{"id":16,"date":"2025-10-29T17:30:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T17:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/?page_id=16"},"modified":"2026-02-03T22:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T22:27:12","slug":"about-the-production","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/about-the-production\/","title":{"rendered":"About the 5C Opera Production"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Read the UMass press release, then scroll below for profiles of the director, music director, chorusmaster, and cast (including silhouette portraits of the principals)!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When the cast of The Marriage of Figaro<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe Marriage of Figaro<\/em>\u2019s story and beautiful music have continued to resonate with audiences for more than 200 years since its premiere,\u201d said Jamie-Rose Guarrine, Professor of Voice and Interim Associate Chair of the UMass Department of Music and Dance. \u201cIt\u2019s 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<\/em>, has described the design concept as “stylized period, focusing on how the themes of the opera transcend time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The performance on Friday, February 6th<\/a> will start at 7:30 PM. There will be a second show, on Sunday, February 8th<\/a>, beginning at 3:00 PM. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Five College Opera<\/strong> 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\u2019s 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<\/em> 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\u2019s production of \u201cFairy Tales and Magic\u201d, a collaboration between the vocal and orchestral programs in the Department of Music and Dance. It\u2019s a career pipeline that\u2019s still being built, but Guarrine sees it as on an upward trajectory. \u201cOpera 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,\u201d she noted. \u201cWhat 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.\u201d 

Guarrine also hopes that this year\u2019s production will provide a scaffolding for the future of the Five College Opera. At a time where budgets are stretched, the production team of \u201cThe Marriage of Figaro\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marriage of Figaro<\/em> is Mozart\u2019s sparkling comedy of love and class, set during a single chaotic day. When Figaro and Susanna\u2019s wedding plans are jeopardized by Count Almaviva\u2019s 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<\/em> (The Marriage of Figaro<\/em>) 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Creative Leadership<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Director:
Melanie Bacaling<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Music Director:
Maria Sensi Sellner<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chorusmaster:
Hanif Lawrence<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cast<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With special thanks to Liz Coon ’28 for designing the period-style silhouette portraits! <\/em>
1780s silhouette portraits by Hieronymus L\u00f6schenkohl – WienMuseum and Austrian National Library<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Count Almaviva<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Christian Bearse (UMass)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Countess Almaviva<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lily Hammond (UMass)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Susanna<\/strong>
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Sofia Montti (UMass) – Acts 1 and 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chana Freedberg (UMass) – Acts 3 and 4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figaro<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frederic Gondek (UMass)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cherubino<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Evelyn Gomez (Smith)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marcellina<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michelle Marinelli Prindle (UMass)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bartolo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Patrick Spoor (UMass)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Basilio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gustavo Fernandes (UMass)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Don Curzio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gustavo Fernandes (UMass)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barbarina<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Georgia Pickard (Smith)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Antonio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Branigan Smith (UMass)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First Bridesmaid<\/strong> – Sachary Rodriquez (Mount Holyoke)
Second Bridesmaid<\/strong> – Elizabeth Coon (Mount Holyoke)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHORUS:<\/strong>
Soprano:<\/strong> 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:<\/strong> 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: <\/strong>Tobias Hawes (Mount Holyoke)
Bass<\/strong>: Ori Sussman (UMass), Arjun Warrier (UMass)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVERS:<\/strong>
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)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back to About Us<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “About the 5C Opera Production”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1166,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions\/1166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}