Don Giovanni, by Mozart (in Italian)

Don Giovanni, based on the character of Don Juan, is probably the most notorious womanizer in literature. Mozart’s opera, considered by some as the most perfect wedding of music and drama, presents a fine balance of the comic and tragic aspects of his amorous exploits. Mozart’s Don Giovanni comes alive as a character one cannot help but love and hate simultaneously. His final judgement at the opera’s end is one of the most stunning in all of Opera.

Don Pasquale, by Donizetti (in English)

Overconfident and over-the-hill, Donny Pasquale fancies himself a romantic prize for a beautiful young woman. While pursuing such a marriage to spite his lovesick young nephew, his family, friends and even the servants conspire to teach him a painful lesson about the true value of love. Norina, the object of his affections, works at Peck's, and she uses her strong will and resourcefulness to control the circumstances surrounding her.

Divas on the Delaware

Singers dressing onstage? – shocking! Instrumentalists walking into the middle of a scene? – unheard of! Performers flirting with audience members? – the very nerve! Don’t come expecting opera as usual when the DVO presents Divas on the Delaware, a program of favorite opera highlights by Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and others. Featured will be singers (male and female) from the new DVO Opera Training Program and instrumental ensemble in a lively, engaging and unusual program sure to attract opera lovers and novices alike.

The Wizard of Verse

Collaborating with such composers as George Gershwin, Harold Arlen and Burton Lane, Yip Harburg became famous in Hollywood, on Broadway and in popular music, writing lyrics for The Wizard of Oz, Finian's Rainbow, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, and many others. Bass Eric Barsness, mezzo soprano Carol Diefenbach, soprano Jody Weatherstone and DVO Director Jim Blanton at the piano breathe new life into Somewhere Over the Rainbow, It's Only a Paper Moon, April in Paris and other favorites. For those who find today's popular music a bit "shocking," Blanton's rendition of “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady” is bound to surprise.

2007 Season

Norma, By Bellini
La Perichole, By Offenbach
Naughty Operetta
Opera Highlights