A comedic short opera that showcases a maid’s determination to marry her elderly bachelor employer and become mistress of the household unfolds in two performances next month in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Shryock Auditorium.
“La serva pardrona” (“The Maid Turned Mistress”) is set 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8. The 45-minute performance, written in 1733 by Italian composer, organist and violinist Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, is one of the first comedic operas, said Carissa Scroggins, an associate professor of practice in voice and opera in the School of Music. The performance will be in English.
Tickets are $10 apiece and can be purchased at the door with cash. SIU Carbondale students are free with a student ID.
“The story is charming and celebrates themes of love, perseverance and practicality,” said Scroggins, who is directing the performance. “I’ve wanted to do this opera since my undergraduate days when I first heard it in music history class.”
The compact opera highlights second-year music master’s student Harrison Gilberti, who plays the bachelor Umberto; Israeli Jones, a senior in musical theater who plays the maid Serpina, and Brandon James, a senior in music education, who is making his opera debut and plays Vespone, a servant who is mute. Collaborative piano will be provided by Esther Tang, a second-year master’s student in music. Scroggins is the set designer with lighting design by Seth Kolhaas, a technical director in the College of Arts and Media. The School of Theater and Dance is providing costumes.
