The UCLA Department of Music's Opera UCLA will present Giuseppe Verdi's comic opera "Falstaff" at 8 p.m. on Feb. 8 and 15, and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 10 and 17, at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall. The opera will be performed in Italian with projected English supertitles.

 

"Falstaff" is directed by Peter Kazaras, with Neal Stulberg conducting the UCLA Philharmonia. The production is made possible in part by the generous support of the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation.

 

Tickets to "Falstaff" are available from the UCLA Central Ticket Office at (310) 825‑2101. Reserved seating is $20 ($10 for students with ID and seniors). Parking is available for $8 in Lot 2; enter the campus at Hilgard and Westholme avenues.

 

Perhaps the greatest comic opera of all time, "Falstaff" portrays the adventures of the lovable rascal Sir John Falstaff. The libretto by Arrigo Boito is based on William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and scenes from "Henry IV." Verdi's final opera, "Falstaff" was first performed at Milan's La Scala on Feb. 9, 1893, to great critical acclaim.

 

Peter Kazaras has been artistic director of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program since 2006. He has enjoyed a career as an operatic tenor since 1979, and in the past decade has worked with great success as a stage director and teacher. His career highlights include world premieres and performances of many new works, including Corigliano's "The Ghosts of Versailles" (Metropolitan Opera), Bernstein's "A Quiet Place" (Houston Grand Opera, La Scala, Kennedy Center, Vienna State Opera), Tippett's "New Year" (Houston Grand Opera) and Picker's "Thérèse Raquin" (Dallas Opera), as well as a legendary Carnegie Hall performance of "Jenufa" alongside Gabriela Benackova and Leonie Rysanek, with Eve Queler conducting the Opera Orchestra of New York.

 

Kazaras has also had leading roles in landmark productions at the Seattle Opera, including as Loge in "Das Rheingold," in both the François Rochaix and Stephen Wadsworth Ring cycles; as Pierre in "War and Peace," directed by Francesca Zambello; and as Captain Vere in Zambello's "Billy Budd." His recent projects have included "Norma," for the Seattle Opera; "Le Nozze di Figaro," "The Turn of the Screw," "Falstaff" and black-box touring productions of "The Tragedy of Carmen" and "La Serva Padrona" for the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program; "Trouble in Tahiti" for the Caramoor Festival; "Suor Angelica" and "Gianni Schicchi" for Opera UCLA and the Hartt College of Music; "Iolanta" for the Academy of Vocal Arts; "The Medium" and "Angélique" for the San Francisco Opera's Merola Program; "Der Vampyr" for Florida State University; "Little Women" at the Cabrillo Festival; "Die Fledermaus" for the Madison Opera; and "Acis and Galatea" with Santa Fe Pro Musica.

 

He recently directed a well-received new production of Musto's "Volpone" at the Barns at Wolf Trap. Next summer brings Kazaras to the San Francisco Opera Center for a new production of "Albert Herring" with the Merola program.

 

A native of New York, Kazaras graduated from Harvard and the New York University School of Law and is now a visiting professor at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

 

Neal Stulberg, visiting director of orchestral studies at UCLA, has served as music director of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and as assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Carlo Maria Giulini. In 2001, he conducted the Philip Glass opera "Akhnaten" at the Rotterdam Festival and Thomas Adès' "Powder Her Face" with the Long Beach Opera. An acclaimed pianist, he performs as a recitalist and chamber musician, as well as with major orchestras and at international festivals. He has recorded for West German Radio and the Composers Voice label. He is a recipient of the Seaver/NEA Conductors Award.

 

The cast for Opera UCLA's "Falstaff" includes Jeffrey Madison (Sir John Falstaff), Apollo Wong (Pistol and Sir John Falstaff cover), In Joon Jang (Ford), Daniel Suk and Matthew Giebel (Fenton), Raul Arispe (Dr. Cajus), Dory Schultz (Bardolph and Dr. Cajus cover), Alex Mendoza (Bardolph), Christopher Remmel (Pistol), Katherine Giaquinto and Rebecca Sjowall (Mrs. Alice Ford), Joanna Foote and Lisa Hendrickson (Nannetta), Tracy Cox and Peabody Southwell (Dame Quickly), Leslie Cook and Heather Henderson (Mrs. Meg Page), Julian Arsenault (innkeeper), and Frank Griffith (page). Chorus members include Douglas Carpenter (Ford pit cover), Pasquale D'Alessio (Bardolph study cover), Sergey Khalikulov (Pistol study cover), Judy Tran (Mrs. Meg Page study cover), Julian Arsenault, Frank Griffith, Sarah Harnell, Alysse Padilla, Katy Tang, Elyse Merchant, Justin Lee, Micaela Tobin and "Mario" Hong Suk (Ford cover).

 

In addition to Kazaras and Stulberg, the production team includes assistant director James Darrah; production manager Melissa Somrack; scenic designer Donald Eastman; lighting designer Johnny Lyman; costume designer Anna Björnsdotter; Seattle associate technical director Rob Reynolds; technical director Gary Richardson; stage manager Erica R. Christiansen; assistant stage manager Alex Ohanesian; wardrobe assistant Marci Alberti; cutter Ralf Strauss; assistant cutter Amanda Ellison; assistant conductor Stephen Karr; UCLA Opera Studio director Rakefet Hak; adjunct assistant professor, accompanist and coach Judy Hansen; and accompanist and supertitle operator Mona Lands.

 

Opera UCLA productions have provided an important interdisciplinary, performance-based experience for UCLA student conductors, directors, instrumentalists, designers and, of course, singers, many of whom are being trained to star in the world's finest opera houses. UCLA vocal students have been winners and finalists in regional and national vocal competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

 

The UCLA Department of Music, part of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, prepares students for professional careers as performers and composers with degree programs that fully integrate academic and artistic excellence. Studies emanate from both the American and European music traditions, with a strong focus on the international character of late 20th-century composers and performers. 

 

The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture (UCLA Arts) attracts artists, architects, dancers, designers, musicians and scholars, who draw on the school's unique curriculum, which interweaves work in performance, studio and research studies, providing students with a solid creative, artistic and intellectual foundation, as well as a liberal arts education from one of the country's finest research universities. Students gain a global view of the arts while integrating contemporary practice and theory in their chosen discipline. Providing a full range of course offerings and degree programs, the school comprises six degree-granting units: architecture and urban design, art, design and media arts, ethnomusicology, music, and world arts and cultures.

 

The school also houses the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music (comprising the departments of ethnomusicology, music and musicology), five centers (the Art | Sci Center, the Art | Global Health Center, the Center for Intercultural Performance, the Experiential Technologies Center and the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts), two museums (the Fowler Museum at UCLA and the UCLA Hammer Museum) and a major performing arts program, UCLA Live.