KU News Release

KU graduate creates opera company; first performance is Sept. 28 in Lawrence

Stanford Felix and Andrea Garritano rehearse for the upcoming production of "Tosca."

LAWRENCE — No sets, no costumes, no staging: Concert opera is all about the music. Now thanks to a recent University of Kansas graduate, people around the state will have the opportunity to enjoy it.

Stanford Felix, who earned a doctorate in voice performance from KU in July, is the founder and artistic director of the Kansas Concert Opera. Its first performance, Puccini’s “Tosca,” will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, at the Lawrence Arts Center.

Felix is now an assistant professor of voice at Emporia State University, and the Kansas Concert Opera’s headquarters are in Emporia. “Tosca” will be performed there on Sept. 30.

“I’ve wanted to do this for a while,” Felix said of bringing concert opera to the Midwest. “I was in New York for 13 years, and I did concert opera there. It’s very popular there and in Europe.”

Concert opera is the performance of an opera score without staging. The singers perform in concert dress and are accompanied only by a pianist or small orchestra. Because of this, performances don’t cost a lot to produce and are easy to take on the road.

This is precisely why Felix formed the new company. He said each Kansas Concert Opera production will be performed twice. One performance will always be in Emporia. The second performance will take place in a different Kansas town each time.

And because of the relatively low cost of putting on a concert opera, Felix said he can use revenue to bring in well-known, experienced singers to work with newer singers from high schools and colleges around Kansas.

“To show these kids really good singing is important,” he said.

The Kansas Concert Opera’s first production has several KU connections: Paul Laird, professor of musicology, will give a talk before the Lawrence show on the history of “Tosca;” Mark Ferrell, associate professor of music, is the accompanist; and several performers are KU students, including Andrea Garritano, a doctoral student in voice performance who’s singing the lead role.

“This is my first time singing Tosca,” said Garritano. “The Kansas Concert Opera is the ideal company for singing a role for the first time since the performances in concert version allow the voice and body to initially live in the role alone, without the added layers of costume and staging.”

Other KU performers in “Tosca” are Hugo Vera and Christian Elser, both doctoral students in voice.

For more information about auditions, the story of “Tosca” or about the performers, visit the Kansas Concert Opera Web site.

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.