Lakme

​A Non-Profit Organization with a mission to provide world class training to gifted artists and to offer accessible high quality performances to our community. At Chicago Summer Opera, we offer training in role preparation, vocal technique, dramatic preparation, audition technique, and stage movement. In addition to the main stage productions, the program will offer staged scenes and one act operas with piano. This combination of training helps developing singers grow immensely in a short period of time.

Chicago Summer Opera

425 S Wabash Ave

Ganz Hall at Roosevelt University:425 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60605 Creative Team:Stage Director: Cathy DunnConductor: Adriano SpampanatoPianist: Gyan MariaAssistant Stage Director: Brandon Shaw McKnightAssistant Conductor: Tomas GarciaChoreographer: Shanti JohnsonStage Manager: Cathy Liu In 1800s India, tensions between the native people and the occupying British forces run high, particularly for the Hindu high priest Nilakantha. One day, his daughter Lakmé and her servant Mallika gather flowers. They are unaware that two British soldiers, Frédéric and Gérald, are also nearby, accompanied by Gérald’s fiancée, her cousin, and their governess. When the rest of the party wanders away, leaving Gerald alone, Lakmé encounters him. Despite her initial fear, they experience an undeniable attraction. This is unwelcome news to Lakmé’s father, Nilakantha, who is incensed at the British officer’s encroachment on his daughter’s affections as well as his native land. Determined to know the trespasser’s identity, Nilakantha forces Lakmé to sing at a busy market. Upon seeing Gérald, Lakmé faints and Nilakantha stabs him, sure that he has violated his daughter’s purity. Lakmé is able to escape with Gérald to the forest, where they fall deeper in love as she helps him recover. In this romantic setting, there is a sacred spring that, legend has it, ensures the true and enduring love of those who drink its water. As Lakmé draws water from the spring, Frédéric arrives and implores Gérald to abandon Lakmé and return to his military duties, setting the stage for the opera’s concluding conflicts between the familiar and the foreign, and between loyalty and love. Based on popular fiction of the time, Lakmé was a vehicle for soprano Marie van Zandt, an American-born diva whose voice and personal exploits captured the public’s attention and contributed to the opera’s success. Today, the opera is best known for its famous Flower Duet ("Sous le dôme épais") and Bell Song (“Où va la jeune Hindoue?”). Librettist Edmond Gondinet first conceived the opera and then involved his friend, composer Leo Delibes; it is therefore somewhat ironic that the story’s content is out of with today’s post-colonial norms, but its music has proven timeless.

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Lakme

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