UT Opera Workshop Ensemble
Welcome to the University of Toledo Opera Ensemble home page! Below are the productions
we will present this season. If you would like join the UT Opera Ensemble, please
contact the Music Department office, to arrange an audition.
Music Department Office
419.530.2448
UTMusic@utoledo.edu
UToledo Opera ensemble - Past Seasons
2019-2020 UToledo Opera Performances
The Magic of Menotti
November 15-17
UToledo Opera Workshop Ensemble will present two of Gian Carlo Menotti’s best-loved one-act operas in a performance titled, “The Magic of Menotti.” The ensemble will perform both operas, THE TELEPHONE and AMELIA GOES TO THE BALL, in two different performance settings—a dinner show and a traditional theatre performance.
In THE TELEPHONE, a young man, ready to propose, finds it impossible to break through his love’s addiction to her phone. The UToledo Opera ensemble gives this classic comedy an update for the smartphone era.
The title says it all, AMELIA GOES TO THE BALL and—spoiler alert—she goes! Nothing will stop this young socialite from attending the most anticipated ball of the season—not her husband, not her lover, nor their battle for her affections.
Dinner show performances will be held at the Carranor Hunt and Polo Club in Perrysburg, Ohio, Friday, November 15 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 17 at 5 p.m. A dinner show ticket includes both operas and a dinner of prime rib or chicken Marsala, as well as salad, dessert buffet, coffee, tea, and water. A cash bar will also be available. But no credit cards are accepted at the bar. There is a 10% discount on 2 or more dinner show tickets. Use the promo code UTOpera when purchasing. Tickets to the dinner shows are $50 general admission; $45 for all UT Employees and Alumni, seniors (60+), and members of the military; and $40 for students (of any school) and children. Dinner show tickets are available only in advance. Purchase tickets by Wednesday, November 13.
The traditional theatre performance will be held Saturday, November 16 at 8 p.m. in the UToledo Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall. Tickets to the traditional performance are $15 general admission; $12 for all UT Employees and Alumni, seniors (60+), and members of the military; and $10 for students (of any school) and children. Note: UToledo students who present their college ID get in FREE! Tickets to this performance are available in advance or at the door.
Advance tickets to any of the performances are available through the UToledo Center for Performing Arts Box Office. Call 419-530-ARTS (2787) or online at www.utoledo.Tix.com.
THE TELEPHONE
Composition and Libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti
CAST
- Lucy – Ashley Roarke (soprano)
- Ben – Sam Spencer (baritone)
AMELIA GOES TO THE BALL
Composition and Libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, English Translation by George Mead
CAST
- Amelia - Paige Chapman (soprano)
- Her Friend - Catharine Jordan (soprano)
- Her Lover - Seth Johnson* (tenor)
- Her Husband - Justin Harris* (bass baritone)
- Chambermaids - Taylor Waldfogel & Kailyn Wilson (sopranos)
- The Chief of Police - Katherine Kuhlman* (mezzo-soprano)
- Ensemble - Danielle Demeo (soprano), Ashley Roark (soprano), Sam Spencer (baritone), Brandon Warren* (tenor), & Tingzhi Wu (tenor)
PRODUCTION CREW
- Dr. Emily K. Oehrtman (Producer/Co-Director, Visiting Assistant Professor of Voice)
- Mr. Wayne Anthony (Pianist/Co-Director, Adjunct Professor of Voice)
- Seth Johnson* (Costume Crew Coordinator)
- Justin Harris* (Set/Prop Crew Coordinator)
All cast members are UToledo Music students
*Graduate Student
UT OPERA ENSEMBLE - 2018-2019 SEASON
La Bonne Cuisine
Friday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m.
The Blarney
601 Monroe St., Toledo, OH
The UT Opera Ensemble will be serving up a tasty treat when it performs LA BONNE CUISINE and other song cycle goodies - MARCH 29 at 7:30 p.m. Get there early to get a bite to eat.
