Grand Opera Coming to the Bergen Performing Arts Center

Don’t miss grand, traditional opera at the Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) this year. The New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera, the house opera company of bergenPAC, rolls outs its 26th season with the masterpieces of Georges Bizet’s scintillating Carmen and Gaetano Donizetti’s tragic melodrama Lucia di Lammermoor.

Verismo Opera will transport the audience to Seville, Spain on Sunday, April 26 in the dramatic opera Carmen. The audacious gypsy, Carmen, will seduce Don Jose, as he foolishly throws aside his honor and betrothed, Micaela, to lust after the gypsy siren. Bizet’s immortal opera with its familiar arias is seductive, unfolding with emotions of lust, jealousy, despair, wild passions, and the desperate courage of Micaela.

The dark, romantic tale of family honor, betrayal and madness in Lucia di Lammermoor returns to bergenPAC on Sunday, October 18, 2015. See Lucia’s chilling, blood-spattered reappearance at the wedding reception, one of the most iconic scenes in opera. This powerful, dramatic classic is the gleaming jewel in opera’s bel canto crown.

The operas will be fully staged and performed with the complete cast in costume under the direction of General Manager and Stage Director Evelyn La Quaif. A live orchestra will accompany these resplendent operas under the baton of internationally renowned Principal Conductor and Music Director Anthony Morss. Drawing vocalists from the New York and New Jersey region, the Verismo Opera Chorus and Verismo Opera Children’s Chorus under Chorus Director and Associate Conductor Mara Waldman will sing in French in Carmen. In October, the Verismo Opera Chorus will join the company again to sing in Italian in Lucia di Lammermoor.

“These traditional operas tell stories that will entertain everyone -- from opera fans to newcomers. They will enjoy our performances presented in a real theatre with full staging and vocalists appearing in period costumes singing in another language,” said Met Opera legend, Lucine Amara, Artistic Director of Verismo Opera, who is celebrating her 90th birthday and over 70 years performing on the stage this year.

Tickets are now on sale and may be purchased in person at bergenPAC’s box office, located at 30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood, New Jersey, and by calling (201) 227-1030 or toll-free at 1-888-PACSHOW. Tickets may also be purchased online on bergenPAC’s web site.

The theatre is handicapped accessible. Designated handicapped parking spaces are available. Patrons requiring a special accommodation should call (201) 886-0561 at least two weeks before each production.

The 2015 season is made possible, in part, with funds provided by the New Jersey Council on the Arts/Department of State, through grand funds administered by the Bergen County Department of Parks, Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. Other supporters include Children’s Aid Foundation, Robert J. Campbell, MD, Cesare L. Santeramo, KSJ, Paul Weiss Matching Fund, The Gerda Lissner Foundation, Inc., and Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund.

For more information about the nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, visit Verismo Opera’s web site, follow the company on Facebook, get updates on Twitter or call (201) 886-0561.

Photo Credit: Marilyn Monsanto