YOUTH CULTURE

You don’t have to convince
Jay D. Meetze of the worthiness of Mozart’s "The Marriage
of Figaro."



"There are many reasons it’s considered one of the greatest
operas ever written," the artistic director of the Opera
Company of Brooklyn says. "The music is spectacular, it’s
appropriate for younger voices, it’s full of timeless comedy
and the purity of the characters is remarkable then there’s the
second act finale."



As if to prove his point, Meetze and his company will present
a fully staged, traditional production of Mozart’s immortal comic
opera Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 at NYC College of Technology’s Voorhees
Theatre.



Meetze, who is also conducting, explains his plans for performing
such an immortal work of art.



"We cut a little bit of the recitative parts and we cut
a couple of arias," Meetze says. "I do believe opera
should be done in the original form, but younger listeners have
shorter attention spans, so I take quicker tempi, but never so
fast that it makes singers speed up too much. And with Mozart,
it’s not such a big deal, because he was a young composer."
(Mozart was 30 when "Figaro" premiered, five years
before his death.)



Alluding to disagreements with the musicians’ union over using
a "virtual orchestra" for previous performances, Meetze
describes his "Figaro" orchestra: "We have a wonderful,
10-piece orchestra, a wind quartet and a complement of strings."
But he makes no apologies for using enhancements – Sinfonia virtual
orchestra technology – to help play Mozart’s sublime score.



"Technology allows a small company like us to present these
great operas," he insists.



The Opera Company of Brooklyn presents Mozart’s "The Marriage
of Figaro" on Feb. 6 at 8 pm, and Feb. 8 at 3 pm, at the
Voorhees Theatre, 186 Jay St. at Tillary Street in Downtown Brooklyn].
Tickets are $25, $20 Brooklyn residents, $10 students with ID
and $5 Brooklyn students with ID. For more information, visit
www.operabrooklyn.com
or call (212) 567-3283.



– Kevin Filipski