Coming Soon To STP: Rossini’s Barber of Seville!

By Lizabeth Jenkins-Dale / July 31, 2016

 

Every production, camp, concert, and event at The Soo Theatre Project, a community based arts organization in downtown Sault Sainte Marie, MI, needs leadership. Someone has to direct, lead, encourage, guide, and polish so that the show is top-notch, professional, and dynamic for the audience.

STP’s production of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” on August 10, 12, & 14 is no different.

John WilkinsonDr. John Wilkinson is the leadership of the opera’s orchestra, AKA the Conductor. He also serves as Music Director and Conductor of the Sault Symphony Orchestra in Soo, ON. The Sault Symphony Orchestra is in its 43rd year.  John Wilkinson has been conducting with the Sault Symphony Orchestra for 39 years of those 43 years.

From the website (http://www.saultsymphony.ca): “In 2007, Wilkinson was honored by the City of Sault Ste. Marie and the Province of Ontario for 30 years of musical leadership for the benefit of the community and the citizens of Canada. Dr. Wilkinson and his wife Cathy, principal oboe of the Sault Symphony, are the parents of six children and reside in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.”

As you can read, the music for “Barber of Seville” is in very good hands. But, what about the actors and actresses? Ah…more wonderful operatic leadership is at hand.

Eric ShawEric Shaw, who is no stranger to STP’s stage, is the Stage Director. He currently lives in Toronto with a career as a professional tenor and music instructor. While his birthplace is Sault Sainte Marie, ON, Eric has relatives, Aunt and Uncle Phyllis and Dave Bigelow, in Sault Sainte Marie, MI.

Eric has performed with Soo Opera in “Die Fledermaus” as Herr Eisenstein, has led Master Classes and performed in “That’s Amore,” has sung in a number of the Mike Dempsey and Friends shows at STP, and now returns to direct his third opera for Soo Theatre Project having previously directed “Carmen” and “Don Giovanni.”

So why attend opera in the first place?

Henriette Lazardis, author of The Clover House, wrote in February 2014 about attending opera. Her opinion sums up the operatic experience concisely:

“…there is something about the complete musically immersive experience of an opera that neither needs — nor asks for — excuses. You go to the opera, the music starts, and it doesn’t let you go until the very end.”

She continues, “It’s everything blasting at you: orchestra, powerful and un-amplified voices, sets, costumes, and often, the opera house itself. And because it’s opera, the stories are big, the consequences huge, the emotions writ, sung and staged large.”

Opera does provide an unique experience to feel, explore, and immerse yourself in a different world unlike every day life. Artistic director and leader of the Soo Opera Karen Hughes Beacom says, “Opera is the coming together of all of the great art forms; theatre, music, and dance…all rolled into some of the most magnificent works in existence.”

Take the opportunity to enter this different world this August 10, 12, & 14. You’ll leave The Soo Theatre Project thoroughly enriched.

“An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the opera house.”
~ Maria Callas

Come join all the artistic fun at STP because…

There’s always something for everyone at The Soo Theatre Project all year long. Call STP’s office at 906-632-1930 for more information. Or, visit at 534 Ashmun Street downtown Sault Sainte Marie, MI. Or, like us on Facebook at Soo Theatre Project, Inc.