WWU Opera Studio to Present a Double-Bill of One-Act Operas April 17-26
The Department of Music’s award-winning Opera Studio at Western Washington University will present a double-bill of one-act operas from Friday, April 17 through Sunday, April 26 in the choir room of the Performing Arts Center (PAC).
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17; Saturday, April 18; Friday, April 24; and Saturday, April 25. Performances will be at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 19 and Sunday, April 26. Tickets are $16, with discounts offered for students and seniors, and tickets can be purchased at the box office in the PAC lobby.
The first opera, “Goyescas” by Enrique Granados, is inspired by cartoon tapestries of Spanish artist Francisco Goya, which depict scenes of everyday life. The second opera, Puccini’s only comedy, “Gianni Schicchi,” is based on an episode of Dante’s Inferno and features one of opera’s best-known arias, “O Mio Babbino Caro.”
Both operas premiered at the Metropolitan Opera during World War I. The plots are about people challenging social boundaries, the power of humanity to circumvent greed, constrictions on roles of women, and class prejudice. Opera Studio director Amber Sudduth Bone said she hopes the audience will find a lot of themes to which they relate, such as the power of love to influence people and the power of art to help us cope with tragedy.
Auditions, held early in the fall, are open to all students and the cast features students from departments all over campus. Music and staging rehearsals begin at the beginning of January. The Opera Studio provides valuable experience for young singers to grow in the broad range of required in a dynamic, entertaining performance – from strong musicianship and singing, to acting, movement and collegiality. The Opera Studio’s recent production of Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” won national acclaim.
The choir room has been recently outfitted with state-of-the-art staging equipment to allow it function as a classroom as well as a comfortable performance space. Directions to the choir room, in the lower level of the PAC, can be found at cfpa.wwu.edu/cfpa-facilities, or inquire at the box office in the PAC Lobby.
For more information contact Chris Casquilho, Western’s College of Fine and Performing Arts manager of Marketing and Special events, at (360) 650-2829 or chris.casquilho@wwu.edu.
Parking is free in the C Lots on the south end of campus after 4:30 p.m. and on weekends, and lots 11G and 14G, adjacent to the PAC, offer hourly rates after 4:30 p.m. and weekends. For more information about getting to campus, visit cfpa.wwu.edu/visiting.