Union Avenue Opera’s 18th Festival Season begins this month. It’s a summer of shepherds, nymphs, love triangles, sorcery, betrayals, mermaids, monsters, gods…and a magical, all-powerful ring!
THE REPERTOIRE
Don’t miss the mystery and intrigue of Giuseppe Verdi’s magnificent Un ballo in maschera. Riccardo and Amelia share a forbidden love, but the beguiling Amelia is married to Riccardo’s closest friend and confidante Renato. Amelia enlists the aid of sorceress Ulrica in an effort to extinguish her illicit love for Riccardo, but discovers her secret is already out. The culmination takes place at a lavish masked ball as this love triangle turns deadly. Presented in Italian with projected English supertitles.
Concluding the 2012 Festival Season is the start of a four-year odyssey for Union Avenue Opera: Das Rheingold, the first of Richard Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle. Condensed and reduced by English composer Jonathan Dove, this adaptation retains the essence of Wagner while making it accessible to UAO’s intimate setting. A saga of epic proportion replete with giants, gods, goddesses and a dragon, Das Rheingold opens in the waters of the river Rhine, where three Rhine-maidens guard the river’s magical gold. Enraged by their scorn, conniving dwarf Alberich steals enough of this precious metal to forge a ring that gives its bearer unimaginable power. Meanwhile Wotan and Loge, two powerful gods, conspire to steal the gold as ransom for the goddess Freia who has been kidnapped by two giants. The ensuing struggle for possession of the ring drives this dramatic opera. Presented in German with projected English supertitles.
IN THE PIT AND BEHIND THE SCENES
UAO Artistic Director and Conductor Scott Schoonover is set to conduct all three productions this season. Stage Director Allyson Ditchey, who last staged UAO’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, returns to stage Acis and Galatea. Returning after yet another critically-acclaimed Turandot last season, Mark James Meier stages Un ballo in maschera. Stage Director Karen Coe Miller, a member of the music faculty at Oklahoma City University, makes her UAO debut with Das Rheingold.
BEFORE THE FOOTLIGHTS
Union Avenue Opera welcomes back artists from past seasons:
Acis and Galatea: David Dillard (Polyphemus), Elizabeth Schleicher, Elise LaBarge, Philip Touchette and Nathan Ruggles.
Un ballo in maschera: Denise Knowlton (Ulrica), Jon Garrett (Chief Magistrate), Thomas W. Sitzler (Silvano), Anthony Heinemann (Servant), Todd von Felker (Samuel), and David Dillard (Tom)
Das Rheingold: Kevin Misslich (Wotan), Elise Quagliata (Fricka), Jordan Shanahan (Alberich), Cecelia Stearman (Erda), Todd von Felker (Fasolt), Joy Boland (Freia), and Clark Sturdevant (Froh)
Several artists make their UAO debut:
- Soprano Juliet Petrus (Galatea, Acis and Galatea)
- Tenor Marc Schapman (Acis, Acis and Galatea)
- Tenor Emanuel-Cristian Caraman (Riccardo, Ballo)
- Baritone Andrew Cummings (Renato, Ballo)
- Soprano Rachael Holzhausen (Oscar, Ballo)
- Soprano Courtney Mills (Amelia, Ballo)
- Soprano Elizabeth Beers Kataria (Woglinde, Rheingold)
- Bass-Baritone John Maynard Burton (Donner, Rheingold)
- Tenor Kevin Hanek (Loge, Rheingold)
- Soprano Megan Hart (Wellgunde, Rheingold)
- Mezzo-Soprano Katja Heuzeroth (Flosshilde, Rheingold)
- Bass Nikolas Wenzel (Fafner, Rheingold)
TICKETS & INFORMATION
Acis and Galatea runs April 27, 28, 29 (m). Un ballo in maschera runs June 29, 30, July 6, 7. Das Rheingold runs August 17, 18, 24, 25. All performances begin 8pm, except for a matinee, marked (m), at 3pm. Tickets may be purchased by calling 314.361.2881 or visiting http://www.unionavenuopera.org/
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