Celebrating the "bel canto" (beautiful singing) style of Italian opera, the Ithaca College Opera Workshop will present a series of opera scenes on Saturday, April 24.
The free performance will begin at 8:15 p.m. in the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.
Patrick Hansen will provide both musical and stage direction for the performance. The scenes, which will be sung in the original Italian, include portions of Mozart's Idomeneo and The Marriage of Figaro, Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Cinderella, and Verdi's La Traviata, plus scenes by Bellini and Donizetti. Arias, duets, trios, and quartets will be featured.
Hansen provides musical direction for Ithaca College Theatre's annual opera and musical presentations, and teaches opera and musical theater workshops. Currently the director of musical studies for the Young American Artist Program at Glimmerglass Opera, he has been on the musical staffs of numerous opera companies, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Juilliard Opera Center, Pittsburgh Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera.
Contributed by Erik Kibelsbeck
