Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro at CU has been canceled 

By Peter Alexander March 5 at 5 p.m.

CU Production of Marriage of Figaro. Photo by Glenn Asakawa.

Conductor Nick Carthy says that Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro is “the first great proto-feminist opera, and on top of that it’s subversive, it’s seditious, it’s bawdy, and Mozart wrote it!”

Widely considered one of the greatest operas ever written, The Marriage of Figaro will be presented by the University of Colorado Eklund Opera Program March 13-15. Carthy will conduct the student orchestra and cast, and Eklund Opera Program director Leigh Holman will be stage director.

Figaro, servant to the Count Almaviva, is about to marry Susanna, servant to the Countess. The Count, however, desires Susanna and wants to re-instate an old feudal right for masters to sleep with servants when they marry. The Countess and Susanna, and to a lesser extent Figaro, plot together to embarrass the Count and force him to abandon his plans.

There are many other twists involving minor characters, but those revolve around, and reinforce the main themes of, the plot: Not only do the servants thwart their master — a common basis for comedy in the 18th century — but the women foil the men. That is especially powerful, and is one of the things — with Mozart’s music — that elevates Figaro above other operas of its time.

Read more in Boulder Weekly.

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The Marriage of Figaro
By Mozart and Lorenzo DaPonte
CU Eklund Opera Program

7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14
2 p.m. Sunday, March 15
Macky Auditorium

Tickets