Lowell Presents Students' Opera

The Lowell House Musical Society has announced that its annual spring operatic production this year will be a departure from precedent: an original opera written especially for the Society by undergraduates. Called The Conversion of Saint Pelagia, the Harlot, the opera was composed by Roland C. Perera '63 with a libretto by David S. Cole '63. It will be performed in Agassiz May 9, 10, and 11.

Robert D. Swezey, Jr. '62-3, the producer, described the work as a "chamber opera" with five singing roles and ten solo instruments in the orchestra. Cole's libretto represents a fusion of historical material on two fourth century saints, one of whom was a harlot before she was converted.

Cole, who has had several plays produced at the Loeb experimental theatre, called Perera's score "highly melodic--unlike many modern operas." Perera, himself, has extensive experience in composition, and several of his choral works have been performed by the University Choir.

The last time Cole and Perera collaborated they were also working with opera: the two of them jointly directed the Musical Society's 1961 production of Vaughan Williams' Riders to the Sea.