Make Plans Now to Enjoy the Opera

From the merry high jinks of spirited love play to the inner sancta of sacred love New Jersey Opera Theater’s SummerFest 2007 will serve up some of opera and operetta’s most lovely treats. The path to true love begins Friday, July 13, with a new production of Mozart’s delightful Die Zauberflöte, followed by the merry sparring of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance on Saturday, July 14, and ending exquisitely with the most famous of all tales of love and woe, Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod on Friday, July 20. All operas will be performed on the Berlind stage of Princeton’s famed McCarter Theatre.

Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte will be conducted by Brent McMunn with stage direction by New Jersey Opera Theater’s Artistic Director Scott Altman. James Caraher will take the podium for The Pirates of Penzance, which will be directed by NJOT veteran Michael Scarola. Steven Mosteller, Musical Director of New Jersey Opera Theater, will conduct Roméo et Juliette staged by Marc Verzatt. Casting the operas with rising stars of opera is currently underway, and casts will be announced in the near future.

The three operas grace a SummerFest program of incomparable variety. As in past seasons New Jersey Opera Theater’s SummerFest will include concerts of operatic scenes at the Berlind plus several free musical theater concerts and preview concerts throughout New Jersey, all featuring New Jersey Opera Theater artists and participants from several countries. The public is also invited to attend the many masterclasses led by opera luminaries held throughout SummerFest.

A special event within SummerFest is the Kids’ Day Camp, which tops New Jersey Opera Theater’s continuing commitment to opera and musical education throughout the state. Called Explorations in Opera the day camp is led by a professional opera singer and NJOT Director of Education Peter Hoyle. Students will have the opportunity to explore the plot, setting, and characters of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance through theater games and improvisation. Students will also learn about the different jobs of producing an opera including stage management, costume design, lighting, and set construction. In addition, the children will also work together with the facilitators to create their own original mini-operas which will be performed for the parents on the final day. There will also be a backstage tour and dress rehearsals with full orchestra of both productions.

Ticket prices for the three SummerFest operas at the Berlind are $52, $55 and $59. The cost of the Kids’ Day Camp is $300 per student for the entire week of July 9 -13 (Monday through Friday). Parents are invited to attend the camp as participants for half price.

Further information on all SummerFest events can be found at www.njot.org.

Performance tickets are available beginning December 15 through the McCarter Theatre Ticket Office:
91 University Place
Princeton, NJ 08540
Ticket Office: (609) 258-2787
Subscriptions: (609) 258-5050
Group Sales: (609) 258-6526
www.mccarter.org

Kids’ Day Camp reservations are available by calling New Jersey Opera Theater at 609-799-7700 or by visiting www.njot.org.

New Jersey Opera Theater (NJOT) is earning national recognition as a leader among regional opera companies, providing high quality opera performances, exceptional educational offerings and related activities. NJOT seeks to stimulate, promote and satisfy interest in opera, build a strong and diverse audience base for the art form and foster the development of emerging artists.

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Author: Press Release