Release date: March 19, 2007
Civil War-era Kennesaw setting for opera production at Kennesaw State
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Contact: Cheryl Anderson Brown, Assistant Director of Public Relations, 770-499-3417 or cbrown@kennesaw.edu
KENNESAW, Ga.—The recently created Kennesaw State University Opera Theater will stage its first production, Gaetano Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love,” March 29-April 1 in Howard Logan Stillwell Theater. The production also features the KSU Orchestra. Sung in English, the opera will be set in Civil War-era Kennesaw.
“The Elixir of Love” is a delightful tale of lovers’ quarrels and reconciliations, magic potions and romantic confusion. “It has remained as fresh and popular as when it was first performed in 1832,” said Russell Young, director of the KSU Opera Theater. “We have slightly modified the text to give it a Southern flavor.”
Young and his wife, vocal instructor Jana Young, joined the KSU music faculty last year to launch the opera and musical theatre programs. Since their arrival, the students under their tutelage have performed several concert programs of opera arias and the musical “Urinetown,” but “The Elixir of Love” will be their premiere opera production.
“Whenever and wherever the opera students have performed, they have been enthusiastically embraced by the community,” said Joseph Meeks, dean of the KSU College of the Arts. After one recent performance, Roswell resident Gretchen E. Van Roy donated money to endow a scholarship to help support the opera program.
“We are pleased with the growth and excellence of the opera program,” Meeks said.
Tickets for “The Elixir of Love” are $15. They may be ordered by calling the box office at 770-423-6650 or online by clicking “Box Office” at www.kennesaw.edu/arts.
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A member of the 35-unit University System of Georgia, Kennesaw State University is a comprehensive‚ residential institution with a growing student population approaching 20‚000 from 132 countries. The third largest state university in Georgia‚ Kennesaw State offers more than 60 graduate and undergraduate degrees‚ including a new Doctorate of Education in Leadership.
The KSU College of the Arts is one of only four Georgia institutions to have achieved full national accreditation for all of its arts programs.