The William Jewell College music department will present a free opera workshop April 2 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Gano Chapel on the Liberty, Mo., campus. Gian-Carlo Menotti's The Consul (1950) will be sung in English and accompanied by orchestra.

The plot involves a poor family caught in the intrigue, suspicion and red-tape of living in a foreign country while seeking asylum in a not-so-friendly Consulate’s office. Desperation and, ultimately, hopelessness prevail because of the apparent lack of concern for the welfare of others, exacerbated by the oppressive bureaucracy of faceless government agencies.

The main characters are John and Magda Sorel played by Ben Donnelly-Strait, a first-year vocal music and education major from Kansas City, north, and Lauren Perren, a senior music performance and French major from Liberty, and John’s mother, played by Allysia Caraballo, a junior business marketing major from Centennial, Colo.

Dr. Tony Brandolino, associate professor of music, is conducting, while Ron Witzke, professor of voice, is the stage director.

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