Crane Opera Ensemble Stirs Up Some Fun with French Operetta, 'L'Étoile'

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Playing Lazuli, Kathleen Kane (left) confronts King Ouf, played by Daniel Kringer (right), much to the horror of townspeople, at a recent Crane Opera Ensemble rehearsal for “L’Étoile."

POTSDAM, NY (11/04/2015)(readMedia)-- The award-winning Crane Opera Ensemble and Orchestra will present the delightful French operetta "L'Étoile," with music by Emmanuel Chabrier, from Nov. 12 to 14 at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music.

The production will open with an educational outreach performance for area schools at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12. Two evening performances will be offered, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13 and 14, in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater.

The comic opera "L'Étoile," referred to in French as an opéra bouffe, tells the zany story of King Ouf's quest to find a suitable subject to execute, as his annual birthday present. Complications arise when the ambassador from a neighboring kingdom brings a new bride for the king, but she has fallen in love with a poor peddler who insults the ruler and is therefore selected as the "birthday gift."

An unexpected astrological prediction soon turns everything upside down, making it uncertain who will come out of this with their head still intact. Set to an effervescent musical score that hearkens back to the golden age of the operetta, the performance will be sung in French with supertitles and dialogue in English.

Guest music director and conductor Brian Garman will lead the performances. Maestro Garman is the artistic director and co-founder of the Berkshire Opera Festival. He has extensive experience in professional opera, with prestigious organizations like the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, New York City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and the Santa Fe Opera. This will be his third production of "L'Étoile," having conducted it previously at Wolf Trap Opera and at Carnegie Mellon University.

Three guest designers' work will be showcased in the production. Ann Beyersdorfer (scenic designer), Angela Harner (costume designer) and Tonry Lathroum (lighting designer) have created a vibrant and magical world to please the eye. SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Dr. Carleen Graham is the stage director. The production features students from The Crane School of Music in the cast and orchestra, and students from the Department of Theatre and Dance behind the scenes.

Tickets for the Crane Opera Ensemble production of "L'Étoile" are $12 for the general public, and $8 for SUNY Potsdam faculty, staff and students. To purchase tickets, contact the Community Performance Series Box Office, located in the lobby of SUNY Potsdam's Performing Arts Center, by calling (315) 267-2277 or visiting www.cpspotsdam.org.

About the Crane Opera Ensemble:

The award-winning Crane Opera Ensemble provides exciting opportunities for students to experience all facets of performance and production. Two fully staged productions are produced each year, one with orchestra and one with a chamber instrumental group or piano. The ensemble enjoys a collaborative relationship with the Department of Theatre and Dance, co-producing a musical theatre production every three years. Productions of "Amahl and the Night Visitors," "On The Town," "L'Egisto," "L'Enfant et les Sortilèges" and "The Mikado" have received top awards from the National Opera Association, The American Prize and the American College Theatre Festival. Its opera education outreach program has served more than 4,000 North Country school children, many experiencing opera for the first time. The Crane Opera Ensemble is also dedicated to contemporary and new work, presenting full productions of the winning entries for the Domenic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize every four years.

About The Crane School of Music:

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution. For more information about SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

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