UBC Opera: Suor Angelica / Gianni Schicchi
February 6, 2027 @ 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
$15 – $50
In collaboration with The Opera West Society
Two One Act Operas, originally conceived as part of Il Trittico
Sung in Italian with English Surtitles
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Librettos by Giovacchino Forzano
Jonathan Girard Conductor
Members of the UBC Symphony Orchestra
Suor Angelica is a deeply moving one-act tragedy set in a convent. Sister Angelica has spent seven years in religious seclusion after bearing an illegitimate child. Her aristocratic aunt, the Princess, visits to secure Angelica’s signature on legal documents and coldly reveals that Angelica’s young son has died. Overwhelmed by grief, Angelica drinks poison to reunite with him, then realizes she has committed a mortal sin. In a final vision of mercy, the Virgin Mary appears, bringing Angelica forgiveness and a heavenly reunion with her child.
Gianni Schicchi is Puccini’s sparkling one-act comic opera, inspired by a brief episode in Dante’s Inferno. After the wealthy Buoso Donati dies, his greedy relatives discover that his fortune has been left to a monastery. Desperate to reclaim the inheritance, they enlist the clever peasant Gianni Schicchi to impersonate the deceased and dictate a new will. Outsmarting everyone, Schicchi secretly bequeaths the estate’s finest possessions to himself while ensuring the young lovers, Rinuccio and Lauretta, can marry. The opera ends with wit, irony, and one of Puccini’s happiest conclusions.
