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Health & Fitness

Martinez History Repeats Itself: MTZO Revives Professional Opera in the City

Live, professional quality opera has existed in Martinez off and on since 1889. MTZO keeps it alive this weekend with The Barber of Seville

 

Tickets are still available for this weekend’s performances of Rossini’s classic operatic comedy, “The Barber of Seville” to be performed Saturday evening at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at  2 p.m. at the Martinez Junior High School auditorium.  Sponsored by Martinez Opera (MTZO) tickets cost $45 per person and will featured trained professional singers.  They may be purchased at the door or at the website - www.mtzo.com.

Oh, and one more thing about this weekend's performance, one of the roles, Berta, will be sung by contralto Sara Couden, daughter of Contra Costa County History Center executive director Priscilla Couden.  Sara is a member of Dolora Zajack's Institute for Young Dramatic Voices and will be playing Mother Goose in Music Academy of the West's production of "The Rake's Progress" this summer.

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Except for a 1991 article in Nilda Rego’s “Days Gone By” column in the Contra Costa Times, the existence of the Martinez Opera, California’s first opera company, was a well-kept secret in the files of local historical societies.

Longtime resident Maria Billingsley became the link between a proud past and the optimistic present bringing commitment and energy to reviving professional opera in what some might describe as an unlikely location.  “Someone told me there used to be a Martinez Opera House but it burned down,” she recalls.  Going to the files of the Contra Costa County and Martinez Historical Societies, she found copies of programs, cast pictures, newspaper articles and a copy of Professor W. B. Bartlett’s 1943 obituary.  She also contacted Rego whose popular column has been creating awareness and interest in local history for several decades.

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Billingsley formed Martinez Opera (MTZO) in 2002 publicizing the community’s musical past at the same time she sought support.   Soon talented professional but often part-time opera singers from throughout the Bay Area and beyond began performing at community events such as Art in the Park, the Farmers Market and other venues including the Martinez Early Childhood Center and Susana Park.  Billingsley believes it’s never too early to expose children to the beauties of operatic singing. 

The artistic Billingsley was raised, as was Margaret McMahon, in a musical family.  Her Cuban-born mother contralto sang and her father played music with the children joining in.  The Carondolet High School and California College of Arts and Crafts graduate chose interior design as her professional vocation leaving her singing limited to the shower until she turned 30.

Billingsley, a mezzo-soprano, had her first bel canto singing lesson as an adult– an act of bravery in conquering nervousness.  She found singing very liberating.  It didn’t take long before she won a spot in a small opera ensemble in San Francisco.  “I had a natural ability to do Rossini,” she said in a 2006 interview for the local Black Diamond Living magazine.

She decided with the encouragement of friends to bring opera back to Martinez.  An article in the Contra Costa Times caught the eye of professional opera singer Cesare Curzi, now artistic director of MTZO.  Curzi was born in San Francisco in 1926, a year before Professor Bartlett closed his San Francisco voice studio and returned to Martinez.  In 1947, San Francisco Opera founder Geatano Merola hired Curzi who then  spent 10 years with San Francisco also traveling back and forth to Europe where he had a very successful career.  Curzi has performed 164 roles and sung in 44 different operas all over the world.

That knowledge combined with Billingsley’s drive has produced three critically and popularly acclaimed productions since 2006.  “The Lovely Galatea” by Franz von Suppe was presented first in honor of the original Martinez Opera which featured it in its early repertoire.  “La Traviata” came next followed by the 2008 “Madama Butterfly”.  “Lucia de Lammermoor” will be featured in 2010 according to current plans.  Performances are held in the Alhambra High School Performing Arts Center, a fully equipped modern stage with the capability of providing  the ‘supertitles’ providing English translations of the lyrics that many modern audiences prefer. 

Celebrating the 120th anniversary of Professor Bartlett’s Martinez Opera company, MTZO held a well-attended recital in October, 2009 in the McMahon-Telfer Hall, owned by the descendants of the McMahon family who figured so prominently in the first chapter of Martinez Opera’s history.  Although the building contains a second floor hall and entertainment venue which existed at the same time as the Martinez Opera Company, the actual Martinez Opera House was a block due west.

Today’s MTZO doesn’t have to deal with mud.  But financing the highly professional performances is a challenge – for one thing, a piano and a violin are no longer adequate musical accompaniment.  But performances such as the upcoming “The Barber of Seville” routinely receive bravos from the audience and periodic fund-raisers such as the popular “Dine with a Diva” and appearances at the Italian Street Painting Festival keep the MTZO able to continue its educational programs for youngsters.  And the professional singers, many of them holding full-time jobs in a variety of fields, love the opportunity MTZO gives them to perform before a live, appreciative audience. 

The story of opera in Martinez proves that life goes on and, if we’re lucky, good history repeats itself.

(Parts of this article first appeared in the Martinez  Historical Society Newsletter)

 

To find out more about Martinez and Contra Costa County history:

 

Martinez Museum – 1005 Escobar Street, cnr of Court Street

Open Tues and Thurs 11:30 a.m. to 3p.m. First 4 Sundays 1-4 p.m.

925-228-8160; www.martinezhistory.org

 

Contra Costa County History Center610 Main Street, Martinez

Open Tues through Thurs, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; 3rd Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

925-229-1042; www.cocohistory.com

  On display through July 12, 2012 at the County History Center, 630 Main Street, Martinez  (Tues, Wed, Thurs, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and third Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.):  Before BART: Electric Railroads in Contra Costa County.

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