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Writer, pianist and performer Hershey Felder is at it again, offering another world-premiere show about a musical icon via livestream. This time, he’s portraying the opera great Giocomo Puccini, composer of works including “La bohème,” “Tosca,” and “Madama Butterfly.”
“Hershey Felder, Puccini” follows a young musician who becomes captivated by the world of opera and meets the maestro himself.
The show is performed from Puccini’s birthplace in Lucca, Italy. Felder is joined in the cast by opera guest stars Nathan Gunn, Gianna Corbisiero, Charles Castronovo and Ekaterina Siurina.
Gunn is a performer with local ties. In addition to singing with SF Opera and Symphony Silicon Valley, his wife, musician Julie Jordan Gunn, hails from Los Altos and has worked as a music director with TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.
“This particular show is going to be something new for Hershey in that it’s the first dealing with a composer known almost exclusively for his operas. I can tell you that it’s going to make Puccini’s operas more accessible to everyone,” Gunn stated in a press release. “Hershey does what he does with all the composers he plays: he makes them human. I’m positive that even Theatre Works audience members who have never seen an opera or who have felt that it was too inaccessible will see this and realize that it’s actually very familiar to them.”
Felder is partnering with both TheatreWorks and Opera San Jose to present the performance, which is available on demand through March 21. Access costs $55 per household. More information is available at TheatreWorks.org and Operasj.org. Ticket sales benefit the organization through which they’re purchased.