The classic opera “The Tales of Hoffmann” will be showing Oct. 17- 24 at 7 p.m. in Brigham Young University’s de Jong Concert Hall in a production sponsored by the BYU School of Music.
Tickets cost between $10 and $17 and are on sale at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-4322, or online at byuarts.com. The event is also part of the artsPASS season ticket package. There will be no performances Sunday or Monday.
Jacques Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann” was first featured in 1881 based on three short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann. It is the tale of a young poet, who we meet at the intermission of an opera. While visiting with friends, he is coaxed into telling the story of the three great loves of his life.
“The choice of this year’s opera was an interesting dilemma,” said director Lawrence Vincent of the School of Music faculty. “Knowing that the major roles are daunting, to say the least, and wanting to challenge, yet protect the voices of our gifted young singers, the vocal department conceived a novel idea: The title roles will be rotated during each evening’s performance.”
“Audiences will have the opportunity to hear different vocalists bring these great roles to life, each as his or her unique concept and talent dictates,” he said.
The production will be sung in French with English supertitles featuring a translation by Ruth and Thomas Martin. The students have been practicing the French dialogue since summer semester.
“BYU has been blessed with abundant and outstanding talent,” Vincent said. “We feel that it is our responsibility, as faculty, to give our students a head start in the professional opera world by performing operatic works in the original language.”
Kory Katseanes will be directing BYU’s Philharmonic Orchestra for the performances. Production stage manager is Lisa Elzey with scenic design by Travis Coyne and costume design by Deanne DeWitt, Donnette Perkins and Mary Jane Wadley.
For more information on the production, contact Lawrence Vincent at (801) 422-3165 or Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348.
Writer: Brandon Garrett
