Webster University’s Opera Studio Presents its Annual Performance

Webster University Opera Studio presents its annual performance of fully-staged and costumed scenes from opera and operetta, with orchestra. Opera Studio is a highly select ensemble of Webster student singers. The director is David Carl Toulson, an assistant director with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis last spring; and conductor is Chris Ludwa, Artistic Director of Michigan's Bayview Music Festival. 

Scenes are from Susannah by Carlisle Floyd; Orfeo and Euridice by Gluck; Ruddigore by Gilbert & Sullivan; and The Medium by Gian-Carlo Menotti. Susannah is the Biblical story of Susannah and the Elders, and will feature Webster Aria Competition winner Katherine Van Zandt, singing the well-known aria, "Ain't it a pretty night?" Act II from Orfeo and Euridice, takes place in the Underworld, where Orfeo persuades the Furies to let him enter Elysium and reclaim his bride, who had died shortly after their wedding. The Medium involves a seance, and Madame Flora's descent into madness as the faked spirits of the dead seem to come to life. Her daughter, played by Colby Dunn, sings "The Black Swan," and "Monica's Waltz," in this excerpt from the opera.  Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore is a hilarious satire on 19th century English manners, complete with a British sailor, a disguised count and several enthusiastic professional bridesmaids.

WHEN:

Friday and Saturday, Jan. 20 and 21, 7 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 22, 4 p.m.