KRCU's Mary Mims recently spoke with Dr. Timothy Schmidt, professor of music, at Southeast Missouri State University, who is the music director and maestro for the upcoming production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's, "The Marriage of Figaro". The opera will play at the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall on the River Campus at Southeast Missouri State University, Fri. Jan. 29 at 7:30 PM and Sun. Jan. 31 at 3 PM.
It is the first time an opera has been presented on SEMO's Campus during the era of COVID-19. The staff has incorporated necessary safety procedures into rehearsals and performances.
In order to facilitate the necessary precautions, Music Faculty, Dr. Leslie Jones, and Dr. Timothy Schmidt collaborated to update the time period of the opera, shortened the show by changing the specialized recitative sections to English dialogue, made some judicious cuts, and decided to sing Mozart’s glorious music in the original Italian, according to the performance notes by Dr. Christopher Goeke.
You can find a full description of the opera production, including ticketing information here.