Oswego, NY – The Oswego Opera Theater will kick off their 32nd season with a new look and two productions scheduled for October 30th and 31st, according to Mack Richardson, Artist Director for Oswego Opera Theater.
“We’re excited about the upcoming season,” said Richardson. “The Oswego Opera Theater has a new brand that we’re very enthusiastic about and we will showcase it at our upcoming fall events and within our marketing and membership materials going forward.”
Oswego Opera Theater partnered with Oswego-based marketing communications firm, Step One Creative, on the design of the new logo.
According to Richardson, the new 2010-2011 season will start with A Family Halloween Spooktacular on October 30th at 2 p.m. at Tyler Hall at SUNY Oswego. Tickets are $7 for adults and $3 for children, with Family Ticket Packages available. The show will feature children’s classics “The Three Little Pigs” set to music by Mozart, and “Little Red’s Most Unusual Day” (Little Red Riding Hood) set to music by Rossini, Donizetti and Offenbach. Cast members are Elisabeth Kisselstein, Sarah Davies, Robert Allen, Jimi James and John Davies.
On Sunday, October 31st the Oswego Opera Theater will present An Afternoon with the G-Men. The production will feature several soloists and musical selections by Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini. Tickets for this event are $15 for adults and $5 for students and children. The show is also at 2 p.m. and taking place at Tyler Hall at SUNY Oswego.
Tickets for A Family Halloween Spooktacular and An Afternoon with the G-Men are available in advance or at the door at the Tyler Hall Box Office at (315) 312-2141. Payment of cash, check or credit card is accepted at the box office.
“The fall productions are going to be spectacular… even spooktacular,” he added.
The Halloween show features an audience-participation Costume Parade and prizes to be awarded. The Sunday program features the Oswego Opera Chorus and guest artists Kathleen Magee Querec, Angela Libertella Calabrese, Jimi James and John Davies. The music includes Figaro’s “Largo al factotum” from The Barber of Seville; Verdi’s Anvil Chorus from Il trovatore, “Va, pensiero” from Nabucco, and “Libiamo,” “Di Provenza il mar,” and the Violetta/Germont duet from La traviata. Puccini is represented by the “Humming Chorus” from Madama Butterfly, the ubiquitous “Il mio Babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi, and the final scene from Act I of Tosca, with Jimi James undertaking his first portrayal of the sociopath police chief Scarpia. Several numbers from Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love round out the program.
Also, new this year, the Oswego Opera Theater will be allowing their membership to vote on the spring 2010 production. Options include:
1. Così fan tutte – Mozart… Mozart’s most beautiful ensemble music of all his operas, and a wonderful comedy.
2. The Impresario – Mozart… along with either Antonio Salieri’s First Music, Then the Words or La finta semplice by Mozart. The Impresario considers how to handle two prima donnas with hilarious results. Salieri’s opera was premiered on the same night in February 1786 as The Impresario in the Emperor’s Schönbrunn Palace (it was a contest and Salieri won). La finta semplice is an early Mozart comedy about a woman who pretends to be “simple” in order to play matchmaker to two couples who are afraid to romance each other.
3. Don Pasquale – Donizetti… A rich and pompous old bachelor is conned into “marrying” an apparently nice young lady, who proceeds to make his life a living you-know-what until she gets what she really wants. And that would be the bachelor’s nephew whom he has disinherited.
4. The Sound of Music – Rodgers & Hammerstein… what more can one say about this masterpiece?
“This year we wanted our members to have a say in what we’re looking to put together for our spring production,” said Richardson. “We have never done this before and believe people will love having some input on what the organization will be producing in the spring.”
For more information on the Oswego Opera Theater please call (315) 638-1085 or (508) 737-6115, visit www.oswegoopera.org, or email [email protected] or [email protected].
