Baylor Opera Theater Presents "falstaff"

by Richard Veit

The Baylor Opera Theater will present four performances of Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff, Thursday through Sunday in the Jesse H. Jones Theatre of Baylor University's Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center. Performances on Thursday through Saturday will begin at 7:30 p.m. A matinée performance will be staged at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
The production is under the general supervision of Richard Aslanian, lecturer in music and director of opera. Conducting the Baylor Opera Orchestra will be J. Christopher Buddo, director of ensembles and associate professor of double bass and conducting.
Falstaff was Verdi's last opera. Written when the composer was 80 years old, this great comedy came after a long line of tragic works. In writing the libretto, Arrigo Boïto took wide liberties with the plot of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, changing characters and even introducing scenes from King Henry IV for the sake of operatic convenience. Verdi unified it through his music, however, and fashioned it into a witty and exuberant masterpiece.
The opera was premiered in Milan, Italy, on Feb. 9, 1893, and was an immediate and stunning success.
Tickets for Verdi's Falstaff are now on sale at the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center's box office. For information, call 710-1865.