We’re excited to have Seasonal Sparkle, St. Petersburg Opera’s annual holiday musical extravaganza, back at the Palladium. This year’s version features Elizabeth Futral as a featured performer. Learn more about this Metropolitan Opera veteran by reading this preview from the Tampa Bay Times.
You can read the entire article by following this link: http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/stage/three-questions-for-opera-star-elizabeth-futral-coming-to-st-pete-opera/2210462
By STEPHANIE HAYES
Elizabeth Futral has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, at Carnegie Hall and all around the world. She’s been everyone from Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire to Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare to Musetta in La Bohème.
But the coloratura soprano was just Elizabeth when she happened to meet St. Petersburg Opera Company maestro Mark Sforzini in Virginia. The two had dinner, and he invited her to be a soloist in St. Pete Opera’s annual Seasonal Sparkle concert. Futral has family in Clearwater and Brandon, so the opportunity had a built-in holiday vacation.
Futral joins baritone Galen Scott Bower on selections from The Youth’s Magic Horn by Mahler. The St. Pete Opera chorus and orchestra will present a mix of opera and traditional carols including Fantasia on Christmas Carols, Ding Dong, Merrily on High, O Holy Night and selections from La Bohème.
We caught up with Futral, 51, at home in Roanoke, Va., before her visit.
Seasonal Sparkle has some textured choices for Christmas. Why do you think the Mahler works?
It’s a child’s view of heaven, kind of like an angel talking about what it’s like to be in heaven. They’re wonderful sort of playful pieces, and from a children’s perspective. They’re very descriptive and beautiful and fun, and I think it’s a nice choice for a Christmas concert.
How did you get exposed to opera?
I always sang as a kid. I sang in church. I sang in school. I didn’t really become familiar with opera until I went to college. I sang classical music and a little bit of pop music until I went to college, and then my voice teacher introduced me to opera and art song and all of that. And I just found it really spoke to me on a musical level and a psychological level. There’s so much variety in the operatic literature, and I felt it was really where my voice worked the best. It was challenging of course, but my voice seemed to like that challenge. Once I discovered it I thought, ‘Oh yeah, this is good stuff. This is cool. This is what feeds me on many levels.’
How do you get more people interested in the opera?
I try to encourage my non opera-going friends and kids to just try it. Wherever I am, I’m always trying to invite people to come. The doorman at the building, or the receptionist at the hotel. And you know, I’d say 90 percent of the people who come, first time opera-goers, no matter what opera it is, they get hooked in. They’re surprised. I think a lot of people have a stigma about opera that it’s expensive, that it’s elitist, that it’s beyond them somehow. And they go and they realize, ‘No, I can understand this. I can love this.’
1 comment
Sounds like a wonderful event. Such great talent at the Palladium.