Handwashing Arias

Monday
Aug 03, 2020 1:00pm

Venue Online

Cost Free

Handwashing to . . . The Wash Your Hands Project

Macbeth: Oh! Questa mano! Non potrebbe l’Oceano queste mani a me lavar!
(Oh, this hand! The ocean could not wash my hands clean)
Lady Macbeth: Poco spruzzo, e monde son.
(A sprinkle of water and they will be clean again.)

In the era of COVID-19, washing your hands takes more than a poco spruzzo. Health experts say we should use the proper technique and scrub for at least 20 to 30 seconds – as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice. But who says you can’t sing something else?

Pacific Opera is here to help! We have created the Handwashing Public Service Video Project, a series of how-to videos featuring singers from our past and future productions, with music by your favourite opera composers and new words by Bill Richardson. Watch (and sing along) as our opera divas and divos demonstrate proper handwashing procedures while singing popular arias to new lyrics.

Corona-librettist Bill Richardson is an author, humourist, former CBC radio host, and current corona-inspired balcony performance artist.

We’re handwashing to …
The Bonnielujah Chorus with the Pacific Opera Chorus
I Got Rhythm with Lara Ciekiewicz
Summertime with Charlotte Siegel
Voi che sapete with Sylvia Szadovszki
The Toreador Song with Tyler Duncan
The Habanera with Megan Latham

Photo: Gregory Dahl and Lyne Fortin in Pacific Opera’s Macbeth, 2012. David Cooper Photography

#6: Handwashing to the Hallelujah Chorus (Bonnielujah)

Monday, August 3, 2020 | 1 pm | On Demand

Giuseppe Pietraroia directs the Pacific Opera Chorus in the ultimate Handwashing Aria – a rousing ode to British Columbia’s top doctor, COVID Superhero Bonnie Henry. Her calm authority and her commonsense mantra – Be kind, be calm, be safe – have made Dr. Henry a celebrity and an inspiration across our province and beyond.

 
Join the Bonnielujah Chorus …

Bonnie Henry, Dr. Henry,
Bonnie Henry, Dr. Henry,
Compassion and nerve.
Bonnie Henry, Dr. Henry,
Bonnie Henry, Dr. Henry,
We’ll flatten the curve.
We are all in this mess together,
Bonnie Henry, Dr. Henry,
Bonnie Henry, Dr. Henry.
But it’s for now and not forever,
Bonnie Henry, Dr. Henry,
Bonnie Henry, Dr. Henry.
Don’t lose heart
Just keep apart
Cool and strong
Be kind safe calm
Bonnie Henry,
Dr Henry,
Bonnie Henry,
Dr Henry
Bonnie Henry

Participating Chorus Members
Sopranos: Ai Horton, Chelsea Kutyn, Cheryl Pocklington, Emlyn Sheeley, Annalysa Tylor, Allison Ward
Altos: Margo Brody, Amanda Chaval, Cathie Lylock, Carol Pudwell, Cassidy Stahr
Tenors: Alex Chen, Stephen Cropper, Brian Holgate
Basses: Brian Andiel, Dale Friesen, Gerald Schieven, Ron Skelton


#5: Handwashing to “I Got Rhythm”

Tuesday, July 7, 2020 | 1 pm | On Demand

Soprano Lara Ciekiewicz celebrates sneezin’ season with some Gershwin! It’s summertime, and nature is beautiful – but teeming with allergens. Lara has a few tips for keeping those hands clean and sneezes contained.

 
Sneeze along with Lara!
Here are the lyrics, courtesy of Bill Richardson…

Summer’s callin’
Pollen’s fallin’
It’s appallin’
We’re in sneezin’ season again.

Hail, good fellow,
Crook that elbow
What the hell, bro,
Gotta keep those droplets contained.

Ol’ man Covid
Tell him go, kid,
We all know, kid,
What’s in store.

Somethings not right
Nostrils feel tight
Oy, gesundheit
Washing hands is hardly a chore:
Who could ask for anything more!

Lara Ciekiewicz made her Pacific Opera Victoria debut in 2013 as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific in Concert. Since then she has returned for important role debuts as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra and Jenůfa in Janáček’s Jenůfa. The 2019/20 season saw Lara in two roles in Puccini’s Il trittico –Suor Genevieve in Suor Angelica and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi.
Full bio

#4: Handwashing to “Summertime”

Monday, June 29, 2020 | 1 pm | On Demand

Soprano Charlotte Siegel sings instructions on how to get through the pandemic – to the tune of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”.

