Damian Savarino Click on image to download print-quality version

GRANTHAM, Pa. (April 24, 2007) — Messiah College’s department of music announces its opera workshop series program, “A Night of Opera,” directed by Damian Savarino, lecturer in voice at Messiah College, on May 6 at 8 p.m.  The performance will be held in Miller Auditorium in the Climenhaga Fine Arts Center on the college’s Grantham campus.  Admission is free and open to the public.

The program features the Opera Workshop Ensemble, a group of students under Savarino’s direction, in the college’s first course devoted wholly to the learning and performing of opera. “A Night of Opera” constitutes the culmination of their work this spring semester, and the students will be performing opera scenes from several different operas in a variety of languages, such as "Die Fledermaus," "The Merry Wives of Windsor," "Carmen" and "The Telephone," to name a few.  This is the second offering in the college's history of opera performed by students.  

The department of music at Messiah College is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. The department offers majors in music and music education with concentrations in church music, performance, composition, commercial music and arts management.  Through a variety of junior and senior recitals and choral and instrumental ensembles, students gain performing experience both on- and off-campus.

Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls more than 2,800 undergraduate students in 60 majors. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.