By Wilma Allen
La Boheme, among the most popular operas of all time, will be presented live in concert Jan. 4, by Amelia Island Opera (AIO). To set the stage, three stars of this show recently held a class in La Boheme and opera in general.
This class was sponsored by the Newcomers Club of Amelia Island’s Classical Music Group and attended by close to 100 curious listeners at Story & Song Center for Arts and Culture.
La Boheme, by Giacomo Puccini, is the story of struggling young friends in their dismal, 1830s Paris apartment. One of them, a musician, has had a bit of good luck, so the opera opens with a joyful and boozy celebration. Soon a neighbor stops by, romance blossoms, and then the lovers, Rudolfo and Mimi, must cope with the sad effects of their poverty and Mimi’s serious illness. Several of the arias are the most beloved in opera, and the general theme has often been adapted, most recently in the blockbuster Broadway musical, “Rent.”
AIO was founded roughly three years ago by the speakers, Victoria Isernia, John Tibbetts and Robyn Lamp, professional opera singers who now reside on Amelia Island. Their talk focused on operatic styles, history and customs, and used video clips of outstanding performances. A chorus of their own voices capped off the presentation.
It takes perseverance, strenuous practice, talent, musicality and muscle control to launch a successful career as an opera singer. Opera singers do not use microphones. They must learn to project their voices clearly and beautifully over huge orchestras in large concert halls. The trio showed videos using fiberoptic laryngoscopy cameras and MRI technology to reveal opera singers’ internal muscles in action as they sing: vocal cords stretch and vibrate; tongue and Adam’s apple undulate; lungs inflate and deflate like accordions.
The speakers explained tricks of the trade, such as how they sing librettos in French, Italian and German using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), a standardized representation of sounds used in speech. With IPA translations, they learn to sing different languages convincingly, with no loss of heart or emotion.
Lamp, Tibbetts and Isernia will be joined by four other outstanding singers in AIO’s “La Boheme.” Curtis Tucker, Artistic Director of First Coast Opera in St. Augustine, will conduct a live orchestra. With one performance only, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m., in the Amelia Plantation Chapel, tickets are going fast. If you don’t want to miss out, get yours soon at ameliaislandopera.org/laboheme.
After frequent performances in concert halls from New York to Hawaii, Lamp, Tibbetts and Isernia are thrilled to call Amelia Island home and bring opera to their new community.
But they are not the first opera stars to live here. MaVynee Oshun Betsch was a successful opera singer in Europe before returning to Florida and her beloved American Beach. She became the Island’s well-known environmental activist, fondly nicknamed “The Beach Lady.”
This production is sponsored in part by The Burroughs Family Foundation and the Amelia Island Tourist Development Council.