New Greater Middletown Concert Association Season!

Six premier performances of concerts and operas are coming to Middletown this September through May, 2014, it was announced today. The Greater Middletown Concert Association will open a 2013-2014 Season on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 29 at 3:00 p.m., by bringing a well-known touring jazz ensemble, The Swing Legacy, to give a concert in the 700-seat state-of-the-art MHS Performing Arts Center auditorium, 200 LaRosa Lane, Middletown. The Season concludes on Friday evening, May 23, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. with a live fully-staged professionally-sung favorite opera, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, presented by the Connecticut Lyric Opera and the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.

Between these two performance dates there will be a widely-anticipated opera production of Richard Wagner’s German opera Der Fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman) on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. and an important presentation of Viktor Ullman’s allegory opera, The Emperor of Atlantis, on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 26, at 3:00 p.m. which he composed when imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp in 1943. Both operas will be presented by the Connecticut Lyric Opera and Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra with English translation titles projected above the stage.

A concert on Saturday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. will bring three acclaimed international performing artists, D’Anna Fortunato, mezzo-soprano; Peter Bloom, flute and Mary Jane Rupert, piano and harp. They will present an evening of familiar composers’ music in the venue of The Church of the Holy Trinity, 381 Main St., Middletown, which will be a more appropriate chamber setting for this concert only than the larger hall.    

The highlight of the season will be on Saturday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. when the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra comes to Middletown featuring a Bushnell-commissioned multi-media composition, Ellis Island: the Dream of America by Peter Boyce, with actors’ narration. It will be conducted by Middletown-born Richard Chiarappa who is now the resident conductor and musical director of the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

The 2013-2014 Season will spectacularly conclude on Friday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m. with Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini, again presented by the Connecticut Lyric Opera and the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, sung in the original Italian. English translation titles will be projected above the stage. All performances except the March 1st concert will be held in the MHS Performing Arts Center.

“Looking back over our 45 years it is amazing to see the number, variety and caliber of concerts, and now also operas…that the Greater Middletown Concert Association has brought to Middletown,” remarked Barbara Arafeh, GMCA president and long-time participant in the arts organization. “Since our original founding in 1968 as Middletown Community Concerts, then managed by Columbia Artists in New York City, we have averaged three to six concerts every

year of our existence! Now we have emerged into the present independent Greater Middletown Concert Association. Many past and present Connecticut music lovers and supporters have been involved to make all this happen in Middletown, “ she added.

Season subscriptions or individual performance tickets are now on sale, and prices are being kept at last Season’s level to accommodate the economic times. All seats arre numbered and reserved so early purchases are encouraged. A full subscription that covers all 6 performances (3 concerts and 3 operas is $125 (front) and $120 (rear). The 3-Concert Series subscriptions including (The Swing Legacy, the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s Ellis Island, and the mezzo-soprano D’Anna Fortunato, flutist Peter Bloom and pianist –harpist Mary Jane Rupert concert), will be $65 (front) and $60 (rear). Individual tickets for these concerts will be $30 (front) and $25 (rear) each. The 3-Opera Series subscriptions including (Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, Ullman’s The Emperopr of Atlantis and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly) will be $90 (front) and $85 (rear). Individual tickets for these operas will be $40 (front) and $35 (rear) each. Special group, student and family prices are available on inquiry.

To reserve or purchase seats call 860 347-4887 or 860 346-3369. All major credit cards are honored. Checks may also be sent to GMCA, P.O. Box 2622, Middletown, CT 06457, and e-mail bmwa@aol.com. See GreaterMiddletownConcerts.org, Facebook  facebook.com/TheGMCA