Opera:  Pique Dame
Based on a story by Pushkin, Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame is about a soldier, an unlucky gambler who is smitten with the aristocratic Lisa and fixated on learning the “secret of the three cards” from her grandmother, the Countess.  This opulent production from Barcelona features Ewa Podles as the Countess, a part which Joyce Castle will sing this summer in Des Moines.  There will be a contest during this program and 6 winners will get special teas from Russia.   (2011, sung in Russian with English subtitles, 3 hours.