Welcome to The Senate Site

By Lyle Hillyard
Utah State Senator, District 25

Need a break from the heat? It's Opera time in Logan.

Last Wednesday night, I attended, along with some of my family members, the opening night of the Utah Festival Opera. It featured “Il Trovatore”, sung in Italian with English subtitles. It is not hard for me to follow along with the story; however, I have always thought it would be great to have Frank Pignanelli sit next to me to translate.

The Anvil Chorus was the only number I recognized but I was spell-bound by the amazing voices of the performers. They were all very talented but the lead soprano, Othalie Graham, and the main tenor, Arthur Shen, were truly masters. Although the hall was full and ticket sales have been up this year, the majority of tickets are purchased by people outside of Cache Valley and Utah.

Come to Logan this summer and enjoy the cool Cache Valley weather and listen to world renowned performers present some of the best musical opera available in this region. I remember watching "Madame Butterfly" one evening and beginning a conversation with the woman sitting next to me. She told me that she was from Alaska and had been going to the Sante Fe Opera for many years and had heard about this Opera in Logan. She asked me if I knew who was singing the lead part and I looked up his name in the program to tell her. Recognizing the name, she laughed and said that he was a lead Tenor from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Tickets, such as these, would cost several hundred dollars at the Met. Her comment still rings in my ears: "I hope the people of this area appreciate the quality and the price of what they are getting in Logan, Utah."

3 Comments:

 Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip, Senator.

There sure are a lot of choices this summer

1. Go to the opera
2. See Real Salt Lake
3. Watch the grass grow.

Right now, it's a toss up between 1 and 3.

7/20/2007 2:52 PM  

 Anonymous said...

At least #3 isn't getting generous state subsidies (yes it's not just Real Salt Lake.

7/23/2007 7:47 AM  

 Anonymous said...

Utah Festival Opera Company's (UFOC) season is what it is - one opera and a bunch a Broadway shows. UFOC, like most arts organizations, takes public funds in order to survive.

7/24/2007 7:53 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home