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Four Seasons Singers Four Seasons Singers sang at the Holiday Show the first weekend in December and were part of the Grinch Show. We also traveled to The Lakes Assisted and Memory Care Senior Living to sing to and have a sing-a-long with the residents. This always fills our hearts. We will now be on break and I will announce when we start up again. If you would like to join the Singers, would like to be included in my email list, or if you have questions about the Four Seasons Singers, call (951) 797-3466 or email me at bawasco@dc.rr.com. ~ Barbara Wasco The Four Seasons Opera Club will begin 2025 with a series of "firsts" to deviate from the overwhelming perception that operas are only written by dead white European men. Our Jan. 10 showing will be an opera composed by a woman, Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. Her 2000 opera, L'Amour de Loin, was presented at the Met in 2016, marking 113 years since the first female composer was presented in 1903. Before dying in 2023, Saariaho lived and composed in Paris the past 42 years. The version we will see is from the Finnish National Opera, conducted by Essa Pekka-Salonen. The story regards a medieval French poet, Jaufre Raudel, the Prince of Blaye. He was the entitled son of the castillan of the fortress of Blaye and lived his life as a troubadour and poet. Blaye is the city at the conf luence of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers in the Bordeaux region of southwestern France. WWII history buffs will recall that the Nazis built a submarine fuel depot into the cliff face upon which the Citadelle sits. Most of the opera takes place at sea during Jaufre's voyage to meet his idealized love, Clémence. Clémence is the beauteous princess of Tripoli, Lebanon. Jaufre only heard about Clémence from a traveler who was likely part of a Crusades entourage since Tripoli, Lebanon, was along the Crusades route to the Holy Land. The opera tells of Jaufre's all-consuming idealized love for Clémence, and her eventual acceptance that she had been moved by his "immortal" devotion. It's not unlike Don Quixote's idealized love for Dulcinea, but real and tragic. The tragedy is that he became ill during the voyage and in the end dies in Clémence's arms. Inasmuch as Jaufre lived and died in the 12th century, Cervantes may have known of Jaufre's tragic love. The opera is 2 hours and 21 minutes long, and while there will be English subtitles, the French is second year high school difficulty. L'Amour is not a traditional opera, so bring a sense of adventure as you experience modern opera and honor Saariaho's glass-ceiling-breaking achievement. On Feb. 14, the next "first" is truly a first — the first opera composed by a Black composer. We are presenting this in honor of Black History Month. The composer is Spike Lee's movie composer, Terence Blanchard. Please mark your calendar. ~ Harvey Toyama, yukito@yukito.net, (951) 524-3765 42 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2025 Opera Club Classical Music Club We are classical music lovers with an interest in sharing our love of, knowledge about, and interest in classical music. We meet on the second Thursday of each month at 7 pm in The Lodge Theater. We listen to and watch musical selections on the big screen. Each month we focus on a particular work or several selections of one composer. We also discuss current musical performances in the area. We welcome new members. Contact Steve Benoff at steve.benoff@verizon.net or (310) 413-4896. ~ Steve Beno

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