It’s opera time at the Soo Theatre! Saturday marks the arrival of the stars of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” which will be performed on Wednesday August 7 and Friday August 9. Be sure to mark your calendars for Wednesday or Friday, as there are only 2 showings of Madama Butterfly on the historic Soo Theatre Stage. Both Wednesday and Friday performances will be at 7:30pm.
Soo Opera Founder and Director Karen Beacom recently dazzled audiences in “My Fair Lady” as Eliza Doolittle and she takes the stage again in August to portray the title role of Butterfly. Joining her again is tenor, Chauncey Packer playing Lt. Pinkerton. Beacom and Packer played Mimi and Rodolfo in the 2012 production of La Boheme and are excited to sing another of Puccini’s love story. Sault, Ontario native Reilly Nelson joins the production as Suzuki, Thomas Gunther returns as Sharpless, Travis Richter as Goro, Melanie Case as Kate Pinkerton, Karen Albert as Cio Cio San’s Mother, Timothy Schmidt as The Bonze and Prince Yamadori, and Gabbie Pepin as the Cousin.
Timothy Schmidt is returning to the Soo Theatre stage both as director and performer. Last year, he was Dr. Neville Craven in The Secret Garden. Dr. Timothy Schmidt (bass-baritone)holds degrees from Westmont College (B.A. in Music), University of Northern Colorado (M.M. with a dual emphasis in vocal performance and conducting), and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (D.M.A. in Vocal Performance and Literature). He has taught at Southeast Missouri State University as a Professor of Music, where his instruction includes applied voice, vocal pedagogy, music theory, and co-direction of the opera program. His vocal teaching and performance experience encompasses classical, musical theater, and commercial vocal styles. His alumni have performed in national and international opera houses, and on Broadway and in national touring musical productions. He previously taught as an adjunct instructor at Millikin University and Illinois Wesleyan University, and as a visiting lecturer at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
Schmidt’s operatic repertoire includes Figaro and Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Frank in Die Fledermaus, Mr. Budd in Albert Herring, Arkel in Pélleas et Melisande, Dr. Grenvil in La Traviata, and patter roles in numerous Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. In 2005, he created the role of “Isaiah Bartlett” in the world premier performance and recording of Where the Cross Is Made by Nancy Van de Vate. In 2011, he traveled to the Czech Republic to record the role of “Claudius” in Van de Vate’s setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Both of these recordings are available on the Vienna Modern Masters label. In 2018 he performed the role of Frank Maurant in the Bulgarian premiere production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene with the Varna Opera Academy.
Joining Soo Opera for the first time is guest conductor, John Nardolillo. Nardolillo, Music Director and Conductor of the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, has appeared with more than 30 of the country’s leading orchestras, including the Seattle, San Francisco, Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, National, Milwaukee, Utah, Columbus, Indianapolis, Oregon, Fort Worth, Buffalo, Alabama, Louisville, Missouri, North Carolina, Toledo, Vermont and Honolulu symphonies. He also recently conducted concerts at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and Carnegie Hall in New York. In the fall of 2010 he was the Music Director and conductor for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, a performance that featured 1,500 performers and 200 horses, and was broadcast worldwide for a television audience of 500 million.
Mr. Nardolillo made his professional conducting debut in 1994 at the Sully Festival in France, and has since made conducting appearances in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. He has led major American orchestras in subscription series concerts, summer and pops concerts, education concerts and tours, and for television and radio broadcasts. He has recorded for Naxos and Albany Records, and has been featured in articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and Vanity Fair magazine.
Mr. Nardolillo is the Founder and Music Director of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC, an orchestra of top young professional musicians, drawn from the ranks of the world’s leading orchestras, who travel from around the United States, Canada and Europe to perform together each season. The orchestra has appeared in the leading concert halls in the eastern United States, has been filmed for a television documentary, and has recorded Copland, Bernstein, Barber, Bach and Mozart.
Born in Bend, Oregon, John Nardolillo began his musical training at the age of three on the violin. He earned a Bachelors degree in violin from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Masters degrees in violin and conducting from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.
Madama Butterfly Performance are Wednesday and Friday, August 7 & 9 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $22 for General Admission, $50 for a Premium Ticket, and $10 for student tickets.
Tickets are available at the Soo Theatre Office or by calling the office at (906) 632-1930 or on our website www.sootheatre.org
