Connecticut Early Music Festival stages an opera

Mystic native Teresa Wakim will take the stage Saturday night at the center of comic and musical action when the Connecticut Early Music Festival stages Mozart's opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" - "The Abduction from the Seraglio."

The culmination of the three-week festival at Connecticut College, the opera is a "singspiel" - think Broadway musical, with spoken dialogue and singing. Written in German, upon the emperor's orders to Mozart, so that the common man in Vienna could enjoy it, the opera is a high-spirited escapade set in Turkey, with a pasha and harem and wonderful tunes.

Watkins will play the role of Blonde (yep, very close to "Blondie") in her return to the festival stage after a string of performances with the likes of the Handel & Haydn Society and the Cleveland Orchestra. The young soprano has already performed with renowned conductors such as Ton Koopman, Harry Christophers and Roger Norrington, and she has appeared on two Grammy-nominated CDs.

The fully staged opera, with English surtitles, will be conducted by Eric Rice in the cozy and comfortable confines of Evans Hall. Mozart and merriment ... how can you go wrong?

- MILTON MOORE

"Die Entführung aus dem Serail," 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Evans Hall, Connecticut College, New London; tickets $40 reserved, $35 general admission, $12 students; (860) 439-2787, ctearlymusic.org.