What/Who:

Webster University presents its annual Opera Studio performance. 

Opera Studio is a highly select ensemble of singers performing scenes from opera and operetta. The production is under the artistic direction of Alice Nelson and directed by Guest director Mark Lamanna, who received the Classical Singer Magazine’s 2007 Stage Director of the Year Award. Lamanna has directed for opera companies on both coasts. The orchestra will be conducted by Chris Ludwa, Artistic Director of Michigan's Bay View Music Festival

When:

Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25 and 26, 2008, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 27, 4 p.m.

Where:

Winifred Moore Auditorium, Webster University, 470 E. Lockwood Ave.

Cost:

$10 for the general public. $5 for senior adults. Students free with valid I.D.

More Info:

Call the Fine Arts Hotline, 968-7128 or the Music Department at 968-7032

Selections for the performance include:

L'Ormindo, Cavalli (takes place in Fez, northern Africa)

Several scenes from the first act will be performed, in which the young Queen of Fez loves two young princes, rather than her old husband from an arranged marriage. Discovering that one of them was unfaithful to his former love, she decides to run away with Ormindo.

The Magic Flute, Mozart

These performances include both Pamina's and Papageno's suicide scenes from the finale, in which they are saved by three young boys who have been charged with watching over them. Papageno and Papagena, birdcatchers dressed in feathers, sing a delightful duet about the many children they will have one day.

The Abduction from the Seraglio (in German)

This scene takes place in Turkey and includes an aria and final quartet from the 2nd act. The Spanish nobleman Belmonte has arrived at the Pasha's palace where his sweetheart is being held against her will. They, with their two servants, plan an escape that is almost thwarted when the young men accuse the girls of infidelity. The quartet especially, almost a little opera in itself, is a stunning example of Mozart's inventiveness and musicality.

Orpheus in the Underworld

Offenbach's rollicking spoof of the Orfeo and Euridice myth. Opera Studio will perform several scenes including the entire last act, a rip-roaring bacchanal in Hell with the gods and goddesses singing and dancing the can-can.