March
16
How I Got LEFT at the Opera with Fred Plotkin
Start time: 4:00pmA Boy’s Journey into Politics with Mozart, Wagner and Verdi
Join Fred Plotkin on Sunday, March 16 at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY on Long Island for his multi-media lecture to discover how operas can fire the imagination and become the soundtrack for people who want to fight the good fight. Fred Plotkin, one of the world’s leading opera experts, and a Kinderland camper from 1962 to 1971, grew up in New York in an era when rock, soul, blues, folk and Broadway music were in the air at the same time as classical music and opera. A city kid such as Fred could hear Zero Mostel one night, Pete Seeger the next, and Leonard Bernstein the next. In this period of anti-war protests, civil rights marches, and the rise of environmentalism and the women’s movement, music served to inspire activism. While most people found inspiration in popular music, Fred encountered these ideals in opera.
In a presentation full of music and drama, Fred will also explore why operas such as Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Verdi’s Don Carlo and Giordano’s Andrea Chénier appeal to people across the political spectrum and get them talking.
This large event will be followed by a more intimate dinner Q&A with Fred Plotkin at a highly recommended family-owned Italian restaurant nearby. This includes a multi-course pre-fixe meal. Dinner reservations are limited to 20 people, so purchase your event+dinner tickets as soon as possible!
Events Details
Sunday, March 16, 2014 at 4:00pm
Cinema Arts Centre
423 Park Avenue, Huntington, NY 11743
Dinner follows the event
Campari Ristorante at 6:00pm
225 Main St, Northport, NY 11768
About Fred Plotkin: Fred Plotkin is the author of Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera, the standard text in America for opera education. He writes the Operavore blog at wqxr.org, the Web site of New York’s classical music radio station. He has worked for many opera companies, including La Scala and the Metropolitan, and has lectured on opera around the world. He was a happy camper at Camp Kinderland from 1962 to 1971.