The Laramie County Community College Music Department presents “A Night at the Opera” Sunday, May 8 at 7 p.m. in the Surbrugg/Prentice Auditorium. The free program will feature pieces by Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and Gilbert & Sullivan.

The Cheyenne Brass Band and LCCC’s Wind Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, Collegiate Chorale and Cantori will showcase the diversity and history of opera through this musical performance. “Opera is very vast, and these pieces show it. Some are tragedies. Some are comedies,” said LCCC music faculty Bethany Smith-Jacobs.

Opera is often associated with solo singing and arias, but this musical performance will focus on the choral singing and orchestral themes that accompany the important action sequences of the operas from which they are derived. “Opera is a rich mosaic of music from different cultures and composers,” said LCCC music teacher Frank Cook. “The evolution of this art form is what we would like to present.”

Being an opera singer herself, Smith-Jacobs said she was excited about the prospect of hosting an opera concert with students. “There is such good music in opera,” she said. “People usually think of solos, but there’s also a lot of wonderful choral work.”

The concert will feature Georges Bizet’s “Toreador Song” from “Carmen”; “Moon Chorus” by Otto Nicolai in “The Merry Wives of Windsor”; the overture to “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein; the “Choir of bells” from “Pagliacci” by Ruggero Leoncavallo; and the “Humming Chorus” from Giacomo Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly,” which Smith-Jacobs said he chose because it’s beautiful and deceptively difficult to hum at high pitches.

While the teachers have chosen a range of pieces that will expose the audience to works they’ve probably never heard before, the concert will also feature ‘The Anvil Chorus’ from Guiseppi Verdi’s ‘Il trovatore’. “Even people who don’t follow opera will be familiar with the piece,” Cook said.

LCCC’s Cantori will perform “Sing to Love”, also known as the “Champaign Chorus”, from Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus”. While LCCC trumpet instructor Andrew Mrozinsky will perform solo on the piccolo trumpet, performing Mozart’s famous “Queen of the Night Aria” in “The Magic Flute”.

The concert will also feature fiddles made by retired LCCC welding instructor Jim Trudeau. After retiring from the LCCC, he became a luthier or luthier. His work has been featured in international competitions and recognized as one of the best violins in the world. Trudeau recently donated seven of his violins to the college, four of which will be used in this performance.

To learn more about LCCC’s Communications and Creative Arts curriculum and programs, visit lccc.wy.edu/Pathways or contact Dr. Frank Cook at 307-778-1306 or fcook@lccc.wy.edu