Love is in the air as Manchester presents operas 

Manchester University presents “Love: Sublime and Ridiculous” this weekend. The production features two comic operas, The Tales of Hoffmann and Amelia Goes to the Ball. 

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17-18, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19, in Wine Recital Hall on the North Manchester campus.

General admission is $8 and students $5. Admission is free for MU students, faculty and staff.

The program begins with Act I from the French opera, The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach, based on three short stories by Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann. Each act includes the story of Hoffmann (the author) finding a new love interest.  In Act I, Hoffmann, wearing rose-colored glasses, falls in love with the mechanical doll, Olympia.  Two characters, her inventor Spalanzani and his sinister partner Coppelius, argue over who actually owns her spectacular eyes. 

The second opera featured is Amelia Goes to the Ball by Gian Carlo Menotti, a one-act opera about a young Italian socialite who overcomes a series of obstacles in order to attend the first ball of the season.  

Both operas are performed in English and are the culmination of MU’s annual January session Opera Workshop.

About Manchester University
Manchester University, with campuses in North Manchester and Fort Wayne, Ind., offers more than 60 areas of academic study to 1,600 students in undergraduate programs, a Master of Athletic Training, a Master of Pharmacogenomics and a four-year professional Doctor of Pharmacy.  Learn more about the private, northern Indiana school at www.manchester.edu.

February 2017