MUSIC

The United Nations Association International Choir (UNAIC) will present its eighth annual Spring concert, Opera International!, at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011, at Rice University’s Stude Concert Hall, 6100 Main St. (77005).

Musically spanning eight countries in three continents over four centuries of classical opera, the 117 member company representing 36 nations will perform choruses from 11 operas in their original languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Czech and English.

Opera neophytes and aficionados alike will recognize many famous and much-loved selections, such as Georges Bizet’s Toréador chorus (Carmen); Giuseppe Verdi’s Witches’s Chorus (Macbeth) and his Va Pensiero (the Hebrew slaves’ lament from Nabucco); and Franz Lehár’s Vilja (The Merry Widow/Die Justige Witwe).

Of particular interest is UNAIC’s performance of a chorus from the first opera composed in the New World in 1701, La Púrpura de la Rosa, written by Peruvian Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco Y Juan Hidalgo. The Choir also performs three choruses from beloved Texas composer Scott Joplin’s only opera, Treemonisha, originally produced in 1982 for its world premiere by Houston Grand Opera.