MSU to present ‘Dido & Aeneas,’ ‘Scenes from American Musicals’

Mississippi ��APP senior Corinne D. “Cori” Reece, a music/vocal major from Aberdeen, will be among performers this weekend at an Opera Workshop performance in downtown Starkville. (Photo by Megan Bean)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—This weekend, Mississippi ��APP’s music department presents the opera “Dido & Aeneas” and excerpts from some of musical theatre’s greatest shows.

The family-friendly Opera Workshop production takes place Friday and Saturday [Nov. 20 and 21] at the First United Methodist Church’s Connection Center.

General admission is $12 for performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; $10 for children, seniors and MSU students and faculty with identification.

Purchases may be made at the door or reserved in advance by telephoning the department’s choral office at 662-325-3490.

The downtown Connection Center is located a short distance east of the church at the intersection of East Lampkin and South Washington streets.

Based on Greek poet Virgil’s “Aeneid,” the short opera by Henry Purcell (1659-95) tells a tragic story of love between the Queen of Carthage and a Trojan warrior. In addition to soaring music and touching narrative, the production continually has been praised for its special effects and dancing. Featured singers in MSU’s version are accompanied by harpsichord and a string quartet.

The program’s second half will include selections from five Broadway classics, “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Rent,” “West Side Story” and “Wicked.”

Jeanette Fontaine and Tara Warfield, music department faculty members and Opera Workshop instructors, are directing the performances.

“Opera Workshop provides music majors and non-majors with the opportunity to perform in scenes and full productions of both operatic and musical theatre genres, and it is an excellent opportunity for students to become acquainted with the many facets of live theatrical performance,” Fontaine said.

In addition to movement and gestures, acting, dance and choreography, and dialogue, Opera Workshop participants learn about behind-the-scenes aspects of stagecraft, including hair and makeup, costuming, set design, and construction and lighting.

Information about this and other OW events is available from Fontaine at 662-325-8775 or jfontaine@colled.msstate.edu; Warfield, at 662-325-3070 twarfield@colled.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at .

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