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<H1><FONT face=Arial>Kent State Opera at Solon Center for the Arts tonight and
Sunday</FONT></H1>
<H1><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=4>Kent State Opera presents two 20th-century
American operas – one comic, one tragic – at the Solon Center for the Arts,
Friday, <STRONG>April 20</STRONG>, at 7:30 p</FONT><FONT size=4>m, and Sunday,
<STRONG>April 22</STRONG>, at 3 pm, with a reception following each performance.
The Solon Center for the Arts is located at 6315 SOM Center Rd., in
Solon.</FONT></FONT></H1>
<H1><FONT size=4><FONT face=Arial>The program features “Gallantry” by Douglas
Moore and “The Medium” by Gian Carlo Menotti. Members of the Kent State
University Orchestra will accompany sixteen singers from the School of Music and
the School of Theatre and Dance, conducted by Kent State Associate Professor
<STRONG>Kerry Glann</STRONG>. <STRONG>Katherine Perkowski</STRONG> directs both
productions.<BR><BR>“The performance certainly presents a stark contrast in
styles,” says Glann. “You get a somewhat over-the-top comic tone in “Gallantry,”
whereas “The Medium” is an eerie, psychological thriller with supernatural
overtones. Both are melodramatic in their own ways.”<BR><BR>“Gallantry” is a
spoof of 1950s-era soap operas, complete with live commercials just like the
early years of television. The soap opera is set in a hospital, in which Dr.
Gregg is in love with his nurse, Lola, who is engaged to another hospital
worker. Commercials for the two ‘sponsors’ of the show, Lochinvar soap and Billy
Boy wax, are interspersed in the action, providing additional context and
humor.<BR><BR>Menotti’s dramatic masterpiece, “The Medium,” follows the story of
a woman who supports herself as a medium, performing fake séances in her home
with her daughter and a mute boy. Her world turns to chaos when she believes an
unidentified presence has touched her, and her mental decline wrecks havoc on
her career and those around her.<BR><BR><STRONG>Note:</STRONG> Some content may
not be suitable for young children. “There is a murder at the end of “The
Medium,” though it's not done in a gruesome way,” says Glann. “Overall it's
probably PG-13.”<BR><BR>Both operas will be performed as one show. “Gallantry”
will run approximately 30 minutes, while “The Medium” will run approximately 60
minutes, with an intermission in between.<BR><BR>“This is what's called a
‘double bill.’ It's not uncommon in the opera world to have two shorter works
presented together to make a full evening of entertainment,” Glann says. “We
chose these two operas because they offer a good number of casting opportunities
for our students.”<BR><BR>This production represents a continued and developing
collaboration between the Solon Center for the Arts and Kent State University’s
Hugh A. Glauser School of Music.<BR><BR>Tickets are $16 for adults, $12 for
seniors and $5 for students, and can be reserved by calling the Solon Center for
the Arts at 440-337-1400. <VAR id=yui-ie-cursor></VAR></FONT><BR></FONT></H1>
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