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42 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2024 A new club to learn about, listen to, and share the wonders of opera. Our inaugural meeting will be Jan. 18 at 7 pm in the RCN. We begin with a discussion and exploration of Leo Delibe's "Lakme" with a focus on its much more famous components, the "Flower Duet" and the "Bell Song." We will also discuss the content of future meetings as well as the overall structure and direction of the club. We gently start with a very recognizable duet to welcome both newcomers and seasoned veterans. The "Flower Duet" is arguably the most popular opera duet in the canon — think British Airways or "Sex in the City." Where we go from there will be a mutually charted course. The repertoire is fabulously diverse. From short and funny like Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" to florid and tragically sad like Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." From widely heard like Bizet's "Carmen, " to the delightful but still rarely heard like January's "Lakme." And from simply short (90 minutes) like Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" to epic (16 hours) as with Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen." For the veteran opera lover, an opera club requires no further justification, but for the newcomer or uninitiated this is an opportunity to learn more about an art form that has surrounded us since toddler days watching cartoons. For most of us, our introduction to opera was with Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes cartoons (look on Youtube for "What's Opera, Doc?"). But it didn't stop there. Do you remember the pivotal and defiant scene in the Shawshank Redemption when Tim Robbins plays a cut from "The Marriage of Figaro"? Or the over-the- top machismo of Robert Duvall's helicopter air strike to "Ride of the Valkyries"? Come learn the meaning and context of these iconic pieces, and the next time you hear them in an ad you will spot their witty use or the poorly thought out malapropisms. We hope to hear from the true experts among us to gain deeper insight into the works we explore, as well as to enjoy each other's personal experiences shows and performers we were privileged to hear. Finally, we can also venture out together — we are lucky to live in a time when operas are live-streamed from New York's Lincoln Center, as well as from Milan's La Scala. Come join us as we start out on a magnificent adventure. ~ Harvey Toyama, yukito@yukito.net Opera Club