National award-winning UNLV Opera presents Alcina March 13 at 7:30 p.m. and March 14 at 2 p.m. in the Judy Bayley Theatre. With music by George Frideric Handel, Alcina (1735) is a quintessential Baroque opera seria, full of vocal fireworks and mythological/magical figures.
The enchantress Alcina lures men to her island only to turn them into animals and inanimate objects. On this enchanted island, she imprisons the knight Ruggiero; his fiancée Bradamante, disguised as her brother Ricciardo, comes to retrieve her betrothed but becomes the object of affection for Alcina’s sister Morgana, much to the chagrin of Morgana’s lover Oronte. Meanwhile Oberto also seeks to rescue his father from Alcina’s magical powers.
Alcina stars Claudia Affan and Xinyu Pan-Herrington in the title role, with Alexia Hamilton and Miarphe Lapingcao as her sister sorceress Morgana. Carey/Corey Goetz and Hongyu Mu play Bradamante, while Dasia Intil and Elisabeth Leone are Ruggiero. Ranon Pador and Avery Smith alternate as Oronte, with Aaron Oberlanter portraying Melisso, Bradamante’s guardian. Lily Martin and Jinjin Wang are double-cast as the boy Oberto. Rounding out the cast are Nathalie Elizondo Garcia, Michael Leal, Kelsey Lee, Chengye Li, Valeria Dapena Torres, and Oksana Trygubenko. Darryl Cooper conducts the UNLV Chamber Orchestra. Stage direction is by Linda Lister. Scenic and projection design is by faculty and students of the UNLV Entertainment Engineering and Design program: Prof. William Borich, Sea Wongrattananon, and Steph Lainez. Kassidy McKinnon, from the UNLV Theatre Department, is the lighting designer and UNLV alumna Isabella Ivy is the costume designer.
The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Tickets are $26.75 in-person at the PAC Box Office or $30.25 when purchased online. Ticket prices include fees; discounts are available, including a $5 student rate.
About the UNLV College of Fine Arts
The College of Fine Arts educates, empowers, and engages creative people to become visionary change-makers in the arts through acts of imagination. At UNLV we believe the arts are an essential good for society. We make education relevant and accessible through our programs and outreach. We create new knowledge in the arts. We celebrate independent thought and the power of bringing people together to foster creativity.
