St. Petersburg Opera Announces Fifth Season, Beginning with A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

St. Petersburg Opera is packing its fifth season with audience favorites, starting with Sondheim's A Little Night Music on September 17, 18, and 19, 2010. Hailed as witty and wildly romantic, A Little Night Music tells the story of a tangled web of former and current lovers. Sondheim's evocative lyrics about love and relationships are set to memorable waltzes and familiar melodies like "Send in the Clowns" Buffy Baggott will play Desiree Armfeldt; Kenneth Derby will be her former lover, Fredrik Egermann. Both Baggott and Derby have extensive Broadway and opera experience.

The tales of troubled love and colliding destinies continue with Verdi's Rigoletto on January 21, 23, and 25, 2011. The womanizing Duke of Mantua (Luke Grooms) and his vengeful court jester, Rigoletto, weave a fascinating drama of seduction, betrayal, curses, and vendettas. "La Donna e Mobile" (Women are Fickle), the Duke's famous aria, was one of Pavarotti's signature pieces. The production of Rigoletto is being sponsored by Homes By Helen.

The season concludes with Madama Butterfly, Puccini's masterpiece about the teenage bride of an American naval officer who renounces her religion, her customs, and her family to be the perfect "American wife". Her faithfulness is betrayed but she dreams her husband will return "one fine day". Lara Tillotson as Butterfly will fill the stage on June 10, 12, and 14.

All mainstage productions will be at the Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Ave., St. Petersburg, FL and will be fully staged with costumes, set, and professional orchestra conducted by Maestro Mark Sforzini.

St. Petersburg Opera will also continue its popular Evenings with the Maestro series of monthly lecture-performances held the first Thursday of the month at the Music Gallery in Clearwater.

Season tickets go on sale on May 21, with a discount of 10% available until June 22. Season tickets are available by telephone at 727-823-2040 or by downloading a form from www.stpeteopera.org.

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