‘Puccini and Rossini: Operas of Consequence and Comedy’

Audiences can get a double dose of Italian opera with Michigan State University Opera Theatre’s final production of the season, “Puccini and Rossini: Operas of Consequence and Comedy.”

The fully staged and costumed show pairs separate one-act works, Puccini’s “Suor Angelica” and Rossini’s “La Cambiale di Matrimonio,” performed with the MSU Symphony Orchestra.

“Puccini’s score supports the opera’s intimate and dramatic story with soaring vocal lines and expressive orchestration,” a College of Music press release reads. “In contrast, Rossini’s lively music moves quickly, with crisp rhythm and energy that highlight his early comic style.”

“Presenting these two productions together highlights the remarkable expressive range the art form of opera can deliver,” Melanie Helton, director of MSU Opera Theatre, said. “One invites reflection through deeply personal sacrifice, while the other celebrates wit and comic chaos. For our students, it’s an opportunity to inhabit two very different musical worlds in a single evening. And for our patrons, it offers a rare immersion in the full spectrum of human experience.”

Conducted by Katherine Kilburn and directed by Helton, both operas are sung in Italian with English subtitles.

Tickets are available at music.msu.edu/events or by phone at (517) 353-5340.