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.
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)
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
UToledo Opera ensemble - Past Seasons
Gallery Photos - from the UT Opera Ensemble Production of Cosi Fan Tutte
(November 2018)
...
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
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)
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.
