Pine Mountain Music Festival to host "Operatunitea" July 16; "La Traviata" at Rozsa July 18

HOUGHTON -- You are invited to an "Operatunitea" to be held at 4 p.m. on Friday, July 16, at the Four Seasons Tea Room in Houghton. There will be teas including hot Vienna Opera Ball tea, boysenberry iced tea, or lemonade along with the famous Tea Room favorite sweets, and a chance to meet singers who will appear in the opera La Traviata on Sunday, July 18, at the Rozsa Center.

Admission to the July 16 "Operatunitea" is $20. Call the Pine Mountain Music Festival office at 906-482-1542 or toll-free 888-309-7861. Prior registration is required, since seating is limited.

The event is sponsored by Pine Mountain Music Festival, whose artistic director, Joshua Major, will be on hand, along with Lucy Thrasher, director of the Resident Opera Artist program. They will present a brief preview of the opera, and will introduce the singers. This will be an unusual and personal peek behind the scenes of an opera production while enjoying the delights of a royalty-worthy ambiance.

The opera La Traviata, one of the most popular operas of all time, will be presented July 13 at Kaufman Auditorium in Marquette, July 15 at Norway-Vulcan Fine Arts Center in Norway, Mich., and July 18 at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts in Houghton. The Houghton performance is at 3 p.m. and the others at 7:30 p.m. The opera will be sung in Italian, with English surtitles above the stage, so audience members can easily follow the story. A pre-opera talk, free to ticket-holders, will be given one hour prior to each performance. La Traviata, a story of love gained, lost, and then re-gained too late, is a good opera for first-time opera-goers.

Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Pine Mountain Music Festival presents a season of opera, classical and popular music each June-July in the Dickinson County area, the Marquette area, the Keweenaw Peninsula, and in some smaller communities in the Upper Peninsula. Headquartered in Hancock, Michigan, it is supported by donations, ticket sales and grants. Visit the web at pmmf.org, or call 1-877-746-3999 for tickets or 888-309-7861 for more information.