Extra

Verismo Opera Presents Verdi's Otello in Berkeley on Saturday Night

Planet
Monday February 01, 2016 - 01:54:00 PM
Marsha Sims

This coming Saturday night the Verismo Opera company brings its performance of Verdi’s Otello to the intimate performance space of the Hillside Club in Berkeley, with Fred Winthrop as Otello, Eliza O'Malley as Desdemona and Michael Moran conducting. 

Otello is the story of a man who has defied convention by rising to the rank of general in the Venetian army despite his African ancestry and is now governor of Cypress. He has recently shocked the court by falling in love with and marrying the Venetian noblewoman Desdemona who had been thrilled by his heroic acts. 

It has long been a tradition to cast white tenors in the role of Otello and artificially darken their complexion. The Metropolitan Opera recently made headlines because they decided to abandon this practice in favor of using make-up that doesn’t change the skin tone of the actor. Although company members have always supported race-blind casting, it’s noteworthy that at the moment Verismo may be the only group in the world offering a tenor of African descent in the role of Otello. 

Not only does tenor Fred Winthrop “look the part”, but after 45 performances of this role he knows it backwards, forwards and inside out and delivers every line with the authority of someone who lives and breathes Verdi. Desdemona in this fully-staged production, sung in Italian with English supertitles, is Berkeley soprano Eliza O’Malley, with Michael Moran conducting the Verismo Chamber Orchestra. 

Verismo specializes in presenting affordable productions of classic operas in diverse locations throughout the Bay Area and northern California. The same cast will play in Otello at two Sunday 2 p. m. matinees at the Downtown Theatre, 1035 Texas St., Fairfield, CA 94533, on February 14 and February 28.  


Verdi’s Otello. Saturday, February 6, 7:30pm, Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley, CA 94709 

Tickets $30 (general) $25 (seniors), $20 (students), free (under 12 yrs.)  

Buy tickets at the door, online from Brown Paper Tickets, or call (707) 864-5508.