Pacific Opera Victoria to Present ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, 2/13-23

Pacific Opera Victoria presents Strauss' ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, a witty mash up of high-brow opera and earthy comedy, February 13 through 23, 2014 at the Royal Theatre in Victoria, BC.

The richest man in Vienna is hosting a party and will treat his guests to a newly commissioned opera, The Tragedy of the Jilted Ariadne, followed by a burlesque farce, The Fickle Zerbinetta and Her Four Lovers.

Preparations backstage are in full swing when the patron announces that dinner is running late and both works must therefore be staged simultaneously. The players cry Foul! How can a tragedy and a comedy be presented at the same time? The Composer bewails the fate of his creation while the Tenor and the Prima Donna bicker over musical cuts. What follows is a collision of comedy and tragedy as the players are compelled to follow the old theatrical maxim, "the show must go on".

ARIADNE AUF NAXOS is a show within a show, a mash up of tragedy and comedy, myth and realism, in which different art forms fight for equal rights, and everyone wins, especially the audience! It is a unique and beautiful work that laughs at opera, even as it celebrates it.

In a season of large ensemble works marked by company debuts, POV's production of ARIADNE AUF NAXOS welcomes a dozen new artists to Victoria.

Canadian tenor Roger Honeywell makes his Pacific Opera Victoria debut as the Tenor and Bacchus, a role he covered with the Canadian Opera Company. Mr. Honeywell returned to the Canadian Opera Company recently as Bob Boles opposite Ben Heppner in Peter Grimes. After a career as an actor working at many of the country's foremost companies including five seasons with the Shaw Festival and five seasons with the Stratford Festival, Mr. Honeywell joined the Canadian Opera Company's young artist program. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2008.

Colleen Skull, a frequent performer with opera companies and orchestras across Canada, makes her POV debut as the Prima Donna and Ariadne. Arminè Kassabian has taken the opera scene by storm with award-winning performances in the US, Canada, Italy and China. Ms. Kassabian makes her POV debut as the Composer. Suzanne Rigdon, acclaimed for her remarkable gift for stratospheric coloratura, is making her mark in opera and concert halls from Nova Scotia to San Francisco, and joins POV in the role of Zerbinetta. John Brancy joins the cast as the Harlequin. Mr. Brancy has performed on concert stages across Europe as well as for Dresden Semperoper, Paris' Théâtre du Châtelet, and Juilliard Opera.

ARIADNE AUF NAXOS is directed by Oriol Tomas (POV's Rodelinda). POV Artistic Director, Timothy Vernon, Canada's foremost authority on Strauss, conducts the Victoria Symphony. Set design is by Ian Rye, costume design by Sheila White, choreography by Jacques Lemay and lighting design by Kimberly Purtell.

ARIADNE AUF NAXOS opens on February 13 and continues on February 15 and 21, 2014, with a matinée February 23, at the Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton Street in Victoria. Evening performances begin at 8pm with pre-performance lectures at 7:00pm. Matinée performance on February 23rd begins at 2:30 pm, with pre- performance lecture at 1:30 pm. The opera is performed in German with English surtitles.

Priced between $40 and $125, including GST & box office service charges, tickets are available from the Royal and McPherson Box Office at 250-386-6121, or online at www.rmts.bc.ca.

Student RUSH tickets for those presenting valid student identification are available at the door of the theatre, 60 minutes prior to each performance, subject to availability. RUSH tickets are $15, inclusive of all box office charges.

For more information, contact Pacific Opera Victoria at 250-385-0222 or visit www.pov.bc.ca.