Hartt to Present Die Fledermaus

Sydney Anderson as Rosalinde and Daniel Fortine as Eisenstein are pictured in rehearsal for Hartt's production of "Die Fledermaus."

A poster for Hartt's production of "Die Fledermaus."

The Hartt School's Hartt Opera Theatre will present Johann Strauss II’s frothy comic operetta, Die Fledermaus, from Jan. 31 through Feb. 3 in Millard Auditorium.

Performances will take place Thursday, Jan. 31; Friday, Feb. 1; and Saturday, Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 3, at 3 p.m.

University of Hartford students, faculty, and staff may receive one free ticket to this production by presenting valid University ID at the box office in Lincoln Theater. Admission for the general public is $20, with discounts for seniors, students, and groups of 10 or more. For tickets and information, contact the University Box Office in Lincoln Theater at 860.768.4228 or 800.274.8587, or visit www.hartford.edu/hartt.

Directed by Ron Luchsinger and conducted by Doris Lang Kosloff, music director, this year’s main stage opera is a perennial favorite that features a lush score performed by a sizeable live orchestra made up of Hartt’s own instrumental students. Gloriously costumed, fully staged, and sung in English, this comedic tale of revenge is sure to enthrall audiences, from seasoned opera fans to those new to the genre.

Sharing principal roles at alternating performances are, in order of appearance: Alfred - Philippe L'Esperance and David Bukowy; Adele - Malorie Casimir and Angela Joy Lamb; Rosalinde - Sydney Anderson and Maria Cook; Eisenstein - Daniel Fortine and Darius Lee; Falke - Miguel Vasquez and Gregory Flower; Frank - Dean Murphy and Marlon McWilliams; Blind - George Mason and Garrett Matthews; Orlovsky - Lauren Dwane and Erica Jeski; Sally - Sheri Ziccardi and Maura Rabuffo; Ivan - Paulo Rouquayrol and Alexander Hunt; and Frosch - Sterling Liška.

Ensemble members include: Meghan Anthony, Tre'Von Bray, Melissa Ciociolo, Whitney Diamond, Sara Dodge, Jared Felch, Zachary Gilbert, Zachary Henderson, Elliott Howard, Angelique Hunter, Taylor Link, Rachel Love, Isaac Martinez, Greta Moorhead, Marcus Odom, Taylor Perry, Genna Rubenstein, Shantal Russell, Miroku Shimada, Marcus Shuler, and Jordan Strybos.

About the Stage Director: Ron Luchsinger is an acclaimed operatic stage director and educator who has worked with opera companies throughout the United States. He began his association with Opera North in 1988, was named Director of Productions in 1997, and has directed more than 35 productions for the company. He has also served as Artistic Director of Commonwealth Opera in Massachusetts for three seasons. Luchsinger has directed for Connecticut Opera, Shreveport Opera, Anchorage Opera, Abilene Opera, Eugene Opera, Lyric Opera of Dallas, Simsbury Light Opera, Dartmouth College, and Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Most recently he added assignments for Opera San Luis Obispo.

He has been Visiting Artistic Director at the University of Connecticut and has served on the faculties of the Mannes College of Music, New England Conservatory, the New York Opera/Drama Studio, and the California Music Center.

Luchsinger received his MM from The Hartt School and has taught and directed here intermittently since 1976, directing undergraduate operas since 2008.

About the Music Director/Conductor: Doris Lang Kosloff, a native of Brooklyn, NY, has held many prominent positions in the field of opera. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Queens College (The Aaron Copland School of Music) of the City University of New York and holds a Master of Music degree from the Boston University School of Fine and Applied Arts, where she graduated first in her class. In November 2005, she was appointed Artistic Director of the Connecticut Concert Opera. She has served as the Executive Director of the Hartford Conservatory (the nation's oldest community music school), the Artistic Director and Managing Director of the Connecticut Opera and the Waterbury Opera Theatre.

In 2009, Kosloff created the highly acclaimed American Opera Idol competition, which continues to draw new audiences to opera. In December 2009, she was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Miami Lyric Opera. Since 2004, she has been a music coach on the faculty of the The Hartt School, where she now also serves as the Music Director of Hartt Opera Theatre. From 1990-2005, she was a Professor of Music and the Director of the Opera Studio at the Aaron Copland School of Music.

Kosloff's active guest conducting career includes guest appearances with the Syracuse Opera, Orlando Opera, Hartford Ballet, Southern Ballet Theatre, and Opera Columbus, Treasure Coast Opera, and Miami Lyric Opera. A frequent speaker and workshop director, Kosloff wrote the libretto for the critically acclaimed children's opera Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which was created under a grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Her article, "The Woman Opera Conductor; Personal Perspective," was published in The Musical Woman: An International Perspective, Volume I (Greenwood Press). 


 Kosloff is the conductor of contemporary chamber orchestra works on many discs, and also recorded a symphonic disk with the Czech Radio Philharmonic. She was Music Director and Conductor for the world premiere of The Village (an opera based on factual events of the Holocaust), which premiered in March 1995 in New York.