Mesopotamian Opera Company Presents THE ITALIAN LESSON By Peter Wing Healey

The Mesopotamian Opera Company presents its new production, The Italian Lesson, with words and music by melodic composer Peter Wing Healey. The opera is scored for piano, violin, cello and percussion, with conductors James Lent and Milos Veljkovic alternating at the piano.

With many beautiful melodies, a virtuosic piano score, strings, percussion, great singers, and a compelling narrative, this opera is not to be missed.

When Kansas City, Kansas coed Belinda Foxtrot goes to historic Pannacotta, Italy for a year abroad, she little suspects that her British roommate will be brutally murdered or that she will fall prey to the notorious Detective Chief Inspector, Giorgio Cantaricci. After she, and her princely boyfriend, Benissimo, are thrown in jail, we find out that the devious, alcoholic, nun-with-a-past, Sister Flavia, will have a key role in their conviction. Will the mysterious Madame Zia be able to change the terrible verdict - Colpevole -- guilty as charged - once Sister Flavia has been shipped off to the Clinic in Beverly Hills?

Come see it at The Highland Park Ebell Club, 131 S. Ave 57, Los Angeles, CA 90042. Dates are Friday June 9, Saturday June 10, Wednesday, June 14, and Saturday June 17. All performances are at 8PM. Advance Tickets are $25. General Admission $30 at the door Purchase tickets online https://italianlessonopera.bpt.me/.

Cast

Belinda Foxtrot Brooke Iva Lohman, coloratura soprano

Benissimo Ciutacci Xavier Prado, lyric tenor

Giorgio Cantaricci Eric Castro, baritone

Massimo Hunkonori Matthew Ian Welch, baritone

Sister Flavia Jessica Mamey, mezzo-soprano

Granny/Madame Zia Christa Marie Stevens, dramatic soprano

Enzo Splatzianna Marco Antonio Lozano, tenor

Giudetta Multicara Britta Sterling, soprano

Jane Marple Rachel Felstein, soprano

Hercule Poirot Steve Moritsugu, tenor

Sherlock Holmes Norge Yip, bass-baritone

Raffaella Contralloforte Andi Dana, bass-baritone

Mother Superior

Zefferella Francini

Sister Mallyrose

Production

Sets and Costumes Designed by Claire Fraser

Lighting by Georg Lion

Blüthner grand piano provided by Kasimoff-Blüthner Piano Co., Hollywood, CA

Peter Wing Healey, Writer / Composer

Peter Wing Healey is the founder and artistic director of The Mesopotamian Opera Company. Trained from age six on the piano, Mr. Wing Healey went on to tour England in 1968, singing soprano with The Christ Church Cathedral of Vancouver Choir, invited by The Royal School of Church Music. In Longmeadow, Massachusetts, he sang choral concerts and operatic leads (Barnaba in La Gioconda) in high school, under Alfredo Carbonel, and studied piano with Dorothy Guion, a protégé of pianist Dame Myra Hess. Later, moving to Philadelphia and attending Haverford College, he studied piano with Bach expert, Hungarian concert pianist Agi Jambor, herself a student of Edwin Fischer, renowned Swiss pianist.

Later, Mark Morris hired him as a soloist for The Hard Nut, his version of The Nutcracker, which premiered at the Opera Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels; then went on to play at Brooklyn Academy of Music; Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, CA; and The Festival Theater in Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Morris hired him as Assistant Choreographer for Nixon in China at the Houston Grand Opera. He continued to work on remountings of "Nixon" at the Los Angeles Opera, The English National Opera, The Frankfurt Opera, The Dutch National Opera, The Greek National Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera.

As a composer, Mr. Wing Healey writes neo-classical music. He has presented his original operas in New York City and in Los Angeles, where he now lives and works. His lauded productions have received support from American Opera Projects, The Gilman Foundation, The Noah Wyle Foundation, The Center for the Arts, The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and The James Irvine Foundation.

Making original, narrative Lyric Theater since 1985, Mesopotamian Opera Company is a nonprofit organization dedicated to further the teaching and employment, in live performance, of expressive performing arts techniques. The goal is to create work, employment when possible, and contemporary context for the arts of dance, song, recitation and role playing, and all the attendant arts; stage design, music composition, choreography, lighting design, conducting, playing of musical instruments and directing. This goal supports the infrastructure of teachers and coaches, university and college departments, that every year turn out aspiring talent in the field of live, expressive performing arts by laboring to provide another delivery platform for the many years of work and dedication represented in the lyric population.

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