‘Hot Augusts Nights’ starts in July

Spokane Opera is getting a jump on the calendar with this summer’s “A Hot August Night” concerts.

The free outdoor performances happen Wednesday – which is July 30, for the more literal-minded – at Mirabeau Meadows, 13500 E. Mirabeau Parkway, and on Aug. 1 at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, 2316 W. First. Both begin at 7:30 p.m.

As in the three previous years, the program features a mix of pieces from opera and musical theater, along with dance by Ballet Spokane.

This year’s vocalists include sopranos Heather Holzapfel and Dawn Wolski, tenor Nick Fichter and baritone John Cooper. Greg Presley provides piano accompaniment.

The program features musical selections from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail”; Puccini’s “La Rondine”; Donizetti’s “Daughter of the Regiment”; Romberg’s “The New Moon” and Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado,” as well as “Brigadoon,” “West Side Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Carousel,” “Beauty and the Beast” and Sondheim’s “Follies.”

From Ballet Spokane, Kristy Fox will dance to “Mi chiamano Mimi” from Puccini’s “La Boheme,” Jordin Taylor to Foster’s “Ah, may the red rose of summer,” and Shelbie Edens, Michelle Perrier and Alise Whitney to “Matchmaker” from “Fiddler on the Roof.”