After creating a splendid ruckus at last year’s Bear Valley Music Festival wine tasting event, Opera Frontier returned to add its own kind of flavor to the evening!
Watch “Sips and Sonatas” Promo Video
These performances feature Heidi Moss Erickson, Gail Simpson, Michael Taylor and the Thalea String Quartet.
Violettas Shift: Violetta’s glorious aria from La Traviata re-imagined as a conversation between two close friends at the end of their shift at the restaurant. They review the delights and sorrows of love, ultimately taking comfort in their friendship and their patrons’ left-over wine.
Watch “Violettas Shift”
Flights of Fancy: A Song Cycle by Michael Taylor based on tasting notes
Tasting Notes are the formulaic comments that wine critics serve up in their wine reviews. It is a peculiar but important form of literature, especially for winemakers. Opera Frontier decided to set some to music, recruiting composer Michael Taylor for the task. Here are the first two songs.
1) Tasting Notes: Two singers share a glass of wine. One singer describes award-winning Mollydooker 2012 Carnival of Love Shiraz using the tasting notes written by Wine Spectator’s Editor-at-Large, Harvey Steiman (with his permission.) The other singer savors a memory triggered by the taste – of a distant summer by the lake.
Watch “Tasting Notes”
2) Bonjour Beaux Frères: This lyrical romp uses colorful language from tasting notes that describe several different wines from Beaux Fréres Winery.
Watch “Bonjour Beaux Frères”
