PO’s seasonal warhorse production at The Keller, running through November 23, hits all the marks.
Read More"La Boheme," one of the most popular operas ever written, opened Portland Opera’s season on November 15 the pizazz and a full house at the Keller Auditorium. The buzz in the lobby was palpable as concertgoers vied for photos against the Portland Opera backdrop and lined up for drinks. Inside the hall, I looked up to see people in the topmost balcony – a site that I had not seen in quite a while at Portland Opera’s mainstage productions. The packed house might have been due in part to the fact that only three performances of this famous evergreen are scheduled – a reduction from the usual four or more performances in pre-Covid times. But Puccini's beloved opera is a sure-fire way to kick off the season in any case.
Read MoreLa Bohéme is the perfect opera for opera fans and newcomers alike. If you want to see a production worthy of a night out, buy your tickets to La Bohème today!
Read MoreFilmmaker Cara Consilvia discusses her new documentary, “For the Love of Friends,” which details Brent Nicholson Earle’s ten thousand mile run for AIDS.
Read MoreAvondale Estates resident, Cara Consilvio, is a female director and producer of opera, film, and theater. Consilvio produced and directed mini-documentaries for the NEA Opera Honors, NEA Jazz Masters videos, OPERA America, and the American Composers Orchestra. Her latest project is “For the Love of Friends,” a documentary chronicling activist Brent Nicholson Earle's 10,000-mile run around the country in 20 months to bring awareness to the AIDS epidemic. The documentary will be airing for the first time on Public Broadcast Stations on June 1st.
Read MoreAtlanta filmmaker Cara Consilvio chronicles Brent Nicholson Earle’s 1986 “The American Run for the End of AIDS” in the new documentary called For the Love of Friends, which begins airing on American Public Television June 1. It’s her feature film directing debut.
In a just world, Earle would be acknowledged more for the work he did as an AIDS activist. As a gay man living in New York when the crisis began in the ‘80s, it was not uncommon for him to have dozens of friends die in a single week. Looking for a way to do something to help, Earle came up with an unorthodox plan — he decided to make a 10,000-mile run around the country to raise funds and bring awareness to HIV/AIDS.
Read MoreON JANUARY 14, FORT WORTH OPERA unveiled the latest entry in the exploding genre of Zoom operas, Bernadette’s Cozy Book Nook, a forty-minute comic gem with a colorful score by artistic director Joe Illick and insightful libretto by Mark Campbell (streaming through Jan. 24). A book club of retirees meets over Zoom for the first time due to the pandemic, presided over by the opinionated, autocratic Bernadette—a latter-day Lady Billows, the doyenne behind Albert Herring’s May Festival committee.(…)
(…)It takes real skill to make a slice of life—especially one we’re all feeling trapped by—into compelling art, but Illick and Campbell succeed.
Read More“Based on the Executive Producer, Cara Consilvio’s own wedding at a summer camp, Camp Wedding is a wedding comedy that stumbles into a summer camp horror movie, but since the two genres are communicating exclusively via text, the tone doesn’t really get communicated. Had the bride and groom had done their research beforehand, or at very least, communicated face-to-face, they probably wouldn’t have chosen Camp Pocumtuck to play host to what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.”
Read More“From selfish selfies to mystifying misunderstandings, the characters of Camp Wedding battle to survive some deadly digital dangers before they lose the power to stop them. As Emetaz and Consilvio discuss in this interview, Camp Wedding is a funny yet cautionary tale of electronic miscommunication run amok; one told on the big scale of a feature-length comedy.”
Read More“Director Cara Consilvio, making her debut with the company, approaches the production from the milieu of the early 20th century cabarets, emphasizing the earthy, lusty and gritty elements.”
Read More“Directed by Cara Consilvio, Piedmont Opera’s production of L’elisir d’amore was visually appealing, genuinely funny, and touching without being cartoonish, foolish, or embarrassingly sentimental. The pacing of the opera’s action exploited the expert comic timing of the production team and the cast, incorporating a whirlwind of physicality that rarely interfered with the science of singing.”
Read More“The first-act curtain rises on the entire cast in an exquisite frozen tableau, and that is the last time that there is stillness on the stage. As at harvest-time, there is constant movement, bustle and energy, choreographed skillfully by stage director Cara Consilvio.”
Read MoreBest Opera Production (Mixed Scale)
“Dialogues of the Carmelites”
Loyola Opera Theater
Cara Consilvio, Director
Carol Rausch, Conductor
St. George’s Episcopal Church
“One thing Cara Consilvio, our director, is trying to really dive into is the humanity of these characters. It's such a ridiculous, over-the-top plot - boy loves girl, girl doesn't love boy, boy drinks what he thinks is love potion in order to get girl to love boy, etc... But if we portray the realistic side of this story, such as the genuine love that Nemorino has for Adina, then the audience can come along for the ride and hopefully, find the story touching and entertaining, rather than just outrageous and ridiculous.”
Read MoreCara and Anchorage Opera General Director, Reed Smith in an Interview with Scott Rhode about “An American Dream.”
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