.

During the nineteenth century a precise relationship was established between the role of the singer and his voice: the tenor was no longer entrusted with the antagonist parts, on the contrary, he more and more often embodied the ideal of the hero in love and extremely passionate the bass were entrusted with solemn parts, mixed airs of wisdom and morality great importance was given to the baritone, antagonist in love for the tenor (as is the soprano, its female correspondent, the mezzo-soprano) the soprano's voice was by now inextricably associated with very delicate as well as idealized and angelic female figures, fragile but at the same time often strong in the values of modesty and chastity.

At the end of the nineteenth century and in the first decades of the twentieth century the major composers who dedicated themselves to melodrama and were important exponents of musical realism were: Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and above all Giacomo Puccini.

Critics have united them with the epithet of Young School and, starting with Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, some of them have followed the path of realist opera, which had particular success in the last decade of the nineteenth century.

Musically yours, Pasquale

Valerio

Part One

Overture Marriage of Figaro

W. A. Mozart

De Vieni alla finestra

Don Giovanni

W. A. Mozart

La ci darem la mano

Don Giovanni

W. A. Mozart

Amor ti Vieta Fedora

Umberto Giordano

O mio babbino caro

Gianni Schicchi

Giacomo Puccini

Prelude Act one

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi

Di Provenza il mar il suol

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi

Ode to St. Ann

Raffaele Passaro

Orchestration Antonio Domenico

Brasiello

De miei bollenti spiriti

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi

~ Intermission ~

Part Two

il lacerato spirito

Simon Boccanegra

Giuseppe Verdi

E Lucevan le Stelle

G. Puccini

Habanera - Carmen by G. Bizet

Overture Barber of Seville

Gioacchino Rossini

Porquoi me reveiller

Werther

J. Massenet

Una voce poco fa

Barber of Seville

Gioacchino Rossini

Largo al factotum

Barber of Seville

Gioacchino Rossini

No Puede Ser from zarzuela

P. Sorozabal

Libiamo ne’ lieti calici

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi