Caterina Cornaro Goes to the Opera
16-17 June 2015
On the occasion of the newly refurbished Caterina Cornaro Gallery, the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia invites you to an exhibition and programme entitled Caterina Cornaro Goes to the Opera.
The initiating factor for the realisation of this programme is the rare score of the opera Die Königin von Zypern / La Reine de Chypre [The queen of Cyprus] (an opera in 5 acts, with a complete score with text in German and French), exhibited in the Caterina Cornaro Gallery. The opera libretto was written by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and was first performed on 2 December 1841 in Munich, composed by Franz Lachner, and in Paris on 22 December 1841, composed by Jacques Fromental Halévy. Part of the programme will feature arias from the opera, performed by professional musicians from Germany, the soprano Maria Poyiadji-Fink and the pianist Michael Schütze, who studied the rare score of 1841 specifically for the Leventis Municipal Museum.
The musical part of the programme will be preceded by the lecture ‘Melodramatic Interpretations of History: Caterina Cornaro Goes to the Opera’ by Professor Angel Nicolaou-Konnari, the result of her extensive research on this specific opera. In addition, there will be an exhibition around the subject of the opera in the small space ‘Pandora’s Box’ with related exhibits, such as the original score by Fromental Halévy, an album of the opera costumes, engravings and 19th-century editions of the opera’s critiques.
An integral part of the events is a special tour of the renovated permanent Caterina Cornaro Gallery. The Museum aspires with the presentation of the opera and the events that will accompany it to revive the myth and history of Caterina Cornaro, the last queen of Cyprus, through narratives, interpretations and musical excerpts of this special performance of the opera, 200 years after its initial appearance.
This operatic event will be recorded on 17 June 2015 by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, which will present it in a radio broadcast on 23 June 2015 on the ‘Opera Hour’ programme at 22.10. In this way, hearings from the initial first composition of 1841 will be commemorated and shared with the wider public as part of our European history.
Detailed events programme:
Tuesday 16 June 2015
18.30-19.30
Lecture: ‘Melodramatic Interpretations of History: Caterina Cornaro Goes to the Opera’
by Dr Angel Nicolaou-Konnari, Associate Professor, University of Cyprus
19.30-20.00
Reception
20.00-20.45
Musical performance with arias from the opera Die Königin von Zypern / La Reine de Chypre
Soprano: Maria Poyiadji-Fink
Piano: Michael Schütze
Entrance: Free
Reservations required: +357 22661475 (ext.: 106 / 100), book by Monday 15 June 2015
Email: education@leventismuseum.org.cy
Wednesday 17 June 2015
18.30-19.30
Special guided tour of the newly refurbished Caterina Cornaro Gallery
19.30-20.00
Reception
20.00-20.45
Musical performance with arias from the opera Die Königin von Zypern / La Reine de Chypre
Soprano: Maria Poyiadji-Fink
Piano: Michael Schütze
Entrance: Free
Reservations required: +357 22661475 (ext.: 106 / 100), book by Monday 15 June 2015
Email: education@leventismuseum.org.cy
*The lecture and special guided tour will be delivered in Greek.
Sponsor: A. G. Leventis Foundation
Media sponsor: Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation
Supported by: Nicosia Municipality, Association of the Friends of the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia, A. G. Leventis Foundation Scholarship Association (Cyprus), Zyprisch Deutscher Kulturverein
