The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: University Opera will stage Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” this coming weekend and next Tuesday night. The Ear thinks it has all the makings of a Don’t Miss event.

By Jacob Stockinger

The University Opera at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music will stage Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s ‘The Marriage of Figaro” in Music Hall (below, at the foot of Bascom Hill) this coming Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m., Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. and next Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $25 for adults; $20 for seniors; and $10 for students with ID.

The stage director is David Ronis (below, in a photo by Luke Delalio), a guest director from the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY in New York City who is here at the UW-Madison for a second year in a row.

The Ear recalls that last year’s eclectic and sold-out production by Ronis of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” was a highlight of the season. Ronis drew incredible performances from the students and the costumes and sets, which mixed India‘s Bollywood aesthetic with a traditional Western monastic aesthetic. The opera was well sung and eye-popping in the best sense. It was Big Fun.

So The Ear has big expectations of this opera, which he likes even more, and which will be performed by the same stage director and music director, James Smith (below, in a photo by Michael R. Anderson), conducting the UW Symphony Orchestra.

In fact, The Ear is willing to bet that once again Ronis, Smith and student performers will deliver the goods and sell out all four performances, not just the three that were typical of past productions.

The Ear asked Ronis, who is among the national pool of candidates who have applied to fill the post of University Opera director permanently, why he chose another Mozart opera. (Last year, he also did Benjamin Britten‘s “Albert Herring.” This coming April he will do Conrad Susa’s and Ann Sexton’s “Transformations.”)

Here is his answer:

“As far as why we’re doing “Figaro” in light of just having done “The Magic Flute.”  Simple: it was the best choice for the group of students that we have this year in terms of educational value and the current talent pool.  It happened to be Mozart (below) – with absolutely nothing planned or any connection between the two.”

If you would like to know more about the production and about the cast – and also about how to buy tickets — visit this site with the comprehensive press release from the UW-Madison:

http://www.music.wisc.edu/2015/09/23/university-opera-presents-the-marriage-of-figaro/

One final word: The Ear says this Mozart opera is especially known for its sprightly Overture (below in a YouTube video featuring conductor Fabio Luisi and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra).

But even more importantly, The Ear says it is worth a seeing if for no other reason than hearing the sublime forgiveness quartet at the end. (You can hear it in a YouTube video at the bottom.)

The music is otherworldly and heart-wrenching in its beauty.

And as Mr. Mozart knew so well: Who doesn’t need love and isn’t moved by forgiveness?