Westminster Opera
Theatre To Present Bizet’s Carmen
Westminster Opera Theatre will perform a Bizet’s
operatic masterpiece, Carmen, at Westminster Choir College
of Rider University. Performances will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday,
March 6, 7 and 8 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 9 at 3 p.m. in The Playhouse
on the Westminster campus in Princeton.
A special “Taste of Spain”
pre-concert dinner will be offered on Saturday, March 8. It will include
a Spanish-themed dinner, a presentation about Carmen by Laura
Brooks Rice, a member of Westminster’s voice faculty, and
Carolyn Abbate, a member of Princeton University’s music faculty
and author of the book In Search of Opera. Participants will
also receive preferred seating for the performance.
Performed in French with French dialogue,
this condensed version of the classic opera strips the Spanish drama
about the doomed romance between a gypsy vixen and a Spanish army
officer to its essence. Set in old Seville’s bullring, the production
includes the music that has made Carmen one of the world’s
most popular operas.
The performers will be Westminster undergraduate
and graduate students. Bill Fabris is artistic director and
David Rebhun is music director for both operas.
Opera director Bill Fabris has a growing national
reputation for excellent, innovative and entertaining productions.
He is equally at home in the worlds of opera and musical theater,
and his production of The Mikado for Chautauqua Opera recently
won him critical acclaim. His production of The Barber of Seville
at Chautauqua last season was praised by critics as “delightful
and seriously funny.”
“Over the years, I have seen
a good many productions of the ‘Barber,’ but never one
so dramatically enjoyable and visually engaging,” wrote one
critic of this production. A regular at the Chautauqua Institution,
Mr. Fabris has also conceived and directed the reviews A Little
Sondheim Music and In Love With Gilbert and Sullivan.
David Rebhun is an active assistant
conductor and vocal coach in New York. He has a freelance studio and
has also been engaged at the Metropolitan Opera, The New York City
Opera, Bregenz Festspiele, Opera Omaha, Virginia Opera, Chautauqua
Opera, Mobile Opera, Opera San Jose and others. He is also a recital
accompanist, playing for singers worldwide. He received his Bachelor
of Music from Oberlin Conservatory and his Master of Music from Manhattan
School of Music, the latter under the tutelage of Martin Katz.
Westminster Opera Theatre has been praised
for its innovative productions of a wide range of operas. Participants
in the program have gone on to perform in opera houses around the
world. They include Jennifer Larmore, who performs regularly
with the world’s greatest opera companies, Norah Amsellem,
who was a 1994 winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, and Michael
Sylvester, who also appears in productions around the world.
Tickets for these performances are $15
for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens. The pre-concert
dinner package is $60 per person. To order, call the Westminster box
office weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 609-921-2663.
Kyla Settles has the title role
in Westminster Opera Theatre’s upcoming production of Bizet’s
Carmen. Performances are Thursday and Saturday, March 6 and
8, at 8 p.m. in The Playhouse on the Westminster Choir College of
Rider University campus in Princeton. Tickets for these performances
are $15 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens. A special
pre-concert dinner package is also available. To order, call the Westminster
box office weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 609-921-2663.
Lucia Bradford has the title
role in Westminster Opera Theatre’s upcoming production of Bizet’s
Carmen. Performances are Friday, March 7, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March
9 at 3 p.m. in The Playhouse on the Westminster Choir College of Rider
University campus in Princeton. Tickets for these performances are
$15 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens. A special
pre-concert dinner package is also available. To order, call the Westminster
box office weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 609-921-2663.
