Bethel Man Stars in 'Die Fledermaus'

Bethel man Michael Trnik will sing the lead baritone role of role of Falke when Troupers Light Opera performs Johann Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus” at the Westport Country Playhouse April 8, 9 and 10.

A veteran of opera performances throughout the Connecticut/New York region, this will be Trnik’s first performance with Troupers Light Opera.   

A graduate of Western Connecticut State in music, Trnik has performed Eastern Festival Opera of Westchester, Le Nozze in New York City, Hillhouse Opera Company of New Haven, New Rochelle Opera and OSH Opera in New York City. 

Trnik has performed with these companies as Count Almavia in Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro,” Valentin in Gounod’s “Faust,” the title role of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and both Baron Douphal as well as the Marquis in Verdi’s “La Traviata.”

Trnik has also performed via opera gala Figaro in Act I of Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” and Sharpless in Act I of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.” His most recent performance engagement was as Guglielmo in Mozart’s delightful comic opera “Cosi fan tutte” with Hillhouse Opera Company in November 2010.   

He is the recipient of the Olga Berzins Scholarship through the Rosa Ponselle auditions in Meridan, the first prize of the Connecticut NATS auditions and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in music from Western Connecticut State University. 

“Die Fledermaus” (“The Bat” in German) is Troupers Light Opera’s first foray outside of Gilbert and Sullivan, after 65 years of performing Gilbert and Sullivan. It will be performed in English, and features a sparkling modern translation by Quade Winter.  

The most famous operetta composed by the “Waltz King” Johann Strauss the Younger, it opened in Vienna in 1874 and soon earned the admiration of serious composers as well as the general public on both sides of the Atlantic.  

Its music is similar to that of Arthur Sullivan in its tunefulness and “singability,” but it features polka, waltz, and ballet music that the British composer never included.  Even theatergoers unfamiliar with Strauss will recognize the spectacular waltz in the finale of Act II. 

This will be Troupers’ first performance in the Westport County Playhouse, the landmark theatre dating back to 1931, when a New York theater producer used a 100-year-old tannery to create a Broadway-quality stage.  Another first for Troupers is the inclusion of performers from the Ballet Etudes Company in Norwalk.  These skilled young dancers will perform to Strauss’s beautiful ballet music in Act II of “Die Fledermaus.” 

Troupers will perform “Die Fledermaus”  on Friday April 8 at 8 p.m.; Saturday April 9 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday April 10  at 2 p.m. For tickets phone 203-227-4177 or 888-927-7529, or contact www.trouperslightopera.org or www.westportplayhouse.org.