The longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice, is just about here. In celebration, music and dance will be playing out among the landscape of the Lynden Sculpture Garden this weekend. The performance is a special collaborative performance of the 17th Century Purcell classic The Fairy Queen.
The collaboration is between Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Danceworks Performance Company and Carroll University. The idea to perform The Fairy Queen came from James Zager, Interim Company Manager at the Milwaukee Opera Theatre and Head of Theatre & Arts Management at Carroll.
Zager originally had done the full performance of the Purcell classic at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. When it came time to find a piece to do with The Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Danceworks and Carroll University, James proposed The Fairy Queen.
The idea to perform a condensed hour-long version came up after realizing the original work lasts more than three and a half hours.
Featuring 53 dancers, 11 singers and four instrumentalists, "audience members are invited to stroll and wondrous things will happen," says Milwaukee Opera Theatre Producing Artistic Director, Jill Anna Ponasik. "It's a chose your own adventure, baroque opera."
The collaborative production of Fairy Queen Fantasy is Friday and Saturday evening at the Lyden Sculpture Garden, with gates opening early for picnicking.
