Annapolis Opera

Opera buffs enjoyed a dinner of fettuccine followed by spumoni topped with even more delicious fare in arias by Puccini and Verdi at the Annapolis Opera's opera suppers Friday and Sunday. Last year, in an effort to make opera accessible and enjoyable to a wider audience, Annapolis Opera President Anna Marie Darlington-Gilmour held one sold-out opera supper, which has grown to two sold-out events at the Naval Academy Officers' Club. Not only did the president succeed in making opera fun, this year she also raised $8,000, enough to pay off the remaining "Tosca" debts after ticket sales covered only 40 percent of production costs.

The summer concert series in Quiet Waters Park begins Saturday with "Operetta in the Park," a presentation by Annapolis Opera.The program will feature songs from such works as Victor Herbert's "Naughty Marietta," Jerome Kern's "Showboat," Sigmund Romberg's "The Student Prince," George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," Rudolf Friml's "The Vagabond King," and Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus." Gilbert and Sullivan favorites from "The Pirates of Penzance," "The Mikado" and "H.M.S. Pinafore" are also scheduled.

Annapolis Opera's fully staged production of Charles Gounod's "Romeo and Juliet" at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts last weekend proved a triumph to close the season. My only complaint when I attended Friday evening was the number of empty seats. Though the lower-than-usual attendance was perhaps the result of the move from the opera's usual March dates to May, the show itself was as satisfying as any this year. Based on Shakespeare's timeless tale of star-crossed lovers Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, Gounod's opera — sung in French to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre — debuted at Theatre Lyrique in Paris in 1867 to mixed reviews, some critics pronouncing it tuneless.

The Annapolis Opera's recent decision to focus most of its attention on lighter fare paid dividends last weekend with a sumptuously mounted, well-sung production of Sigmund Romberg's "The Student Prince" at the Annapolis Senior High School auditorium.This famous tale of the prince who leaves his castle to live and love as a student at the University of Heidelberg, only to have his sweetheart torn from him when he suddenly ascends to the throne, is a classic operetta; hokey as all get-out, but chock full of color, spirit and beautiful music.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday isn't until Jan. 27, but by following a long-standing tradition, fans of the Annapolis Opera will get a head start Sunday on saluting the composer's milestone at the group's "Mozart by Candlelight" concert. This concert, always held on the first Sunday in December, has a history of getting too big for its venues, according to Annapolis Opera treasurer Nancy Lindley. "`Mozart by Candlelight' was first presented at Carroll House and outgrew that location," she said.

Fans of classical singing can vote for their favorites among the eight young competitors and try to outguess the professional judges on hand Sunday afternoon at the Annapolis Opera 15th Annual Vocal Competition Finals Concert at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. Not only will audience members be able to cast ballots to determine the "Audience Favorite Award" from among the finalists after last weekend's competition, which narrowed the selection to eight, but they will enjoy the suspense of anticipating who will be chosen the first-place winner.

Last weekend, Annapolis Opera celebrated the opening of its 30th season with an operetta that is an on-stage party celebrating life and toasting the joys of champagne - Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus. Since premiering in 1874, Die Fledermaus (The Bat) with Strauss' melodic score has continuously celebrated 19th century Viennese life throughout the world. The story revolves around a party where Dr. Falke has his revenge on Gabriel von Eisenstein for leaving him after an evening of drunken revelry asleep on a park bench dressed as a bat to be seen by several members of Viennese society.

Annapolis Opera's 13th annual vocal competition Sunday at Maryland Hall should have won a few converts to opera and the art of great singing. The contest offered a group of excellent young singers who delivered a rich variety of music. All nine finalists were already winners, having emerged from more than 60 singers from Maryland and neighboring states during preliminary judging the weekend before. In both competitions, each participant was required to sing two arias from a selection of four chosen in advance.

Annapolis Opera's musical tradition for the holiday season, "Mozart by Candlelight," has been even lovelier the past three years after moving to the historical First Presbyterian Church of Annapolis. Built as a theater in 1828, it became a church in 1846, a year after the Naval Academy was established. The candle-lit setting and acoustics make the church an ideal location for the Mozart concert. At Sunday's event, the church was close to its 390-person capacity. Opera President Dennis Monk welcomed the audience, noting that the Annapolis performing arts community will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - which is Jan. 27 - with festival events scheduled at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts: the Annapolis Symphony next month, Ballet Theatre of Maryland in February, the Annapolis Chorale in early March and the opera's Magic Flute in mid-March.

At the opening event of Annapolis Opera's 35th anniversary season, President Leah Solat announced that it also was marking the start of the 25th season for the company's artistic director, Ronald J. Gretz. Her remark inspired me to delve into the history of the company, with the help of Jean Jackson, who began the first of three terms as president when Gretz was chosen as director in 1983. The opera was founded in 1972 when Martha Wright brought The Medium to the Annapolis Hilton, followed by The Beggar's Opera at the Naval Academy and Madama Butterfly at St. John's College's Key Auditorium.