Cal Poly Student Opera Theatre (CPSOT) is set to present “Spring Opera Scenes” in Spanos Theatre on Saturday, starting at 7:30 p.m.
According to the Cal Poly music department website, the program will feature an array of opera favorites from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute,” Franz Lehàr’s “The Merry Widow,” as well as lesser-known pieces sung in English, German and Italian with English supertitles.
The music department website said that performances are designed to serve student soloists and offer learn by doing opportunities in opera. The event will take place during Cal Poly’s Open House weekend, an annual event that showcases the campus to prospective and current students.
More than 50 Cal Poly students from different majors will participate in the production, onstage performance and behind the scenes of Saturday’s showing according to the website. The program will feature opera singers, choreography by theatre and dance department students, artwork by student artists and songs by the Cal Poly Chamber Choir.
Music professor Kaitrin Cunningham is the director and producer of the production. Cunningham said that she has performed in several operas herself and noticed there are not a lot of opportunities for students to perform in costumes here at Cal Poly.
“I want students to experience what it feels like to do a full opera production,” Cunningham said.
She works alongside conductor Scott Glysson, pianist and coach Paul Woodring and costume designer Laina Babb and notes that “opera is supposed to unite all of the art forms.”
“There are nine or ten operas being sampled and it was important for me that there was diversity in the performances,” Cunningham said. “We have different time periods being sampled so you are able to see a variety of costumes.”
Tickets are sold at the Cal Poly Ticket Office, 805-756-4849. The prices are $20 for general admission and $10 for student admission.