Vincenzo Bellini’s “Norma” from Opera Southwest will be featured on this week’s Sunday Opera (12/8 3:00 p.m.). Lindsay Ohse is the doomed Druid priestess who fell in love with a Roman proconsul named Pollione (John Pickle) and broke her vows by having two children with him. When Pollione turns his attentions to a younger priestess named Adalgisa (Olivia Vote), Norma’s fate is sealed, and she begs her father Oraviso (Justin Hopkins) to protect and raise her innocent children when she is sacrificed in a ritual fire. Anthony Barrese conducts this performance from earlier this year.
Stay tuned after the opera for an afternoon of delightful music from the pen of Richard Strauss and the complete score for his ballet “Schlagobers” or “Whipped Cream” which begins in a confectionery where a group of children go for a celebration, and because of an excess of sugar, one young man is treated to some delicious hallucinations including dancing sweets and libations!
