2010-2011 Opera Season

Fall Opera: La canterina by Joseph Haydn and La Divina by Thomas Pasatieri
October 21-24, 2010
Thursday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m. & Sunday, 2:00 p.m.
Callaway Theatre

Tickets Required - Contact the Shorter University Box Office at 706-233-7288.

Shorter University Opera Theatre presents two delightful one-act operas composed 200 years apart from one another. La canterina (1766) is a jovial farce concerning the demure young maiden, Gasparina, and her singing teacher, Don Pelagio. This charming opera buffa will be performed in Italian. In La Divina (1966), a past-her-prime operatic star takes her final bow. This hilarious satire of the “diva” persona will be performed in English.

Winter Opera - The Ballad of Baby Doe
by Douglas Moore
Friday-Saturday, January 21-22, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Desoto Theatre

Tickets Required - Contact the Shorter University Box Office at 706-233-7288.

Set in Leadville, Colorado, Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe (1956) retells the true story of Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor and her marriage to a rich silver entrepreneur. Set over the course of several decades, the opera reveals tableaus from Baby Doe’s life: her greatest joys and deepest sorrows. Comprised of a beautiful score and recognizable arias, this American opera is a landmark work in standard repertory. Performed with full orchestra, this opera will combine the talents of Shorter University faculty and students.

2008-2009 Opera Season

The Music of Menotti:
The Old Maid and the Thief and The Medium
October 23-25, 2008, 7:30 pm
October 26, 2008, 2:00 pm
Callaway Theatre
Directed by Linda Lister

These two one-act operas by Gian-Carlo Menotti highlight his gift for soaring melody and intense drama.  In The Old Maid and the Thief, two busy-body society ladies find some excitement in their lives when a handsome wanderer passes through town.  In the famous aria “Steal Me, Sweet Thief,” their house maid Laetitia hopes that the romantic stranger will save her from a similar life of spinsterhood.  In The Medium we meet Madame Flora, a faux clairvoyant whose world turns upside down when she starts really hearing the voices of ghosts. 

Massenet’s Cinderella
English translation by Dwight Coleman
January 15-17, 2009, 7:30 pm
January 18, 2009 2:00 pm
Callaway Theatre
Directed by Linda Lister

See the beloved fairy tale come to life in Jules Massenet’s operatic rendering.  Based on Charles Perrault’s version of the classic story, the opera is filled with the charming sweetness of dancing fairies, the evil humor of conniving step-sisters, and the magic of a dream-like ball and happy ending.  Come see Cinderella find her Prince Charming as depicted in Massenet’s lush and romantic score.

Operas being considered for the 2009-10 season include Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea and Lehar’s The Merry Widow.

2007-2008 Opera Season

From Carthage to Rome:
Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Robert Ward's Roman Fever
Oct. 25-27, 7:30 pm
Oct. 28, 3:00 pm
Callaway Theatre
Directed by Linda Lister
Music Direction: Elizabeth Blood
Chorus Master: Matthew Hoch

Shorter Opera Theatre explores early music in Purcell's Baroque classic.  Based on Virgil's Aeneid, the opera features sailors, spirits, and sorcery but stars the ill-fated love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, future founder of the Roman Empire.  Contemporary composer Robert Ward brings Edith Wharton's short story to life in his operatic realization of Roman Fever.  Two American widows vacationing in Rome, Italy realize they have quite a lot in common in this opera's surprise ending.  In one evening, enjoy a taste of both 17th century and 20th century opera all sung in English.

Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers
Jan. 11-12, 7:30 pm
Rome City Auditorium
Directed by Linda Lister
Music Direction: Elizabeth Blood

The twelfth collaboration by Gilbert and Sullivan, this charming operetta delights in satirizing British snobbery while reveling in its Italian setting of Venice.  Two gondoliers and their brides mix with Spanish nobility, singing Sullivan's lilting barcarolles and dancing cachuchas in Gilbert's typical topsy-turvy fashion.  Come see the first Shorter Opera Theatre production at the Rome City Auditorium in this production sponsored by Dr. Sam Baltzer and Rome’s Own Music Ensembles. The Gondoliers will be performed with orchestral accompaniment.

Operas being considered for the 2008-9 season include Menotti’s The Medium and The Old Maid and the Thief and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (in German).

2006-2007 Opera Season

Celebrating 250 Years of Mozart
October 25-28, 7:30 p.m.
Brookes Chapel
Bastien and Bastienne
The Impresario

An Evening of Puccini*
January 18-20, 7:30 p.m.
January 2, 3 p.m.
Callaway Theatre

Suor Angelica - by Giacomo Pucinni (sung in Italian with English supertitles)
 In this haunting opera set in 17th century Italy, a young girl named Angelica is banished to a convent for disgracing her family.

Gianni Schicchi - by Giacomo Pucinni (sung in Italian with English supertitles)
Set in Florence, Pucinni's comic masterpiece features the beloved aria "O mio babbino caro." In a clever and complicated plot, the wily Gianni Schicchi outsmarts a handful of greedy relatives to receive the inheritance of the recently departed Buoso.

2005-2006 Opera Season

Your True Calling: Composing in the Shadow of Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Mahler (world premiere): music by Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Alma Mahler; libretto by Linda Lister

Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld

2004-2005 Opera Season

Francis Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites

2003-2004 Opera Season

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Grand Night for Singing
Linda Lister's Tryst and Thereafter, Love Theories (world premiere), and How Clear She Shines!

2002-2003 Opera Season

Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus

2001-2002 Opera Season

Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella