IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 5, 2007
CONTACT: Gordon Ovenshine:
724-738-4854
gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu

Voices will soar at three performances of the opera ‘Die Fledermaus’   

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University vocal and music majors will give three April performances of the opera “Die Fledermaus” (The Bat). Performances are April 26-27 at 7:30 p.m. at Butler County Community College and April 29 at 7:30 p.m. at SRU.

Colleen Gray Neubert, SRU assistant professor of music, will direct the opera, which includes live music. “The production is pleasing to the ear and the eye,” she said.

The three-act opera stars 11 SRU students and one SRU music graduate. Students will speak and sing in English, not the original German.

The opera centers on an aristocratic Vienna couple and baron who is due to start an eight-day jail term for a petty crime. The story involves a masked ball, disguises and surprises.

The cast includes Jordan Bowser of Parker, mezzo-soprano; Michael Desnoyers, of Allegany, N.Y., tenor; Ryan Griffin of Pittsburgh, tenor; Christiana Howell of Erie, soprano; Nicholas Kochanov of North Huntingdon, baritone; Bethany Nagy of Connellsville, mezzo-soprano; Lauren Paterra of Bentleyville, soprano; Ashleigh Weimer of Connellsville, soprano; Zachary Wood, baritone, Catie Brown of Butler, pianist and Michelle Montgomery Muth, a post-baccalaureate student studying music therapy at SRU.  Stephen Ball is an SRU music graduate from Butler.

Advance tickets to the BC3 show in the Succop Theater are $10 for adults, $5 for students. Cost at the door is $12 for adults, $5 for students.

This series of opera presentations is part of the on-going Kaleidoscope Arts Festival hosted by Slippery Rock University and the College of Fine and Performing Arts.

Tickets for the performance at SRU’s Swope Music Hall are $5 for adults, $3 for students, available at the door. All proceeds will benefit the Marianne Cornetti Vocal Scholarship Fund for SRU music majors. 

Slippery Rock University is Pennsylvania’s premier public residential university. Slippery Rock University provides students with a comprehensive learning experience that intentionally combines academic instruction with enhanced educational and learning opportunities that make a positive difference in their lives.