Opera Columbus to Present LA VOIX HUMAINE & PAGLIACCI Double Bill in June

Guest soprano Camille Zamora will perform double roles as the leads in both La Voix Humaine (Elle) and Pagliacci (Nedda) as Opera Columbus presents an all-locally produced double bill.

Opera Columbus presents La Voix Humaine and Pagliacci at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St.). There will be a preview performance on Wednesday, June 3, at 7:30 pm with additional performances on Friday, June 5, at 8 pm, and Sunday, June 7, at 2 pm. Tickets are $25-$88 (preview tickets are $13-33) at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase by phone, call (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000. Young people aged 13-25 may purchase $5 All Access tickets while available. For more information, visit www.GoFor5.com.

Composed by French composer Francis Poulenc, La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice) is a one-act, 40-minute opera for soprano and orchestra based on the play of the same name by Jean Cocteau. The work portrays a desperate woman's last phone conversation with her lover who now loves someone else, evoking a minefield of emotions as she stumbles toward an uncertain fate. Performed in French with English SURTITLES.

In the powerful and gut-wrenching Pagliacci, Canio and Nedda are members of a traveling troupe of players and also husband and wife, but Nedda yearns to escape with her secret lover. Canio knows the show must go on and achingly laments his wife's infidelity in the famous aria "Vesti la giubba" ("Put on the Costume") while painting on the smiling clown face of his character, Pagliaccio. In the end, Canio creates his own tragic ending to the troupe's performance. Sung in Italian with English SURTITLES, this production is a collaboration with The Ohio State University and performed with the Columbus Symphony.

In repertoire ranging from Mozart to tango, and in collaboration with artists ranging from Plácido Domingo to Sting, Zamora has garnered a passionate following for her "magnificent voice and impeccable technique" (Diario Dan Luis). Recent highlights include Twin Spirits: Clara & Robert Schumann with Sting and Joshua Bell at Lincoln Center and LA's Music Center, Ilia in Idomeneo at Boston Lyric Opera, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at Anchorage Opera, Despina in Così fan tutte at Glimmerglass Opera and Virginia Opera, Elle in La Voix Humaine at Auckland Opera and Bay Chamber Festival, The Countess in Die Verschworenen and Europa in Die Liebe der Danae at Bard Summerscape, and Amore/Valetto in L'incoronazione di Poppea at Houston Grand Opera. Other signature roles include Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites), The Governess (The Turn of the Screw), The Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), as well as the title roles in Susannah, Alcina, and most recently, Anna Bolena of which the Houston Chronicle wrote, "Camille Zamora digs deep into Anna Bolena with the richness of her colorful and unwaveringly powerful soprano instrument... a consummate actress whose ability to get inside her character is phenomenal."