By Hannah Gill

Beginning Nov. 9, the University of Louisville welcomes Polish students to the School of Music for the transcontinental performance of the year.

Performed by a Polish-American cast, composed by Mozart and sung in Italian, “Marriage of Figaro” (“Le Nozze de Figaro”) is the latest production from U of L’s School of Music. This opera is a student exchange program between the School of Music and the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland.

The two schools have been working on this particular production since 2003. Despite being miles apart, the two schools were able to communicate via webcams and voice over Internet protocols to work on auditions, rehearsals and castings.

Last month, nine Polish students came to U of L forming a cast of American and Polish vocal students. Under the leadership of Kimcherie Lloyd, Director of Orchestra and Opera at U of L, and Mike Ramach, stage director for the opera, they are amply prepared for performances in Louisville this weekend, as well as in Poland this January.

The cast and crew have put “a tremendous amount of time” into this production with hopes that their collaboration and efforts will result in an international operatic event that will create music appreciation.

Rianne Marcum, a senior vocal performance major starring as Cherubino in the opera, said, “It’s been a lot of hard work. Some days we have nine hours of rehearsal, but I’m excited and ready to perform.”

Ramach added, “This is a tremendous opportunity, and I think [the cast] is having fun.”

“Marriage of Figaro” is an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Italian libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte and is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, “La folle journe, ou le Mariage de Figaro.”

The opera was the first of three celebrated collaborations between Mozart and da Ponte; they went on to create “Don Giovanni” and “Cose fan tutte.” It was Mozart who brought a copy of Beaumarchais’ play to da Ponte, who turned it into a libretto in six weeks, translating the story into Italian poetry and removing all political references.

The number of performances is limited to two and tickets can be bought ahead of time and on the day of the performance. The U of L students will venture after the new year to Poland to perform the opera in Katowice.