Opera Pacific’s ‘Festa Italiana’ Is Dedicated to the Music of Verdi

Summer is the time to combine music and the outdoors. And though it’s already September and nights are getting--by Southern California standards--a little chilly, “Festa Italiana” is Opera Pacific’s effort to do just that.

The Santa Ana-based company will present its third annual “Festa,” dedicated to the music of Verdi in the centennial year of his death, on Sunday in Laguna Beach’s Irvine Bowl.

“The first year, we had a mixed bag, concluding with the fugue from Verdi’s ‘Falstaff,”’ said company artistic director John DeMain. “A lot of the evening was verismo [operas focusing on realism]. The second year, we looked at bel canto composers. This year, we’re limiting it to Verdi.”

DeMain was speaking from his home in Madison, Wis., where he also serves as music director of the Madison Symphony.

The program will open with the overture to “Sicilian Vespers,” continue with vocal excerpts from six operas (“The Force of Destiny,” “Simone Boccanegra,” “Don Carlos,” “Il Trovatore,” “Otello” and “Un Ballo in Maschera”) and conclude with the entire second act of “Aida.”

“‘Aida’ is the intimate set against the grand,” DeMain said. “You get both by moving from the first to the second scene of the second act--the huge palette of the triumphal scene.

“It’s a great, great example of simply thrilling ensemble writing. I love how it evolves and builds to an incredible climax with the soprano sailing over everybody with a high C.”

DeMain resisted presenting “Aida” during the regular season, he said, because “everybody else is doing it in the Verdi year. Either that or ‘Falstaff.’ We decided to do ‘Macbeth’ [last season] and ‘Rigoletto’ [this season]. But I thought it would be fun to do it here and give the chorus something to do.”

All the excerpts represent Verdi at his greatest dramatic maturity and present enormous challenges.

“If you carve Verdi up into four sections, in terms of his compositions,” DeMain said, “these would be sections 3 and 4. I needed a cast of mature voices that could take on the heavier repertory.”

The soloists will include soprano Mariana Zvetkova, mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti, tenor Eduardo Villa, baritone Gordon Hawkins and bass Eric Owens.

Zvetkova and Cornetti will be making their company debuts. Both recently also made their debuts with La Scala Opera--Zvetkova as Maddalena in Giordano’s “Andrea Chenier” and Cornetti as Azucena in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.”

“I heard Mariana in an audition around four years ago,” DeMain said. “I thought it was just a gorgeous voice. It’s the right sound to do things like ‘Pace, Pace’ [which she will sing Sunday] and I think it would really lend itself. It’s a big voice, an appropriate voice for ‘Aida.”’

As for Cornetti, “I’m thinking about her as Azucena when we do ‘Trovatore’ the year after next,” DeMain said.

Villa replaces the originally announced Hugh Smith, who withdrew to open the Deutsche Oper Berlin season as Pollione in Bellini’s “Norma.”

Villa made his Opera Pacific debut as Calaf in Puccini’s “Turandot” in 1996. He will make his Metropolitan Opera debut next season in the title role of Verdi’s “Don Carlos.”

Hawkins sang the title role of Verdi’s “Macbeth” for Opera Pacific last season. Owens sang Banquo in the same production.

Two local singers will also appear as soloists, albeit in smaller roles: Natalie Taormina, an Opera Pacific resident artist, and Jamie Offenbach, a resident artist with Los Angeles Opera. Offenbach will also be making his company debut.

Also on hand will be the Opera Pacific Orchestra and the Opera Pacific chorus, trained by Henri Venanzi. The music will be presented in concert without scenery and costumes.

“Some people prefer seeing singers in concert, without all the makeup and trappings,” DeMain said.

“They can see a singer in natural dress take on a character. And these singers tend not to just stand there and sing. They’re singing actors to begin with. So they create in a small world that dramatic environment.”

The summer event grew out of a convergence of ideas.

“We learned about the Irvine Bowl and also that opera in Orange County began in Laguna Beach,” DeMain said. “And then I was looking for ways of bringing the company into other parts of Orange County and heightening its visibility a bit so people could feel more the presence of Opera Pacific in various parts of the community.

“Also if I got too farfetched with other repertory, I wanted to make sure every year there was a good dose of Italian arias and Italian opera selections. So many people have found their way into opera by way of Italian repertory. It continues to be almost everybody’s favorite.”

Indeed, the program draws about 2,300 people. The company has about 6,000 subscribers to its Segerstrom Hall series.

“I would love to do it two nights,” DeMain said. “But I would like to see it sell out--about 2,600 seats--before we go to a second night. That would certainly give us the incentive to go to a second night. At the moment, we have decided to keep it at one. That could change.”

As could the focus on Italian repertory. Will it always be an Italian festival?

“I don’t know how long we will continue to do that. We do like having this positive celebration of Italy.”

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John DeMain will lead Opera Pacific’s third annual “Festa Italiana” on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at Irvine Bowl, 650 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. The program will be devoted to music by Verdi. $25 to $75. (800) 34-OPERA.