Dec. 07--This week's Showcase features a sneak peek of Nicole Cabell before she makes her role debut as Hanna Glawari in "The Merry Widow," replacing Renee Fleming.
Franz Lehar's "The Merry Widow" premiered last year at the Metropolitan Opera and is directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman. The opera tells the story of Hanna, a woman left well-endowed after her husband's death, and the men fighting for her fortune to remain in the Pontevedrian homeland.
In the video, filmed on-site in a Lyric Opera rehearsal room, Cabell sings "Vilja." The aria begins the second act in the garden of Hanna's Parisian mansion, where Sacre Coeur towers in the distance. Hanna sings the Pontevedrian song to her party guests.
Cabell is an alum of the Ryan Opera Center and went on to win the 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in Wales. She has since performed regularly at the Lyric, along with the Opera National de Paris, the San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.
"The Merry Widow" plays through Dec. 13 at the Lyric Opera, 20 N. Upper Wacker Dr.
