Metro Lyric Opera Of New Jersey Celebrates Golden Anniversary Season

June 20, 2008 - PRLog -- The Metro Lyric Opera of New Jersey will present their 50th Summer Opera Festival this July.  The company, founded and still headed by Artistic Director Era Tognoli, will sing fully staged  performances of Carmen on Saturday July 12 and Madama Butterfly on Saturday July 26 at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park. Maestro Anton Coppola will conduct both works.

Arguably the most popular opera ever written, Georges Bizet’s Carmen dramatizes the love triangle of Carmen, the sensuous gypsy; Don José, the straight-laced Corporal and Escamillo the swaggering toreador. Arias include the tuneful Habanera, which introduces the audience to Carmen’s cavalier attitude toward love, and the equally melodic paean to machismo, the Toreador Song. The role of Carmen is unusual in that it can be sung by a soprano, a mezzo-soprano or a contralto.

In the MLO production, Miami native Mabel Ledo, whose voice has been described as “a warm expressive mezzo-soprano” by The New York Times, will sing the title role. Mexican born tenor Mauricio O’Reilly sings the role of Don José. Winner of a Placido Domingo Encouragement Grant, O’Reilly has sung with the Opera Orchestra of New York under Eve Queler and appeared in the Sony Classical Artist DVD “The American Tenors.” Cuban born baritone Nelson Martinez, principal soloist with the National Opera in Havana and the Rodrigo Prats Lyric Theater, will perform Escamillo.

Others in the cast include Ocean native Crystal Amendola making her MLO debut as Micaela, Mary Beth Hazel as Mercédès, Anne Tolmela as Frasquita, Nat Chandler as Morales, Stefan Kirchgrabes as Zuniga, Stefanos Koroneas as El Dancairo and Brett Norrian as El Remendado.

Set in Nagasaki at the beginning of the twentieth century, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly tells the story of Cio-Cio-San an innocent young girl who is seduced, impregnated and abandoned by Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, an American naval officer. Pinkerton returns in the second act, which takes place three years later, with an American wife to claim the child. Opera cognoscenti listen for phrases from “The Star Spangled Banner” in the score. Soprano Tami Swartz, whose mother is  Japanese, portrays the doomed young Cio-Cio-San. Metropolitan Opera tenor Raul Melo sings Pinkerton, a role he sang at the New York City Opera in the 06-07.

Others in the cast include Stefanos Koroneos as Sharpless, Brett Norrian as Goro, Mary Beth Hazel as Suzuki, Nat Chandler as Prince Yamadori and the Imperial Commissioner, Stefan Kirchgrabes as The Bonzo and Anne Tormela as Kate Pinkerton.

Both performances begin at 8:15 pm. Each production will be sung in its original language with English supertitles. Ticket prices range from $30 to $55 and may be purchased at the Paramount Theatre Box Office from 1 to 5 pm beginning June 29th. The Paramount Theatre is located on Ocean Ave between Fifth and Sunset in Asbury Park. Free valet parking is available. For additional information call 732-720-9200.