Opera planned at Mirabeau, MAC

Opera in Spokane is not an indoor captive to fancy dress and expensive tickets – not in August, at least.

Spokane Opera has started an annual tradition of free outdoor performances of opera arias, songs from musical comedy and theatrical dance at Mirabeau Meadows Park in Spokane Valley and at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

Opera founders Marjory Halvorson and Bill Graham call the event “A Hot August Night.” They hope to lure families and fans of opera and musicals with the opportunity to see and hear local performers from the comfort of picnic blankets and lawn chairs.

“Our program is designed to have a wide appeal, with familiar numbers from opera and musicals,” Graham says. “And we always end with a Disney number for the kids.”

This year’s performance includes music by a range of composers from Rossini and Puccini to Jerome Kern and Stephen Sondheim, with stops at the operettas of Johann Strauss Jr., Gilbert and Sullivan, and Disney’s “Cinderella.”

Vocalists include sopranos Kimberley Monzon, Heather Holzapfel and Silvia Lazo, tenor Jeffrey Kitto, baritone Joe Jolley and bass-baritone Carlos Monzon.

Dancers from Ballet Spokane will perform to “The Girl I Mean to Be” from Broadway’s “The Secret Garden.”

Pianist Greg Presley will provide accompaniment.

Holzapfel is an Alaska native by way of California who has appeared in Spokane Opera productions and with other companies in roles including Queen of the Night in “The Magic Flute” and the title role in “The Ballad of Baby Doe.”

The Monzons, who participated in apprentice programs in Houston, Pensacola, Fla., and Des Moines, Iowa, have sung in several local productions since coming to Spokane two years ago.

Jolley is a Spokane product, while Lazo, originally from Brazil, is well-known locally as a radio host and opera and cabaret performer.

Kitto is a classically trained singer who had been singing with a rock group in Bozeman called The Clintons.

“He had a resume of performances with regional companies, but his letter said, ‘You may notice a break in my opera performances. I have been working with a rock group,’ ” Graham says.

He and Halvorson were intrigued and impressed, so Kitto will be a part of “A Hot August Night,” singing Puccini and Sondheim.

The Clintons, by the way, will appear with Spokane Opera next season in a program of opera in rock arrangements.

Graham and Halvorson began the “Hot August Night” performances three years ago when Graham was a part of the Leadership Spokane program.

“They took us out to Mirabeau Meadows, and we fell in love with its possibilities, with a raised stage, a big expanse of lawn and easy parking,” he says. “What more could you ask for a summer performance space?”

Last year, a second performance was added at the MAC.

“We wanted to have something that was closer to downtown Spokane and equally inviting,” says Graham.

Both venues have attracted large audiences, he says.

“We think that people who love good singing in a relaxed informal outdoor setting will enjoy these performances,” says Graham, “even if it does happen to be a hot August night.”