In The News

Wichita Eagle - Sun, June 05, 2005

OPERA TO PLAY FAVORITES AT BRADLEY FAIR
On June 18, Wichita Grand Opera will present a free outdoor concert of the past season's highlights

BY CHRIS SHULL
The Wichita Eagle

The Opera is coming back to Bradley Fair, and it's free.

Wichita Grand Opera will present "Opera on the Lake," a concert of favorite arias, duets and ensembles, at 7 p.m. June 18 on the plaza at Bradley Fair Shopping Center.

After the concert, the audience is invited to stay for a free big band dance, also on the plaza.

Folks can bring blankets and lawn chairs and soak in the greatest hits from each of the five operas Wichita Grand Opera presented at Century II last season.

"You will hear all the chestnuts of all the operas," said Parvan Bakardiev, general director of Wichita Grand Opera. "They'll hear glorious music."

An orchestra of musicians from the Wichita Grand Opera Orchestra and the Hutchinson Symphony will accompany musical numbers from "Don Giovanni," "The Mikado," "The Barber of Seville," "Aida" and "La Boheme."

The orchestra, led by Kelly Kuo, will be featured on the overture to "The Barber of Seville" and during the "Triumphal March" from "Aida."

The 12-person cast includes Rodney Miller, dean of the College of Fine Arts at Wichita State University; Reginald Pittman, associate professor of music at Kansas State University; and soprano Charleen Ayers. Rebecca Robbearts will sing an aria from "The Barber of Seville" and Earl Levine and Denise Knowlton will reprise a comic scene from "The Mikado."

All the singers are members of the opera's Resident Artist company, which promotes Kansas artists.

The Wichita Grand Opera chorus will also perform.

"We are pretty excited because this is truly a community gathering," Bakardiev said.

At Wichita Grand Opera's last outdoor presentation at Bradley Fair --"Carmen" in 2003 -- the stage was set on the lake's island. This time, the stage will be on the shore.

Like the popular summertime jazz concerts presented at Bradley Fair, there is no admission charge for "Opera on the Lake." However, patrons must fill out a free coupon and present it for admittance.

The coupon appears in today's Wichita Eagle. It will be reprinted in the paper several more days through June 18.