Madison Opera
Madison Opera has announced the three productions for 2011-2012, which will be the company's first complete season since the departure of general director Allan Naplan. Last month he started as president and general director of Minnesota Opera. All three productions are Madison Opera debuts.
The season begins in Overture Hall Nov. 4 with Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which debuted in 1879. The opera is based on Pushkin's verse novel and will star soprano Maria Kanyova as Tatiana, the country girl, and baritone Hyung Yun as Eugene Onegin, the emotionally unavailable man she loves.
In keeping with recent tradition, Madison Opera's second production of the season will be staged in Overture Center's Playhouse. It is a bold choice: Galileo Galilei, the 2002 opera by Philip Glass, whose name is synonymous with minimalism. The production, which opens Jan. 26, features tenor William Joyner as the embattled astronomer.
The season concludes April 27 in Overture Hall with Rossini's Cinderella, from 1817. Director Garnett Bruce will stage the action in 1930s Hollywood, where mezzo-soprana Daniela Mack, as Cinderella, will discover that there's more than one way up the social register.
