Read the UMass press release, then scroll below for profiles of the director, music director, chorusmaster, and cast (including silhouette portraits of the principals)!
When the cast of The Marriage of Figaro takes the Bowker Auditorium stage for the first of two performances on February 6th, it will mark an important return for the opera community in the Pioneer Valley.
For the first time in nearly a decade, the Five College Opera will be mounting a full stage production, bringing together cast, crew, orchestra and resources from UMass Amherst, Smith College, Hampshire College, Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College to present one of the pillars of the operatic canon.
“The Marriage of Figaro’s story and beautiful music have continued to resonate with audiences for more than 200 years since its premiere,” said Jamie-Rose Guarrine, Professor of Voice and Interim Associate Chair of the UMass Department of Music and Dance. “It’s a universal story of people falling in love, falling out of love, and finding each other again, told with wit, warmth, and a shared humanity that has stood the test of time. It’s comic and iconic, and the perfect story to experience live, told in the theater.”
Melanie Bacaling, guest stage director for Le Nozze di Figaro, has described the design concept as “stylized period, focusing on how the themes of the opera transcend time.”
The performance on Friday, February 6th will start at 7:30 PM. There will be a second show, on Sunday, February 8th, beginning at 3:00 PM.
The Five College Opera is a collaborative production in which faculty from across the campuses join together to plan an opera, and students in music and theater from all of the campuses have the opportunity to study and perform. Students learn operatic techniques from experts and perform in a production which is open to the public.
Previously produced every three years, the Five College Opera’s operations were postponed indefinitely when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Last year, a steering committee was formed with representatives from all five institutions to re-envision the direction of the organization. The result was the decision to return with a show that highlighted the unique talents of an all-student cast. That cast was auditioned with Le Nozze di Figaro in mind, with the added consideration that performers will be able to capitalize on learning these core arias of the opera canon in their future careers, including in upcoming graduate auditions.
At UMass, opera is on the rise, following last spring’s production of “Fairy Tales and Magic”, a collaboration between the vocal and orchestral programs in the Department of Music and Dance. It’s a career pipeline that’s still being built, but Guarrine sees it as on an upward trajectory. “Opera is just one part of a multi-faceted approach to prepare our students for the career landscape, whether as performers, educators, choral, oratorio, or opera singers,” she noted. “What has been nice about Five College Opera is that it strengthens that area, but it also provides a connective force to the operatic experience by uniting us with the Five College community.”
Guarrine also hopes that this year’s production will provide a scaffolding for the future of the Five College Opera. At a time where budgets are stretched, the production team of “The Marriage of Figaro” is exploring out of the box solutions and documenting best practices of the massive logistical undertaking of mounting an opera, hoping to create a roadmap for future productions.
The Marriage of Figaro is Mozart’s sparkling comedy of love and class, set during a single chaotic day. When Figaro and Susanna’s wedding plans are jeopardized by Count Almaviva’s entitled advances, a whirlwind of disguises and misunderstandings ensues, culminating in a joyous celebration of wit, compassion, and the triumph of love.
Tickets for Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) can be purchased at the Fine Arts Center Box Office (in the lobby of Frederick C. Tillis Hall), by calling 413-545-2511, or by going to UMasstix.org/musicanddance.
Creative Leadership
Five College Opera Steering Committee: Jamie-Rose Guarrine and Marjorie Melnick (UMass), Tianhui Ng and Sherezade Panthaki (Mount Holyoke College), Klara Moricz and Eric Sawyer (Amherst College), Junko Oba (Hampshire College), Katherine Saik-Delugan (Smith College)
Cast
With special thanks to Liz Coon ’28 for designing the period-style silhouette portraits!
1780s silhouette portraits by Hieronymus Löschenkohl – WienMuseum and Austrian National Library
Count Almaviva
Christian Bearse (UMass)
Countess Almaviva
Lily Hammond (UMass)
Susanna
Sofia Montti (UMass) – Acts 1 and 2
Chana Freedberg (UMass) – Acts 3 and 4
Figaro
Frederic Gondek (UMass)
Cherubino
Evelyn Gomez (Smith)
Marcellina
Michelle Marinelli Prindle (UMass)
Bartolo
Patrick Spoor (UMass)
Basilio
Gustavo Fernandes (UMass)
Don Curzio
Gustavo Fernandes (UMass)
Barbarina
Georgia Pickard (Smith)
Antonio
Branigan Smith (UMass)
First Bridesmaid – Sachary Rodriquez (Mount Holyoke)
Second Bridesmaid – Elizabeth Coon (Mount Holyoke)
CHORUS:
Soprano: Nandir Altansukh (Smith), Spencer Brown (UMass), Eleanor Cramer (Smith), Sarah Dorey (UMass), Madalyn Stevens (UMass), Camille Hodgkins (UMass), Sachary Rodriguez Robles (Mount Holyoke), Isabella Shee (UMass), Ava Swetland (Mount Holyoke)
Alto: Fida Bijin (Smith), Arsen Carangelo (UMass), Elizabeth Coon (Mount Holyoke), Noelia DiMario (Mount Holyoke), Hazel Fleming (Mount Holyoke), Abigail Judd (Mount Holyoke), Rileigh Picken (Mount Holyoke), Janet Spingarn (Smith), Pipa Westland (Smith)
Tenor: Tobias Hawes (Mount Holyoke)
Bass: Ori Sussman (UMass), Arjun Warrier (UMass)
COVERS:
Arjun Warrier (Count), Camille Hodgkins (Countess), Madalyn Stevens (Susanna), Elizabeth Coon (Cherubino), Noelia DiMario (Cherubino), Abigail Judd (Marcellina), Francis Schuman (Basilio, Dahlia Wolfe (Barbarina), Ori Sussman (Antonio), Sachary Rodriguez (First Bridesmaid), Nandir Altansukh (Second Bridesmaid)