April 18, 2002
Contact: Linda Marra (509-963-1816/fax 509-963-1239/e-mail: marral@cwu.edu)
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - The Mozart opera “Don Giovanni” will be presented at Central Washington University Saturday and Sunday, May 11-12, at 8 p.m. in Hertz Hall on the Ellensburg campus.
The featured performers will come from the CWU opera workshop, directed by Linda Marra, and university chamber orchestra, directed by Paul-Elliott Cobbs, who will also conduct the performance.
The comic opera, which will be performed in Italian, is about the infamous Don Juan who seduces women, then pays for his sins in the end.
“It features some of Mozart’s most exciting and beautiful operatic music,” Marra says, “and is considered one of his greatest masterpieces.”
Ellensburg sophomores will be in the lead roles: “Don Giovanni” will be sung by Joey Sasnett and his servant, “Leporello,” by Jed Allen. Both are CWU vocal performance majors.
The role of “Donna Anna” will be performed by Miriam Gnagy, senior, Wenatchee; “Donna Elvira” by Shannon Ruiz, senior, South Cle Elum; “Don Octavio” by Fred McIlroy, senior, SeaTac; and “Commandant” by Michael-Paul Koontz, senior, Clarkston.
Others who will be singing major arias are:
Angela Goude, a graduate student from Moses Lake; Maria Aispuro, senior, Sandy, Ore.; Ben Sasnett, freshman, Ellensburg; Sara Radke, junior, Toppenish; Amy Seidl, sophomore, Richland; Josef Hegedus, freshman, Spokane; and Crissy Saalborn, junior, Vancouver.
Ensemble vocal soloists include:
Abigail Ramstad, senior, Everett; Jerod Nace, junior, Lakewood; Deanna Foutz, senior, Boise, Idaho; and Jennifer Weiss, sophomore, Vancouver.
The CWU opera workshop has presented numerous opera performances in the past, including Mozart’s operas “Cosi fan Tutte,” and “The Magic Flute”; and Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi”; along with Mozart’s one-act, “The Impressario.”
A suggested donation of $3 for each performance will be accepted at the door, with donations applied to CWU music scholarships. For more information, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-1216, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-3323.
