French May Talk : Adolphe Adam and "Le Toréador"
A "know-before-you-go" introduction to the comic opera
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Nineteenth-century French composer Adolphe Adam (1803 -1856), best-known for his ballet Giselle, was also a
composer of opéras-comiques, a forerunner of such masters of French operetta as Jacques Offenbach, and very well-known
at the time. (Adam’s “Le chalet” was apparently one of the very first operas performed at Macau’s Teatro Dom Pedro
V.)
On 6 June, this year’s French May will include the Hong Kong (and likely China) premiere of Adam’s “Le
toréador”
(1849), updated to a Hong Kong setting as “The Triad”, a work which includes the famous recital piece of
variations on "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman" (better known as the melody of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star"
in the English-speaking world).
This associated session will provide an overview of Adam and his music and a “know before you go” introduction to “Le
toréador”.
Composer - Adolphe Adam
"Ah! vous dirai-je, maman"
Speakers
Peter Gordon - Director
Peter Gordon has been involved with opera in Hong Kong for more than a decade, giving talks, translating subtitles and writing programme
notes. Along with his partner Marco Iannelli, he has directed several small-scale comic operas in Hong Kong and Macau for such
organisations as the French May Arts Festival and the Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong and has been named “Knight of the
Order of the Star of Italy”
for work in opera.
Ticketing for the Opera
Please
visit the website of Asia Society Hong
Kong for
more information.
The performance is co-organized by:
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The talk is an associated project of:
To register for the introductory talk, please fill in the form below.
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30 May 2024 7:00pm