![\"HMS](\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/HMSPinafore.jpg\")
<\/a>Directed by David Klassen, the production will run for four shows: Thursday, March 9 through Saturday, March 11 at 7:00 PM, and Sunday, March 12 at 2:30 PM. The performances take place in the Laudamus Auditorium (500 Shaftesbury Blvd.). Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students, and are available at the door.<\/p>\nWritten by librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan in the 1870s, the opera takes place aboard the titular ship.<\/p>\n
The captain intends for his daughter, Josephine, to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of Admiralty. At the same time, she is in love with Ralph Rackstraw, a lower-class sailor. The opera follows the characters as Josephine and Ralph declare their love for each other and eventually plan to elope.<\/span><\/p>\n The four performances are the culmination of six months of hard work by the 26 students enrolled in Klassen\u2019s Opera Workshop course.<\/span><\/p>\n The course gives students an understanding of the energy and effort it takes to communicate when performing operative works, and students learn how to work as part of an ensemble.<\/span><\/p>\n The course is made accessible to students at all skill levels.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe cast is very enthusiastic,\u201d says Klassen, Instructor of Music at CMU. \u201cWhat\u2019s great about these students is that they are really eager to grow as singers on stage. They\u2019re attentive and they are moldable, which makes it a real joy to work with them all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A key goal is to develop each student\u2019s comfort level as a communicator onstage.<\/span><\/p>\n Klassen says that the lessons they learn in the class and while performing have significance in everyday life.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen you understand what you\u2019re reacting against in other people\u2019s creations of characters, it kind of helps you understand real life a little bit better, and understand the value and strength of communication,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n Klassen employed a costumer to give students a sense of what it is like to do a production at an advanced level.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re treated like professionals in that regard, and they look like professionals,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n Opera Workshop students mount a full-scale production every second year. Past productions have included The Merry Wives of Windsor<\/i>, a three-act opera based on William Shakespeare\u2019s comedic play, and Die Fledermaus<\/i>, a German operetta by Johann Strauss II.<\/span><\/p>\n In the years in between, students present scenes from a variety of different works.<\/span><\/p>\n For more information about CMU\u2019s production of H.M.S. Pinafore<\/i>, call 204-487-3300.<\/span><\/p>\n About CMU
\n<\/strong>A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU\u2019s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as\u00a0graduate degrees in theology,\u00a0ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent\u00a0students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.<\/p>\n