Maestro Gavriel Heine of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre will direct “The Merry Widow” on the Iron Range as part of the Northern Lights Music Festival.
The Northern Lights Music Festival is returning to the Iron Range this summer with its annual classical music and opera tour across the region. Last summer, I spoke with Veda Zupancic, the accomplished musician and director from Aurora who founded the event. This year, the Northern Lights festival kicks off today and includes events that run through July 20.
Soprano Jasmina Halimic will play the title role of Hanna Glawari in the Northern Lights Music Festival presentation of “The Merry Widow.”
Headlining the event, a fully-staged production of the Lehar opera “The Merry Widow,” which after being set in a fictional country over the years is being returned to the author’s original setting of Montenegro for this show as a tribute to eastern European immigrants who came to this region. From the press release:
NLMF Artistic Director Veda Zuponcic thought that a distance of 100 years was sufficient to return the operetta to its original country and that the West Range, in particular, would enjoy hearing a bit of the Mother Tongue used in the opera.
“When we were able to engage Jasmina Halimic, a Serbian-speaking Bosnian-American soprano in the title role of Hanna Glawari, I decided to pursue this direction with the opera. We immediately searched for a Serbian-speaking actor to play the role of Njegus, who is the glue that holds the story together. We were able to find Milan Rakic, a Serbian American living in New York and active in the arts world.”
Although the operetta will be sung and spoken primarily in English, there will be Serbian dialogues spoken as well, with English subtitles. The male lead, American baritone Mark Womack in the role of Prince Danilo Danilovich, will have a Serbian vocal coach to enable his Serbian dialogues.
“We think it will be a lot of fun for the audiences—it has great songs, lots of dancing and of course, the orchestra and chorus, under the direction of Maestro Gavriel Heine of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky theatre, are always wonderful.”
But the Northern Lights is more than just one big opera. Several concert events and workshops will be held across the region, with special attention paid to young musicians and communities where such programming is harder to find.
2015 Northern Lights Music Festival Schedule
Tuesday, June 30: 11 a.m., Kids for Kids concert, Gilbert Public Library
Wednesday, July 1: 7 p.m., a Gala Opening Night Concert featuring performances by the festival’s young artists, Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
Thursday, July 2: 9 a.m., Northern Lights Music Festival concerto competition, Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
7 p.m., Faculty Chamber Music Concert on July 2nd, with performances of Haydn’s String Quartet in f minor by members of the Minnesota Orchestra, Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
Saturday, July 4: 4 p.m., NLMF Orchestra performs selections from West Side Story and My Fair Lady featuring the NLMF Opera’s cast in the vocal numbers, Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
Sunday, July 5: 4 p.m., Student Concert, Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
Tuesday, July 7: 10:15 a.m., Student Concert, Copper Top Church in Duluth
7 p.m., NLMF Chamber Players Concert SCRIABIN AND HIS RUSSIAN ROOTS (with pre-concert talk by Maya Pritsker at 6 p.m.), Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
Thursday, July 9: 2 p.m., Kids for Kids Concert, Aurora Public Library
7 p.m., NLMF Chamber Players Concert SCRIABIN AND HIS RUSSIAN ROOTS (with pre-concert talk by Maya Pritsker at 6 p.m.), Chisholm High School auditorium
Friday, July 10: 7 p.m., Opening Night of Lehar’s “The Merry Widow,” (with pre-concert talk by Maya Pritsker at 6 p.m.) Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
Saturday, July 11: 7 p.m., NLMF Chamber Players Concert, B’nai Abraham Cultural Center in Virginia, Minnesota
Sunday, July 12: 7 p.m., Lehar’s “The Merry Widow,” (with pre-concert talk by MPR’s Julie Amacher at 6 p.m.) Chisholm High School auditorium
Monday, July 13: 7 p.m., Lehar’s “The Merry Widow,” Washington auditorium in Ely
Tuesday, July 14: 7 p.m., Chamber Music Concert featuring Piano Quartet in g minor with Brahms String Quartet Debussy, Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
Wednesday, July 15: 1 p.m., Osaka International Music Competition Semi-Final Auditions, Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
2 p.m., Kids for Kids concert, Virginia Public Library
7 p.m., Chamber Music Concert featuring Piano Quartet in g minor with Brahms String Quartet Debussy, Vermilion Community College in Ely
Thursday, July 16: 7 p.m., NLMF Orchestra Concert featuring winners of the
NLMF Concerto Competition, Chisholm High School auditoriumFriday, July 17: 7 p.m., NLMF Orchestra Concert featuring winners of the
NLMF Concerto Competition, Mesabi East auditorium in AuroraSaturday, July 18: 6 p.m., Closing Concert and Presentation of Awards, Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
7 p.m., NLMF Vocal Workshop featuring Opera Scenes, Vermilion Community College in Ely
Sunday, July 19: 3 p.m., NLMF Vocal Workshop featuring Opera Scenes, Crosby-Fronton High School auditoriumMonday, July 20: 7 p.m., NLMF Vocal Workshop featuring Opera Scenes, Mesabi East auditorium in Aurora
More information about the festival and how to attend these shows may be found at the Northern Lights Music Festival web site.
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