May 12, 1998 School of Music Contact Scott Barkhurst (541) 346-1163 or John R. Crosiar 346-3135 EUGENE--Two fully staged lighthearted operas, and band and vocal jazz concerts will follow the Campus Arts Faire this week at the University of Oregon School of Music, 961 E. 18th Ave. For more information, call the UO School of Music weekdays at (541) 346-5678. If you have a Touch-Tone phone, you may confirm concert times and ticket information 24 hours a day by calling GuardLine at 485-2000, ext. 2533, for a taped message of the week's events. Saturday, May 23--Music/Dance Events during Campus Arts Faire Several events are scheduled at the School of Music and Department of Dance during the first Campus Arts Faire. All performances are free. From 2-4 p.m., jazz combos and the Jazz Lab Band will perform outdoors at the amphitheatre on the north side of the Music Building, 961 E. 18th Ave. Indoors, Beall Concert Hall will be the site for a 2 p.m. recital by mezzo-soprano Milagro Vargas and pianist Victor Steinhardt. At 4 p.m., student chamber ensembles will perform music by Felix Mendelssohn, Vincent d'Indy and Ludwig van Beethoven. All afternoon in the lobby of Beall Hall, drawings for free tickets will be held, and calendars and ticket brochures for the Oregon Bach Festival will be on display. At the Department of Dance, the group Dance Africa will perform selections from South Africa, Tonga and Brazil at 12:30 p.m. in the Gerlinger Annex, 1484 University St. At 2 p.m., dance students will present an informal performance in Room 353 of the annex. Admission is free to both events. Additional music events, including gospel, jazz and the Pacific Rim Gamelan, are scheduled at other campus locations during the Campus Arts Faire. Tuesday, May 26--UO Symphonic Band and Campus Band The UO Symphonic Band and UO Campus Band will give a concert built around the theme of "Dance Music for Band." The program begins at 8 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and seniors. The Symphonic Band, under the direction of Assistant Professor D. Sidney Haton, will perform works by Alfred Reed, Wallingford Riegger, Frank Ticheli, Joseph Downing and John Barnes Chance. Assistant director is graduate student Timothy Reynolds. The Campus Band will feature works by Dmitri Shostakovich, Robert Smith, John Phillip Sousa, Carl Strommen and Jan Van Der Roost. Director is Timothy Reynolds, assisted by J.J. Sutton and Kevin Soon. Wednesday, May 27--The Oregon Opera Ensemble The Oregon Opera Ensemble and the Eugene Opera will present their second annual joint production, titled "Soreng in the Spring." The performance, under the direction of Francis Graffeo, will feature two lighthearted operas, "The Impresario" and "L'amico Fritz." Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. in the Soreng Theatre at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, One Eugene Centre. Reserved-seat tickets, available through the Hult Center box office at (541) 682-5000, are $14 each and $8 for students and senior citizens. The fully staged production, sung in English, will feature professional costuming and accompaniment by a student orchestra comprised of members of the University Symphony, conducted by Graffeo. Mozart's rollicking farce "The Impresario" takes the audience backstage and into the trenches of operatic professional life in the 18th century. The impresario of the title, played by graduate student Genaro Mendez, is caught between two demanding soprano soloists, played by graduate students Bereniece Jones and Sarah Dornblaser. The singing is filled with vocal acrobatics, layered onto a plot that describes quite well why we call a diva a diva. "L'amico Fritz," by Pietro Mascagni, is an enchanting Italian love story about a wealthy confirmed bachelor and the lovely young woman everyone hopes he will fall in love with. A good-hearted rabbi intervenes as matchmaker, helping the couple to a happy ending. The opera is sung in Italian, with the three principal roles played by graduate students Misook Yun, David Howell and Angelo Dias. Mascagni, whose best-known work is "Cavalleria Rusticana," has written a lush, romantic score for this opera that has drawn comparisons to some of Puccini's masterpieces. Thursday, May 28--Oregon Vocal Jazz Ensemble The Oregon Vocal Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Assistant Professor D. Sidney Haton, will give its spring concert at 8 p.m. in Beall Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and senior citizens. The program is completely a capella (no piano or instrumental accompaniment), featuring titles like "Sack-o-Woe," "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," "Blue Ronda alla Turk," "Acapella in Acapulco," "And So It Goes" and "Unchain My Heart." -30- #P-2189/A&E