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YOUTH CULTURE

The Brooklyn Paper

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You don’t have to convince Jay D. Meetze of the worthiness of Mozart’s "The Marriage of Figaro."

"There are many reasons it’s considered one of the greatest operas ever written," the artistic director of the Opera Company of Brooklyn says. "The music is spectacular, it’s appropriate for younger voices, it’s full of timeless comedy and the purity of the characters is remarkable then there’s the second act finale."

As if to prove his point, Meetze and his company will present a fully staged, traditional production of Mozart’s immortal comic opera Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 at NYC College of Technology’s Voorhees Theatre.

Meetze, who is also conducting, explains his plans for performing such an immortal work of art.

"We cut a little bit of the recitative parts and we cut a couple of arias," Meetze says. "I do believe opera should be done in the original form, but younger listeners have shorter attention spans, so I take quicker tempi, but never so fast that it makes singers speed up too much. And with Mozart, it’s not such a big deal, because he was a young composer." (Mozart was 30 when "Figaro" premiered, five years before his death.)

Alluding to disagreements with the musicians’ union over using a "virtual orchestra" for previous performances, Meetze describes his "Figaro" orchestra: "We have a wonderful, 10-piece orchestra, a wind quartet and a complement of strings." But he makes no apologies for using enhancements - Sinfonia virtual orchestra technology - to help play Mozart’s sublime score.

"Technology allows a small company like us to present these great operas," he insists.

The Opera Company of Brooklyn presents Mozart’s "The Marriage of Figaro" on Feb. 6 at 8 pm, and Feb. 8 at 3 pm, at the Voorhees Theatre, 186 Jay St. at Tillary Street in Downtown Brooklyn]. Tickets are $25, $20 Brooklyn residents, $10 students with ID and $5 Brooklyn students with ID. For more information, visit www.operabrooklyn.com or call (212) 567-3283.

- Kevin Filipski

©2004 Community Newspaper Group


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