Opera Chapman and The Chapman Orchestra team up to present Mozart’s comic masterpiece, Le Nozze di Figaro on April 25, 26 and 27, 2014.

Widely considered Mozart’s best and funniest work, Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) is a grand comic opera full of mistaken identities and surprises.  In the aftermath of his marriage to Rosina, the count’s palace becomes a tangled web of love affairs — the pageboy Cherubino courts the countess while the count pursues the maidservant Susanna, who is betrothed to the wily Figaro. As the count conspires to steal Susanna, Figaro, his fiancée and the countess maneuver to embarrass and expose the scheming count.

These characters have delighted opera lovers the world over for more than 200 years.  But there’s one character that is often overlooked, one that contributes to the dramatic momentum of the story from the first note of the bustling overture to the final chords of the opera: the orchestra.  Every player in the pit adds to the development of the story, helping to delineate and transform the characters on the stage.  The collaboration between the singers and the orchestra is a fantastic opportunity for all our students.  For many of the singers this is the first time they’re performing with an orchestra much less a complete role in Italian.  The same is true for the orchestra musicians.  They may have played the famous overture but to perform the entire opera is an amazing experience.  That’s the fun of it, doing something together that they can’t do alone.  The collaboration is wonderful!  Forty musicians in the orchestra, thirty singers on stage, sets, costumes, lighting, wigs and make-up… what more can you ask for!  All for less than the price of a movie ticket!

Don’t miss this opportunity to see the opera stars of tomorrow.  Performances are sung in Italian with dialogue in English with projected English supertitles.

Le Nozze di Figaro by W.A. Mozart
Peter Atherton, Artistic Director
Carol Neblett & David Alt, Associate Directors
Daniel Alfred Wachs, Conductor

April 25-26 at 7:30pm; April 27 at 3pm
Memorial Hall, Chapman Auditorium at Chapman University
$20 general admission; $15 senior citizens, alumni and non-Chapman students.

For tickets, call 714-997-6812 or visit www.chapman.edu/copa