Southwest Baptist University News Release
Contact: Charlotte Marsch, Director of Marketing and Communications
(417) 328-1803 / cmarsch@sbuniv.edu
SBU’s Opera Workshop to feature Mozart’s ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ March 7-9
BOLIVAR, Mo. — Southwest Baptist University’s Opera Workshop will present Mozart’s ensemble opera “Cosi fan tutte,” or “The School for Lovers,” at 7 p.m. nightly Thursday, March 7, through Saturday, March 9, in Davis-Newport Theatre in the Jester Learning and Performance Center.
The opera is updated to spring 2013 on campus as two music majors find out that their freshman girlfriends aren’t as faithful as they believe.
“The two young men begin as naïve, trusting Sunday school types and pretend to leave campus,” said Jane Munson-Berg, director of the production and assistant professor of voice and opera at SBU. “When they return disguised as two urban punkers to woo their girlfriends, they try to introduce a different cultural element with hilarious results. We are updating the text to be as modern as possible. Mozart’s 18th century music is timeless and the story is universal, that human nature is rarely perfect.”
Munson-Berg also said the production is an accessible introduction to opera.
“We make the operatic form as entertaining as possible, because that is what opera has always been,” she added.
The Opera Project is a collaboration of the University’s Music and Theatre departments. Jonathan Wehmeyer, scenic designer and instructor of theatre, is providing the set and lighting, and Dr. Elissa Sartwell, associate professor of theatre, is providing the costumes. The Theatre department also oversees makeup, hair and props. In place of a full orchestra, Dr. Andrew Campbell will conduct two SBU graduates, Sara Miller and Michael Womack, at the harpsichord and keyboard to accompany the singers, all of whom are music or pastoral studies majors.
Tickets are $8 for adults; $5 for SBU alumni, senior citizens and students of other schools; $3 for SBU students; and complimentary for SBU faculty and staff. For more information, call 328-1691 or visit www.sbuniv.edu/theatre.
###
Southwest Baptist University is a leader among private universities in truly integrating Christ-centered academic pursuits with comprehensive professional programs at an affordable price. At SBU, the faculty and staffcreate a caring, academic community to prepare students to be servant leaders in a global society. For more information, visit www.SBUniv.edu.
