One-act operas at YSU

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University’s Performing Arts Series and the Dana School of Music will present two one-act operas — “La Serva Padrona” and “Dido and Aeneas” — Thursday through Sunday.

“La Serva Padrona” (The Servant Turned Mistress) by Giovanni Pergolesi, is an operatic gem first performed more than 200 years ago in Naples, Italy, to celebrate the birthday of the Empress of Habsburg. History tells us its success was so great that performances were given throughout Europe within the year. In Paris, it ran for 63 consecutive performances and generated the famous French school of the Opera Comique.

The story is witty and humorous and is relevant to this day. A clever woman desires to change her status from “Miss” to “Mrs.”; her position from “Maid” to “Mistress.”

Pergolesi composed this opera at age 23 but died three years later.

“Dido and Aeneas” by Henry Purcell is considered the first real opera composed in England. Written in 1689, it tells the story of Dido, Queen of Carthage, who falls in love with Aeneas, a Prince of Troy, who escaped the city’s destruction. Aeneas is convinced by a jealous sorceress, disguised as Mercury, that he must leave Dido and go to Italy to found the city of Rome. Dido commits suicide as she bids her faithless lover farewell.

The opera program director/vocal director is Allan R. Mosher; music director/conductor is Hae-Jong Lee; stage director/scenic designer is David Vosburgh; choreographer is Virginia Hartman, Ballet Western Reserve artistic director; lighting designer is Kevin Wolfgang; rehearsal accompanist/music preparation is Jerome Rezanka and hair and makeup designer is Linda Leith; wardrobe designer, Eric Shonk; and production manager, Todd Dicken.

Others assisting with the production include Girard City Schools Children’s Chorus director Sue Ellen Harris Davis; master carpenter Frank Bongen; and stage manager Krista Ulbricht.

The cast includes Kayla Wilson (Austintown); Molly K. Scherer (Wampum, Pa.); Emily Alcorn, (Poland); Trevor Coleman and Allyson Pollice, (Boardman); Nancy Elaine Hensley (Howland); Alyssa Leith and Denny Monroe, (Girard); Kathie Steeb (Columbiana); Marissa Benson (Bethel Park, Pa.); Victor S. Cardamone ( Apollo, Pa.); Lauren Corcoran (Moon Township, Pa.); Matthew Malloy (Beaver, Pa.); Rachel Lundberg (Lindstrom, Minn.); Derick Elmore (Anandale, Va.), and William Hogue (East Liverpool).