Our L’Ormindo score has been edited by Peter Foster of
Venetian Opera Works. The original Ormindo score and libretto are housed in
Venice's Marciana Library, but as is usually the case there are things missing,
parts that were re-done for various performances, and a whole host of other
things that make a score like this need considerable work. Peter’s job (after
getting the score into a state where it can be performed), along with Erin
Helyard, is to make the score suitable for our production. The original is more
than three and a half hours long, which is considerably too long for a modern
audience. Peter gave us access to the complete score, and from this Erin and Talya Masel
(our director) decided on what they would like to cut and what they would like
to re-order. Peter and Erin then
worked on all the musical and story joins, not only for the cuts, but also to
make the parts suitable for our singers. The finished length of our production
will be around two hours and ten minutes plus an interval.
Our Italian language coach is Nicole Dorigo. She has been with us
for many productions, as she is pretty clever at French as well. Nicole joins
the rehearsals from the start and does a wonderful job working with everyone
intimately throughout the intense rehearsal period.
With all this Italian music and words, now is perhaps the best
time to have a crash course in the language? The Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Sydney is offering Italian language & cultural courses from 21
September. And offering 10% discount if you book before 15 September, and as a
member can borrow from their book and DVD library for free. They also do more
advanced stuff if you think you can understand the entire libretto of L’Ormindo
or want Nicole’s job …
By the way, the photo has nothing to do with the L’Ormindo score, just
thought it was a lovely photo of Neal Peres Da Costa during our
2004 production of The Fairy Queen.
Anna
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