At UNLV, night of opera is an affordable event

Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 | 8:49 a.m.

Under the direction of Assistant Professor of Music, Christine Seitz, UNLV Opera Theatre will feature two programs, fully staged with piano, that highlight scenes from some of the most notable operas.

No orchestra. No large-scale architecture. No full-length productions. Just voices and piano dabbling in masterworks in the Beam Music Center recital hall.

"Lovers and Other Supernatural Beings" will be held Sunday and Monday evening and include partial costuming and props. The pianist will be Gary Thomas. Most of the work will be sung in its original language with English translations projected on the stage.

"It's well-sung, well-acted. This is the output of their work in the opera workshop course," Seitz, director of UNLV Opera Theatre, said. "It's quite an arrangement of repertoire. In the first program there are four scenes taken from the 'Marriage of Figaro.' The second program features scenes from two Verdi operas."

Though a college operation, UNLV Opera Theatre remains a consistent entity in the struggling opera community with one full production each year. Its next production will be Mozart's "Don Giovanni" in March, followed by a concert version of Robert Ward's "The Crucible" (based on the Arthur Miller play).

Sunday's program is presented by the beginning opera workshop class (a cast of 20) under the student direction of Leslie Leytham, a senior voice major who has performed in several UNLV operas and as a vocalist with the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society.

Performances include scenes from Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'amore," Beethoven's "Fidelio," Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" and Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" and Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado" and Yeomen of the Guard."

Monday's program, under the direction of Seitz, features 26 students from the upper level opera workshop classes.

Performances will feature scenes from Verdi's "Macbeth" and "Un Ballo in Maschera," Bizet's "Carmen" Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" and "Der Entfuhrung aus dem Serail," Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" and "Der Rosenkavalier," Massenet's "Manon," Dvorak's "Rusalka," Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld" and Donizetti's "Don Pasquale."