The American Center for Puccini Studies presents Puccini's opera, "The Girl of the Golden West" (La fanciulla del West) on Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown, MD. The opera is sung in concert, in Italian, with translations available.
Hosted by TV celebrity, Pat Collins, the evening marks the 100th anniversary of the premiere of "The Girl" and will include a silent auction, intermission entertainment by pianist and singer Carlos Ibay, and wine, beverages, and finger foods.
Puccini invents the Western with this opera based on David Belasco's play of the same name. During the 1848 California gold rush, Minnie, the owner of the Polka saloon and the only woman in the camp, becomes the redeeming force in the miners' lives and saves the bandit Ramerrez from certain death at the end of a rope.
