Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra Presents Pagliacci

We spoke with music director, Adrian Sylveen, about the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra's production of Leoncavallo's tragic opera Pagliacci, a gripping masterpiece that blends raw emotion, unforgettable music, and timeless drama.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Alison de Merz, my guest this morning as founder and
artistic director from the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. Adrian Sylvin,
good morning, Good morning. For those who don't know about
the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Where is it located? What

(00:20):
is it that you do?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well?

Speaker 3 (00:21):
We do a lot of things. We've been around since
nineteen ninety seven actually, and originally we started the project
in New Britain, Connecticut, and this is still our base
in terms of our official address and our sort of
home based location. However, these days we perform a lot

(00:43):
in Hartford, in New London. We are performing operas in Middletown.
We are also in New York City, and occasionally we
travel much further. We just came back from South Dakota.
We've been to New Hampshire with an opera performance. So
we are a regional company this point that performs vast
referred to ours, from operatic projects to chamber music concerts

(01:06):
all over the New England, and if I may say so,
we also have a quite successful program abroad called Greve
Opera Academy, which is ten years old, so we have
grown since nineteen ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Seven, and you have concert and opera programs each season.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
In terms of number of performances much higher because obviously
we repeat like this upcoming pariachi performance a production rather
is repeated three times in Connecticut. Usually we also play
for local elementary schools, mostly in New Britain, so it
is probably performed about twenty five to thirty times a year,

(01:44):
and vise are divided into certain number of programs.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, I see, so Paliachi will be performed at New
London's Guard Arts Center. Also at Harford's first Presbyterian church
is Santo Fragilio. Yes, so tell us what is polyachi?

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Well, Baiacci is is a very good example of something
we call veri isma opera, which means it's an opera
form or rather the style I should say, which aims
to reflect the real human emotions love, betrayal, I said,
normal human notions, but something that we see in life.

(02:23):
And it's you know, opera originally generated in Italy an
attempt to restore the Greek drama which was not necessary,
the reflection of life, and it was sort of connected
to these sort of super superhuman powers for a while,
and there isthma is completely opposite from that. So we
have works such as Bayacci by Cavalo, which depicts the situation.

(02:48):
It's a triangle of love and betrayal and jealousy, and
very dramatic sort of set of events which tend to
amplify maybe the no more human emotions.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Of course, of.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Course we create a drama. Of course we're gonna have
a murder. There's no opera without the murder. But it
is basically a reflection of a human different stages of
human emotion.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Why is this opera perfect for newcomers?

Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, first of all, it's relatively short. Our show will
be under under two hours or around two hours, so
that is, you know, opera opera by definition of sort
of by tradition, I should say, it's relatively it's a
relatively long form. And we have to remember that historically
that was a happening. You would prepare for it for

(03:40):
a while and then you would go and it was
a social gathering or so this, this particular opera is shorter,
and therefore it's it's easier. It is very condensed with
absolutely stunning melodies and music in general. With some pieces
of music, some Arias. That's absolutely wonderful, And you know
that's not one of these works you have to study

(04:03):
in depth to be to be ready for it. You
can just come and enjoy and you don't have that
much time to lose.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
If you wish.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Is it all an Italian?

Speaker 3 (04:12):
It is all entire but there will be English supertitles,
So for those of those in the audience who do
not understand Italian that there will be there will be supertitles.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
And what do you hope the audience takes away with
them when the show is over.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
That's probably a very important question for any concert or
any event, but in this case, well, I think we
have to try to move people and sort of let
them experience their own emotional journey through the.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Throughout the play.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
That's my goal anyway. I think obviously we want to
experience beauty. I mean, we are we go to these
things to experience something that is not a daily routine.
If you wish, you know, so, that's definitely a hope that.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
That that would not be a routine experience.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
But I think that every opera is a journey. It's
sort of we go through the story, and even if
we know the story, obviously opera is something that you
go to hear the music and hear the singers, So
it's most of the people that come they actually know
the plot. But still it's the emotional journey that we

(05:19):
kind of connect with or through through human voice.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
You know, it's.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
A mysterious to some degree experience in which we experience
beausy through somebody's else singing, and even singing in this
meeting is already already defined a certain communication form if
you wish, so that would be my awat long winded answer.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
No, I love your answer because I connect with God
through music. Like some people may hear a voice or
a feeling in their heart, for me, through music, I
feel the presence of God. So to me, whether somebody
sings good or bad, it doesn't really matter. The way
they're singing and the way their heart is in it.
It I connect.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
I agree, And you know, God is a concept I
suppose could mean different things to different people, but but
we all agree that there's something beyond us. In other words,
it's not the kitchen tablespoon. So it's in a most
broader sense, the definition of something that we can't really touch.
And I think to some degree, human voice at its

(06:24):
best is that I'm nothing is God? But is that
something that that's something that we cannot It does touch us,
touch us into different ways.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yes, it's exactly. It touches us in different ways. It
touches the heart, it touches the mind, it touches the spirit.
It's beautiful. So you're the music director of this show,
and you attended Yale University School of Music.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Well, like many other students that of that school, I
was lucky.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
To have that opportunity. And school is one thing.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
And then and then sort of the passion for for
the art form myself suppose, or anything else for that
man in life is something that dries us forward. I
think I still think I have a little bit of
passion left.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
In me for this.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yes, you do, absolutely well.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
I'd like to invite everybody to a wonderful show. This
is actually an Italian production sense because the staging work,
majority of it took place in Italy, and some singers
who are Americans, but they studied with us in Italy
and they're coming back here to think with us here.
So in many ways you will one will see probably

(07:36):
more Italian work. I mean, this is inten opa to
begin with but we worked with Italian coaches, we worked
with Italian musicians, and I hope that that will be reflected,
that would reflect somehow in the production that we present.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
My daughter's name is Francesca Alena Campagna. You can't get
more Italian gratti and in this area though, especially there's
so many Italian people in Connecticut.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yes, that is true, that is true.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
But I think that that the language, you know, it
kind of language reflects certain strength and finess of that culture,
which is quite quite remarkable.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Wow, that's very nice. I'm speaking with founder and artistic
director Adrian Sylvin from the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. The
show is Palliaci. You can see it New London's guard
Arts Center on Wednesday, November twenty sixth at seven thirty,
Middletown's Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center on Friday November twenty eighth,

(08:45):
and Hartford's First Presbyterian Church on Sunday, November thirtieth at
six o'clock. For more information, you can go to the
Virtuosi dot org for tickets and the performances. Thank you
so much for being here today.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Thank you for having me. Thank you so much,