NAU Opera will present four short operas at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 and 2 p.m. Oct. 31 in Ashurst Hall.<\/p>\n
There will be a pre-performance lecture 45 minutes before each presentation. Tickets are available at $15 for adults, $12 for faculty and staff and $6 for students. Call the Central Ticket Office at (928) 523-8656.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very impressed by how dedicated the singers are to do these pieces,\u201d said\u00a0Nando Schellen<\/strong>, director of NAU Opera.<\/p>\n The evening will start with a drama,\u00a0La Voix Humaine<\/em>\u00a0(The Human Voice<\/em>) by French composer Francis Poulenc and text by Jean Cocteau. The story, set in the 1950s, involves a woman who has a very intense phone conversation with her ex-lover. It is sung in French with English supertitles.<\/p>\n The second opera,\u00a0A Hand of Bridge<\/em>\u00a0by Samuel Barber, is an American comedy set in the 1960s about two jaded couples who meet for their weekly bridge game.<\/p>\n Paul Hindemith\u2019s\u00a0Hin und Zur\u00fcck<\/em>\u00a0(There and Back)<\/em>\u00a0is an absurdist German opera performed in German with English supertitles. Set in the 1950s, this unusual format focuses on a couple that enters into a deadly fight over an adulterous affair, only to have their actions illogically replayed backward until they end up in the same place they started.<\/p>\n The Telephone<\/em>, by Gian-Carlo Menotti, is a comedy set in 2000 in which a lover\u2019s attempts to propose to his girlfriend are foiled by the incessant ring of the telephone.<\/p>\n Eighteen vocal performance majors will be featured in the productions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"