 
Sing along with Charlotte…

Bummer time
All because of corona
We’re depressed
We’re abandoning hope
We must queue
At the Safeway and Rona
But gosh, little baby,
Just use soap.

Wash your hands
Keep two meters between you
Boomer child,
That is six or so feet.
Rock that mask
And sneeze into your elbow
And say every morning
Life’s still sweet.

And say every morning
Life’s still sweet.

Toronto-based soprano Charlotte Siegel has completed a Graduate Diploma in Opera and Voice at McGill University and was to have been a Resident Artist for Pacific Opera Victoria’s 40 Days of Opera in summer 2020 until the COVID-19 pandemic intervened. Charlotte is a classical soprano and a songwriter, and we look forward to her return in summer 2021 for 41 Days of Opera!
Full bio

#3: Handwashing to “Voi che sapete”

Monday, June 15, 2020 | 1 pm | On Demand

“Voi che sapete” is a tuneful aria from The Marriage of Figaro in which the young page Cherubino describes the pleasant (if slightly alarming) symptoms of being in love.

This version of “Voi che sapete” may save you from the even more alarming symptoms of COVID-19. From her bathroom in New York City, Sylvia Szadovszki tells you how should you protect yourself, and why …

 
Here are the words for singing along …

Soap and hot water,
Then, lather up your paws.
You’ll want to do this
Why? Well, because
Covid fidgets
On our digits
And squirms into our maws.

Mezzo soprano Sylvia Szadovszki made her Canadian opera debut as Mercédès in Carmen, while participating in Pacific Opera Victoria’s 2012 Resident Artist Program. She returned in 2016 as Rosina in The Barber of Seville. Sylvia has also performed with New York City Opera, Edmonton Opera, and Vancouver Opera.

#2: Handwashing to the Toreador Song

Monday, June 1, 2020 | 1 pm | On Demand

Baritone Tyler Duncan is bullish on soap and water. He dishes out some good advice to the tune of the Toreador Song from Bizet’s Carmen.

 
Join in! Here are the words.

Do what I tell you
Do not be a dope
Turn on the tap
Reach for the soap
Think like a surgeon
Putting on her scrubs
Rub dub dub dubby dub!
Rub dubby dubby dub!
Rub dubby dub!
Rub dubby dub dub dub.

Heed Dr. Henry
Do as we’ve been taught.
Hands might look clean.
Prob’ly they’re not.
Soap’s the solution
In a sink or tub
Rub dub dub dubby dub!
Rubbity dub dub dub dub dub!
Rubbity dub dub dub!
Rub dub dub dub dub dub.

Tyler Duncan made his debut with Pacific Opera Victoria as Dandini in the company’s 2010 production of Rossini’s Cinderella. Tyler also returned to his home town of Victoria for the 2014 staging by Boston Early Music Festival of two operas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. An alumnus of Oak Bay High School, he is now based in New York.

Tyler has performed several seasons with the Metropolitan Opera and has sung in concert across North America and Europe, appearing with, among many others, the San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Les Violins du Roy, Händel Festival Halle, Verbier Festival, Vancouver Early Music Festival, Stratford Festival, and at Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall. He performs frequently in recital with his wife, pianist Erika Switzer, and has recorded with the Toronto and Montreal Symphonies, Boston Early Music Festival, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and Les Voix Baroque. Soon to be released on the Bridge label is English Songs à la française, a duo album with Erika Switzer.

Tyler Duncan’s Website


#1: Handwashing to the Habanera

Monday, June 1, 2020 | 1 pm | On Demand

Mezzo soprano Megan Latham cleans up as Carmen, to the strains of the famous Habanera.

 
Here are the lyrics for your singing delight!

Germs are vicious
They wish us harm
They build their fortresses
On hands and arms
Likewise elbows
And likewise knees
They seize our bodies
For their colonies.
Nasty microbes
They sow their sins
They plough their furrows
On our human skins,
Bed of roses
You know it’s not,
There’s just corona
In their evil plots.
Bad germs! Bad germs!
Bad germs! Bad germs!
Just take some soap
And H2O
And scrub like crazy
And those germs will go,
Just wash your hands
And soon you’ll be
Attending Carmen
At the P O V!

Megan Latham has performed more than a half dozen roles with Pacific Opera. Most recently, she was a triple threat in Puccini’s Il trittico – playing the warm-hearted La Frugola in Il tabarro, the cold-hearted Princess in Suor Angelica, and the greedy Zita in Gianni Schicchi.
Full bio

Opera ETC
Physically Distant | Socially Connected


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