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Participate in a study on experiencing a live event Manitoba Opera patrons are being asked to participate in a U of M research project that is examining how people experience live events. PhD candidate Raymond Lavoie, in conjunction with Dr. Kelley Main of the Asper School of Business, is focusing his dissertation on how people perceive live events and what factors can help them optimize their satisfaction and happiness from such experiences. A more detailed explanation on the research project is given in the debriefing at the end of the survey. Thanking you in advance for your participation is this research project. The research includes gathering data from surveys completed by people after they have attended a live event. The survey takes about five minutes to complete, and anyone completing the survey will be entered to win a $200 Best Buy gift card. To participate in the survey after attending The Marriage of Figaro, go to Tiny.cc/opera Please note that the link opens immediately following each performance and closes 16 hours later.
Perspectives Love Regained by Rory Runnells The Marriage of Figaro is about a lot of things, but love, and its expression as sexual desire in many of its permutations and combinations, is at its heart. On the estate of the embattled Count and Countess Almaviva, almost all the characters are in love or lamenting lost love – as does the Countess for the Count; are tortured by burgeoning sexual desire – as are the younger ones, the page Cherubino, and the gardener’s daughter Barbarina; or rediscovering an old passion turned to love – as are the oldest ones, Dr. Bartolo and Marcellina. The Count’s sexual desires upset his own world though he doesn’t see it. Figaro, at the centre of the action, as he was in The Barber of Seville, is the lightning rod and the clever manipulator of the plot. However, he is now in love with his bride-to-be, Susanna, and the dark side of love: jealousy, will rear its ugly head in him and others. Figaro and Susanna are confident in their love, but the nasty custom – the infamous “droit du seigneur” – challenges it severely before peace can return. This supposedly medieval custom allowed the lord of the estate to sleep with the bride of a vassal on the wedding night. There is no convincing evidence of this custom ever existing. At most, there was a money payment to the lord, who originally did have the right to select a vassal’s bride. In any case, the Count doesn’t need that custom, which in the opera he claims has been banished, to try to get it on with any female, especially Susanna, who outwits him at every turn. Crazy passion whirls around, but it is the reconciliation of the Countess and Count which ends the mad day of desire gone wild. In one of the most moving scenes in opera, the Countess grants the Count the pardon for which he begs for his thoughtlessly cruel out-of-line behaviour towards her (not to mention everyone else). The Countess is the most sympathetic character in this work. It’s easy to feel her bewilderment at seemingly losing the Count’s ardent love which was quite evident in The Barber of Seville, while remaining, possibly against her better judgment, passionate about him. If you have known love, you can understand that. The multiple couplings that end Figaro signify that love can be regained and discovered, in both young and old. Love conquers all? For the moment, anyway, and Mozart’s exquisite, joyous music in the finale makes one hope that it can forever. Rory Runnells is Artistic Director of the Manitoba Association of Playwrights, Drama Editor for Prairie Fire magazine, and writes book reviews for the Winnipeg Free Press. Special Thanks to our Season and The Marriage of Figaro Production and Performance Sponsors: 13
Page 3 and 4: Mission Statement Manitoba Opera is
Page 5: Dr. Bill Pope Heather Sarna Princip
Page 9: Message from the Chair, Board of Tr
Page 17: The Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozar
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Page 22 and 23: The Artists 20 Brent Krysa* Directo
Page 24 and 25: The Artists Past performances inclu
Page 26 and 27: Manitoba Opera Chorus Soprano Emily
Page 29: Synopsis The Marriage of Figaro Con
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Page 34: Ellen Spencer Brenda Keith St. Clai

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