UTC Music Department presents “Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers”, featuring UTC Opera
Perry Ward, director
Thursday, March 29, 2012 7:30 p.m.: Dress Rehearsal, limited to UTC students w/ID
Friday and Saturday, March 30-31, 2012, 7:30 p.m.: General Admission
Roland Hayes Concert Hall, UTC Fine Arts Center
General Admission $7.00, Senior Citizens $5.00
Contact Box-Office at (423) 425-4269
Press Release Date: March 1, 2012
The UTC Music Department is pleased to present Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, featuring the UTC Opera and directed by Perry Ward. The concert will take place in the UTC Fine Arts Center, Roland Hayes Concert Hall, 752 Vine St., Chattanooga, on March 30-31st, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. A ticket will be required to attend these performances. Please contact the box-office at the Fine Arts Center at (423) 425-4269.
The Gondoliers; or The King of Barataria premiered at the Savoy Opera in 1889. It was the twelfth collaboration by the duo W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan and ran for a very successful 554 performances. The Gondoliers showcases a style of comic opera that developed in late 19th century England during the Victorian Age and is named by the building that housed it; Savoy Opera. Gilbert and Sullivan, for whom Richard D’Oyly Carte built the Savoy Opera in 1881, were considered its most successful practitioners and D’Oyly Carte promoted their works for over a century. Its success was such that they were even honored with a command performance before Queen Victoria, the first of their works to be so honored.
In The Gondoliers, Gilbert and Sullivan created a world where lines of class distinctions could be easily crossed and gondoliers could ascend to monarchy. The setting is Venice and a kingdom which is ruled by a pair of gondoliers, one of which is the heir to the throne, although which one is unknown as the only person that can possibly tell them apart cannot be found. To complicate matters, Giuseppe and Marco, the two young rulers, had gotten married to two young local girls before knowing of their fate. Also, the young bride to the heir apparent, Casilda, shows up in Venice to join her husband, to whom she was married by proxy at six months of age. Unfortunately, the newly arrived young queen is in love with another young man, her father’s attendant. What ensues is a story of class distinction and entangled liaisons that will warm your heart strings as it amuses and delights your sensibilities.
Mr. Perry Ward has enjoyed a diverse musical career as a singer, teacher, director and conductor. During a career that has spanned more than thirty years, Perry has performed with many major regional opera companies in the United States. For the past ten years, Perry has devoted his time to teaching voice and stagecraft for singers. He is a native of East Tennessee and holds degrees in voice and opera and, is a summa cum laude graduate of the Franz Schubert Institut in Baden bei Wien, Austria. His awards include a Puccini Foundation Grant, a William Matheus Sullivan Role Preparation Grant, a Shoshana Foundation Award and Second Prize at the 2nd Mae M. Whitaker Vocal Competition in 1990.
For information regarding this or any other UTC Music Dept. performance, see the Music Dept. website at http://utc.edu/music, or call the Music office at 423-425-4645.
