By Jay Harvey
Selections from Mozart’s “Magic Flute,” Projekt: Opera, 7:30 p.m. May 29, 5 p.m. May 30, Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy, 10029 E. 126th St., Fishers. Tickets: www.fishersmusic.com/tickets; (317)576-5562. Advance: $15; at the door, $20.
Projekt:Opera, a new company in Fishers, will present its first production: scenes from Wolfgang Mozart’s final opera, “The Magic Flute.” It will include narration between musical numbers, filling in the story of a prince’s attempt, assisted by a comical sidekick who catches birds for a living, to be worthy of his beloved through a series of trials with and without her. Hidetaka Niiyama will conduct both two-hour performances, using a small orchestra, with a cast representing most of the opera’s characters.
“Lunch Break” concert series opener, 12:15 p.m. June 18, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Hilbert Circle Theatre. $5 at the door. Keitaro Harada, associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, will make his ISO debut in a program including Maurer Young Musicians’ Contest winner Daniel Hallett, a marimba player. The series, expanded from four to six concerts in its second year, also includes reduced versions of some Symphony on the Prairie programs, notably major violin soloist Anne Akiko Meyers (July 16).
“La Casa Azul,” Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre, 7 p.m. June 25-27, 3 p.m. June 28, the Tarkington at the Center for the Performing Arts, Carmel. Tickets: www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.com or (317) 843-3800.
Gregory Hancock will direct the world-premiere production of his musical focusing on the life and work of Frida Kahlo (1907-1964), wife of the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and known in her own right primarily as a self-portraitist. Hancock is responsible for all aspects of the production, with assistance from Kate Ayers (additional lyrics), Nicholas Cline (orchestration), Ryan Koharchik (lighting design), and Terry Woods (vocal direction).
“Roman Holiday: Handel and the Italians,” Indianapolis Early Music Festival, 7:30 p.m. June 26, Indiana History Center, 450 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis. Tickets: $22, www.emindy.org or (317) 577-9731.
Music by Italian baroque masters, plus the German visitor Handel (later known in England, where he settled, for his operas and oratorios, including “Messiah”) shows the richness of the Roman musical scene. The New York Ensemble Aeris performs with soprano Nell Snaidas, a favorite in past festivals here. Also recommended: the festival’s finale at 4 p.m. July 12— “Viva Vivaldi III: Concertos for Violin and Viola d’Amore” — featuring Chicago violinist Rachel Barton Pine, a leading artist on that city’s classical label (Cedille), with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra.
“Pictures at an Exhibition,” Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m. June 27 and 28, Conner Prairie, Fishers. Tickets: $25 in advance, $29 at the gate (adults), www.indianapolissymphony.org, (317) 639-4300. Conducted by Fawzi Haimor, resident conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the concerts feature Nareh Arghamanyan as soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor. Ravel’s popular orchestration of Mussorgsky’s piano suite, supplies the title of the program, which will also include Shostakovich’s “October” Overture.
“The Four Seasons,” Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m. July 17 and 18, Conner Prairie, Fishers. Tickets: same as above.
American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, whose distinctions include being top-selling Billboard classical instrumental soloist of 2014, will play Antonio Vivaldi’s set of four descriptive violin concertos with the ISO conducted by Daniel Meyer.
“The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” Indianapolis Opera, 8 p.m. Aug. 21, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 22, 2:30 p.m., Aug. 23, Schrott Center for the Arts, Butler University, Tickets begin at $25.
Michael Nyman, a British composer with a style related to minimalism, wrote this chamber opera based on a true story in neuropsychologist Oliver Sacks’ book of the same name. The three-singer cast is under the direction of David Adam Moore of GLMMR, a New York City interdisciplinary art collective.