TICKETS
All seats for the concert - $10, available only in advance! Seating is limited. (Food not included in the ticket.)
Visit or call the UT Center for Performing Arts Box Office - 419.530.2787
Cosi fan Tutte
BY Wolfgang Amadeus mozart
NOVEMBER 16-18 (RECITAL HALL, UT CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS)
The UT Opera Ensemble presents Mozart's comic Italian opera, "Cosi fan tutte" (women are like that) but with a modern country western twist! Set in a country bar, a friend of two young men bets them that their girlfriends would be unfaithful if left unattended. So, the men take the bet and put their ladies to the test.
The opera will be sung in the original Italian, with subtitles provided. Join us before the performance for BBQ, beer and free line dancing lessons! (beer is cash bar, and BBQ by Deet’s BBQ). Performances are Friday, November 16 through Sunday, November 18 in the UT Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall. Friday and Saturday performances will be at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s show is at 2 p.m.
CAST
- Fiordiligi – Alana Scaglioni* (Soprano)
- Dorabella – Katherine Kuhlman* and Kate Walcher* (Mezzo Sopranos)
- Guglielmo – Justin Bays (Baritone)
- Ferrando – Moises Salazar* and William Floss† (Tenors)
- Despina – Paige Chapman* (Soprano)
- Don Alfonso – Jonathan Stuckey (Bass Baritone)
Chorus (soldiers, servants, sailors)
- Kaitlyn Trumbul*
- Kailyn Wilson*
- Sterling Wisniewski*
- Taylor Waldfogel*
*UT Student, †UT Alumnus ;UT Faculty
Performance tickets
- $15 General Admission
- $12 Seniors, Military, and UT Employees and Alumni
- $10 All Students
UT Opera Ensemble - 2017-2018 Season
Dido & Aeneas
by Henry Purcell
November 3-5, 2017 (Recital Hall, UT Center for Performing Arts)
Performances: Fridays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays 3 p.m.
Tickets: $15-General Admission; $12-Faculty/Staff/Alumni/Seniors; $10-Students
Order Online at utoledo.Tix.com
This 17th century English opera recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her. A monumental work in Baroque opera, DIDO AND AENEAS is remembered as one of Purcell's foremost theatrical works. It was also Purcell's only true opera, as well as his only all-sung dramatic work. One of the earliest known English operas, it owes much to John Blow's VENUS AND ADONIS, both in structure and in overall effect.
Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream
March 23-25, 2018 (Doermann Theater, University Hall)
Performances: Friday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m.
Tickets: $15-General Admission; $12-Faculty/Staff/Alumni/Seniors; $10-Students
Order Online at utoledo.Tix.com
The UT Opera Ensemble presents Benjamin Britten's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. Britten's (English) libretto brings song to the colorful world of Shakespeare's famous play. Fairy-King Oberon orders Puck to gather a special love-potent herb and anoint the eyes of Demetrius, thus causing him to fall madly in love with the woman who loves him, Helena. But things go comically awry when the mischievous Puck gets it wrong and anoints a different pair of eyes.
Repertoire Note
In August 1959, Britten decided to compose a full-evening opera for the reopening
of the refurbished Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh in June 1960. As this left no time for
a libretto to be prepared anew, he chose to adapt with Peter Pears Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, though as he admitted at the time, he had always admired the original play and was
excited by the various levels of action between the different groups of characters.
As with The Turn of the Screw, these groups are characterized by strongly differentiated colors: the bright, percussive
sounds of harps, keyboards and percussion for the fairy world, warm strings and wind
for the the pairs of lovers, and lower woodwind and brass for the mechanicals. The
opera is completely faithful to the spirit of the original and must be counted as
one of the most successful operatic adaptations of a Shakespeare play. It is possibly
the most beguiling and enchanting of all Britten's operas, a work with a spellbinding
atmosphere that inhabits a truly unique dreamlike world. (www.boosey.com)