Long-time MSU educators recognized for contributions
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Ken and DeVera Bowles were recognized Saturday during Western Plains Opera Co.'s final performance of "Carmen" for their three decades of service, education and involvement with Minot State University and the opera company productions.
Prior to the opening of Saturday's production, incoming general director of the opera company and MSU's director of Choral Activities, Emerson Eads, introduced Minot Mayor Tom Ross, who presented the couple with a city proclamation declaring Sept. 9 as Ken & DeVera Bowles Appreciation Day.
The Western Plains Opera Co. also unveiled its upcoming season.
On Oct. 15, the company will perform "Love's Story," a recital of songs performed by tenor Kelly Burns and pianist Nicholas Shanefelt about the journey of love and life. It will include the world premiere of Emerson Eads' song cycle "Khalil Songs" on texts about love by Khalil Gibran, composed for Kelly Burns.
On March 15, "Opera Gala" will bring in Teresa Eickel, soprano, Toby Newman, mezzo-soprano, Barry Banks, tenor, and Jason Thoms, bass, to present a night of song celebrating some of the greatest love duets and arias of the operatic repertoire.
On April 12-14, the musical "Hunchback of Notre Dame" will explore, among other themes, the inherent worthiness of each human to be loved and valued.
Sept. 13-14, 2024, will bring the mainstage production "La Boheme" by Puccini, last performed in Minot in 2005. The story, on which the musical "Rent" is based, celebrates love and the power of friendship amid the maelstrom of life and heartache.
The Western Plains Opera Co. presented its final performance of "Carmen" on Saturday to a full house in Ann Nicole Nelson Hall. It featured more than a hundred musicians on stage and in the orchestra pit, including the Western Plains Children's Choir, the Western Plains Opera Chorus and Orchestra, the Rinat Mouzafarov Institute of Dance & Ballet Theater dancers and a dynamic cast of professional and community singers.