A Postcard from Napoli

7:30 pm, Friday, June 10, 2022

Guest Artist: Charlene Pauls, Soprano

Join the Etobicoke Philharmonic on Friday, June 10, 2022 at Martingrove Collegiate Institute - 50 Winterton Drive, Etobicoke (map) - for A Postcard from Napoli.

Mendelssohn sent us his Symphony No. 4, the "Italian Symphony" as a kind of postcard reflecting his 1830 trip. His inspiration was the Mediterranean sunshine, religious solemnity, monumental art and architecture and pastoral countryside experienced in Bologna, Florence, Rome and of course Naples.

Mozart sends us an operatic postcard in the form of an opera buffa (comedy) set in Naples, Così fan tutti. The plot is convoluted and silly, and in short, revolves around two couples and an instigator. We present the delightful Overture to this entertaining work.

Charlene Pauls will share her favorite musical postcards:

In O Mio Babbino Caro ("Oh my dear Papa”) from the opera Gianni Schicchiis, a daughter beseeches her father to allow her to marry her lover, threatening to leap from the old bridge into the Arno river if denied.

The postcards from Seville, Spain, “De viene, non tardar” and “Voi, che sapete,” are from Le Nozze di Figaro. This comic opera tells the love story of two servants whose marriage foils the plans of a Count to seduce the woman.

All these evocative postcards arrive in your musical mailbox at Martingrove Collegiate Institute, 7:30 pm June 10.

NOTE: Masks, full vaccination and social distancing strongly recommended