"Backstage at the Opera"
Prepare yourself for a deeper opera experience by attending Opera 101 – Backstage at the Opera.

Rimrock Opera's William Mouat PhD., leads the class through details of Tosca, insights to theatrical costuming and makeup, listening to CDs, meeting and hearing the artists, and a sneak preview at one of the theater dress rehearsals. A new feature is inaugurated with this series: a post-show class to share the completed opera experience.

Opera 101 dates:

When:

TUES. April 5, 7-9 p.m.

TUES. April 12, 7-9 p.m.

WED.  April 20, 7-9 p.m.

WED.  April 27, 7-9 p.m.

Discussion and Q & A are a big part of class. Enrollment is limited and class sells out quickly. Call Rimrock Opera, 406-671-2214, for more information and enrollment.

Visit the realm of verismo opera with Dr. William Mouat. Get a glimpse of the epic process of rehearsing and producing live opera and a sneak preview of Rimrock Opera's spring production of Tosca. Teachers earn credit for this seminar.

To register, or phone (406) 671-2214.

Location:        Shiloh United Methodist Church, 1810 Shiloh Road

Cost:               $50.00

Native Montanan, William M. Mouat, D.M.A. in Opera Production, University of Washington, has sung supporting and leading baritone roles with numerous regional and national opera companies. These include New York City Opera National Company, Seattle Opera, Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Columbus, Des Moines Metro Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Tacoma Opera, Houston Opera in the Heights, Boise Opera, Rimrock Opera Company and Anchorage Opera.

Most recently, William sang the roles of Sam in Trouble in Tahiti and Ben in The Telephone in RO's July Summer Opera Festival.

Other baritone roles include Escamillo in Georges Bizet’s Carmen and Giorgio Germont in Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata. In 2006-2009, he was seen in Abilene Opera productions Carmen, as Zuniga, La fanciulla del West as Jake Wallace, and Peter Pan as George Darling.

William also has numerous opera production and stage direction credits; these include Kurt Weill's Street Scene, produced on February 5 and 6, 2010, under the baton of Opera Cleveland's Dean Williamson, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore, Mollicone’s The Face on the Barroom Floor, W.A. Mozart’s Così fan tutte and La finta Giardiniera, The Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma and Peter Brook’s The Tragedy of Carmen (La tragédie de Carmen) and Die Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss.