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Menotti, Britten and Donizetti Operas Part of
2007-08 Northwestern University's Music Season

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Northwestern University School of Music’s 2007-08 opera season will include tales of magic, love potions and unrequited love, interference from the supernatural world and the power of illusion. Directed and conducted by School of Music faculty, the line-up of opera masterpieces will be performed on the Evanston campus by Northwestern voice and orchestral students.

To complement Northwestern’s 2007-08 opera season, the School of Music has invited several guest artists -- John Hoomes, general and artistic director of the Nashville Opera (Oct. 16); renowned soprano Renée Fleming (Jan. 15); and American Verdi baritone Mark Delavan (April 1) -- to present master classes. They are open to the public.

The 2007-08 Northwestern University opera season opens this fall with two, one-act operas by Gian Carlo Menotti: “The Old Maid and the Thief” and “The Medium.” Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, in Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place. Directed by Noel Koran and conducted by Frederick Ockwell, both will be sung in English. Menotti’s 1939 opera “The Old Maid and the Thief” was originally commissioned for the radio. A tale of small town deceit, hypocrisy, feminine wiles and dubious morality, it consists of 14 short scenes. The opera tells of the busybody Miss Todd, her churlish housemaid Laetitia, and the itinerant Bob who charms them all despite his murky past. Menotti’s 1946 opera “The Medium” focuses on pseudo-psychic Madame Flora, a jaded fraud who is slowly succumbing to drink and the superstitious illusions that she herself has created for her clients. At once exploited and exploiting others, Madame Flora soon is disillusioned and hysterical. The opera culminates in murder and mayhem. Single tickets are $15 for the general public; $12 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $6 for full-time students.

Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the winter 2008 opera. It will be performed in English at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 1; and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 2, in Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson St. Noel Koran will direct and Stephen Alltop will conduct this lively tale with chorus master Natasha Lyashenko. Britten’s 1959 opera is a story of young love -- requited and unrequited -- and the hilarity that ensues when the prankster Puck meddles with the mortal and imaginary worlds. Hailed as one of the most successful operatic adaptations of Shakespeare, these two worlds are differentiated musically, with the sounds of harps, keyboards and percussion for the fairy creatures and strings and wind for the mortal lovers. Single tickets are $18 for the general public; $15 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $8 for full-time students.

Northwestern will conclude its 2007-08 opera season with Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 23 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 24, in Cahn Auditorium. Philip Kraus will co-direct with conductor Robert Hasty and chorus master Natasha Lyashenko. Donizetti’s 1832 comic opera is set in an Italian village where the peasant farmer Nemorino pines for the beautiful, wealthy and indifferent Adina. When a quack doctor arrives in town, Nemorino resolves to win Adina’s love with the aid of a “love potion.” Matters are complicated when the dashing Sergeant Belcore swoops in with designs on Adina, leaving fate in the hands of the love elixir’s real (or imagined) potency. It will be performed in Italian. Single tickets are $18 for the general public; $15 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $8 for full-time students.

Single tickets for each of the following public master classes are $7 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $4 for full-time students.

John Hoomes, general and artistic director for the Nashville Opera, will present a master class at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16 at Lutkin Hall. Hoomes has directed more than 75 opera and musical theater productions during his career. After receiving his master’s degree at Indiana University, he served for six years as the resident stage director and dramaturge for the Kentucky Opera. In 1993, Hoomes was awarded the title of "American Cultural Expert" by the United States Information Agency. He has taught numerous master classes in dramatic characterization, opera history, and acting for the operatic stage, and continues to work as a freelance director throughout the nation.

American soprano Renée Fleming will conduct an 11 a.m. master class Tuesday, Jan. 15, at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive. Fleming’s voice has been described as the “gold standard of soprano sound.” Her stylistic versatility and dramatic integrity have won her countless admirers and engagements. After spending the summer of 2006 in Japan with the Metropolitan Opera, at the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, the Ravinia Festival and at Wolf Trap in Virginia, Fleming appears in Eugene Onegin with the Metropolitan Opera; La Traviata with Chicago’s Lyric Opera and the Los Angeles Opera; Arabella with the Zürich Opera; and concert performances of Thaïs at the Royal Opera House, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Gran Theatre del Liceu, and at Châtelet, Paris. A two-time Grammy Award winner, she has been an exclusive recording artist with Decca since 1995. Her newest compact disc, comprised of rarely heard works associated with great singers of the past, was released in fall 2006.

American baritone Mark Delavan’s master class will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, in Lutkin Hall. Delavan has earned public and critical acclaim for his appearances with The Metropolitan Opera, especially in the role of Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida, conducted by James Levine. He also has made numerous appearances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the New York City Opera, San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, The Washington Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Bavarian State Opera.

For more information, call the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office at 847-467-4000 or visit Pick-Staiger’s web site.

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