A Night at the Opera with Stephanie Blythe & Laquita Mitchell

Featuring

Lesson Plan
based on Georg Philipp Telemann’s Der Schulmeister.
Additional music, libretto, and singing translation by Rachel J. Peters

And

Excerpts from Carmen
music by Georges Bizet, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

Presented at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts

Join On Site Opera (last seen at Caramoor with their 2018 production of The Secret Gardener in the Sunken Garden) for an evening of operatic comedy and tragedy featuring international opera star Stephanie Blythe. 

In Rachel J. Peters’ Lesson Plan, an acclaimed opera diva thinks she will be teaching a master class with trained singers at a prestigious conservatory. Instead, she catches her assistant in a scheduling faux pas and takes the stage for a group of liberal arts students at a community college – a group with little singing experience or interest in what the great diva has in mind. Intercepted by an overwhelmed school administrator with a side hustle as an amateur choir director, the pair clash over teaching technique, singing and the true meaning of art. While scales and arias were part of the curriculum, with a little humor and a lot of heart, they leave with a much more valuable lesson in humility, humanity, and truly finding their voice.

In the second half of the program, Stephanie Blythe reprises her acclaimed tenor debut in the role of Don Jose in excerpts from Bizet’s Carmen. She is joined by Laquita Mitchell and Maya Lahyani for a thrilling program of arias and duets from this timeless opera arranged for two piano accompaniment.

PERFORMANCE INFO

WHAT TO EXPECT

Running time: Approximately 90 minutes
Language: Sung in English and French with projected English subtitles

For additional reading about the creation of Lesson Plan, read this blog post from librettist, Rachel J. Peters!