Suor Angelica will be directed by student-director Annie Holt, produced by Louisa Panou-Takahashi with guest soprano in the role of Suor Angelica, Melissa Sumner. Puccini had a special predilection for Sister Angelica. Composed when he was fifty-eight, it was dedicated to his sister Ingina who lived in a convent. In fact Puccini first played his score for the assembled sisters and only when his audience dissolved into tears and agreed that the erring heroine deserved forgiveness, was he satisfied. The story begins with two postulants hurrying through the cloisters of a little convent, for they are late to prayers. Sister Angelica, also late, enters the church. Then the Monitor of the order of nuns emerges and delivers penances to several young nuns for minor infractions of the rules. The sisters gather in the garden to admire the flowers. They also compare wishes. Sister Angelica, it turns out, seems to have none. She is a somewhat mysterious figure and all is known of her is that she has been in the convent for seven years and that her family relegated her to that fate to punish her for some crime she committed. A bell announces a visitor. The Abbess summons sister Angelica. Her aunt, the Princess, is there to visit her. Greatly agitated, Sister Angelica kisses her hand and humbles herself before her, but the Princes has come for only one thing. Angelica's sister is about to be married and a signature on a document is necessary so that their dead parent's fortune can be divided. Angelica readily consents and asks about something that interests her far more. What has happened to her little illegitimate son, whose birth is the reason that she was hidden away. Her aunt tells her that the child died two years before. Alone in the garden, with night descending Angelica decides to take her own life using her knowledge of herbs and flowers. She prepares a poisonous potion and drinks it. Soon enough she realizes that suicide is a terrible sin and frantically she prays to Mary for forgiveness. The Miracle occurs and while an unearthly light illuminates the church, the Madonna appears leading a little child by the hand. Angelica dies in peace, amid the singing of invisible angels promising her salvation. Tickets are $10 for the general public, $5 for students, and 5 arts$ for UVA students. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Cabell Hall Box Office at 434-924-3984 For more information contact Marcy Day at |
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Opera in One Act by Giaccomo Puccini with libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. The Opera Theatre of the McIntire Music Department of the University of Virginia is presenting an one act opera by Giaccomo Puccini on Sunday April 3rd in Old Cabell Hall at 3:30 p.m.