Single tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Monday for the Baltimore Opera Company's final two productions of the season, Verdi's "A Masked Ball" in March and Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" in April.
Verdi's opera will be performed at 8:15 p.m. Saturday, March 9, Wednesday, March 13, Friday, March 15, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 17 at The Lyric. Puccini's opera will be presented at 8:15 p.m. Saturday, April 20, Wednesday, April 24 and Friday, April 26 and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 28.
Singing in "A Masked Ball" will be Stefka Evstatieva, a Bulgarian soprano, as Amelia; Ruben Dominguez, a Venezuelan (replacing the originally scheduled Kristjan Johannsson), as Gustav; American Robert McFarland as Renato; Judy Berry, American coloratura, as Oskar and Mariana Paunova, a Bulgarian, as Ulrica. Tickets are $15 to $70. Call 685-0692.
Other notes and half-notes of interest:
* The Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., will honor Gian Carlo Menotti's 80th birthday this year with 120 music, dance, theater and art productions from May 23 to June 9. Menotti began the festival in 1977, 19 years after he started the original in Italy.
Offerings include the operas, "Maria Golovin" (1958) by Menotti, "The Tales of Hoffmann" by Offenbach and "The Coronation of Poppea" by Monteverdi. For schedules and ticket information, write Spoleto Festival, P.O. Box 157, Charleston, S.C. 29402 or call (803) 722-2764.
* The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has postponed its 20-day February tour in 16 European cities because the Persian Gulf War has resulted in "an impossible situation" of "interminable travel delays due to increased security measures" and "dramatically reduced concert attendance as a result of potential anti-war activity."
Instead of touring Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Austria, the orchestra, led by Leonard Slatkin, will tour the state of Missouri for a month-long series of special concerts leaning heavily on American composers. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra recently postponed its 1992 tour of Europe for economic reasons.
* The Opera Company of Philadelphia has named Robert B. Driver, artistic director of Opera Memphis and the Indianapolis Opera, as new general director, replacing acting general director Jane Grey Nemeth. Driver was picked over 40 candidates and will assume his job now. Danielle Orlando is the company's artistic administrator.
