Madison, Wis. – Madison Opera’s Opera in the Park marks its thirteenth anniversary on Saturday, July 26 at 8pm in Garner Park on Madison’s West Side. The annual free concert of opera and Broadway favorites closes the company’s extraordinary 2013/14 season and provides a tantalizing preview of the 2014/15 season.

A Madison summer tradition that attracts nearly 14,000 people every year, Opera in the Park brings the best of opera and Broadway to the community for a magical evening of music under the stars. Opera in the Park 2014 will feature soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine, mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta, tenor Sean Panikkar, and baritone Kelly Markgraf in performance with the Madison Opera Chorus and Madison Symphony Orchestra under the baton of John DeMain, Madison Opera’s Artistic Director. The evening is hosted by Madison Opera’s General Director Kathryn Smith and WKOW TV’s 27 News Wake-Up Wisconsin anchor Brandon Taylor.

“Opera in the Park is my absolute favorite evening of the year,” says Smith. “It is a celebration of summer in Madison and of how beautiful music brings our community together. When I talk to people outside of our region about Madison Opera, it is Opera in the Park that is always at the forefront of what we do and who we are.”

The program for Opera in the Park 2014 includes arias and ensembles from Beethoven’s Fidelio, which opens the 2014/15 season in November; Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, which will be performed in February; and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, which will be performed in April. The concert will also offer arias and ensembles from such classic operas as Carmen, Pagliacci, Don Carlo, and La Bohème. Broadway hits from Carnival, Kiss Me, Kate, and State Fair will round out a spectacular evening of music, which always includes one number conducted by the audience with light sticks.

“I couldn’t be happier to wind up my twentieth anniversary season with Madison Opera than conducting this extraordinary and wonderful event, which I helped create,” says DeMain. “Kathryn and I have had a wonderful time putting this season’s Opera in the Park together, and I am so looking forward to this magnificent marriage of opera and our wonderful Madison community.”

Garner Park is located at 333 S. Rosa Road. Parking is available in the CUNA Mutual Group and University Research Park lots. Attendees are encouraged to bring picnics, blankets, and chairs. Alcohol is permitted but not sold in the park. On the day of the concert, Garner Park will open at 7am. Audience members may not leave items in the park prior to this time. The rain date for Opera in the Park is Sunday, July 27 at 8pm.

Related event details and artist biographies are enclosed. For concert repertoire, press photos, or to schedule artist interviews, please contact Artistic Manager Salvatore Vasta at [email protected] or 608.238.8085. Opera in the Park 2014 is generously sponsored by CUNA Mutual Group, The Berbeewalsh Foundation, Full Compass, The John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation, an Anonymous Friend, BMO Harris Bank, University Research Park, American Family Insurance, The Evjue Foundation, Colony Brands, Wisconsin Bank & Trust, Dane Arts, and the Wisconsin Arts Board.