NEWS

Figaro documentary to screen at NW Film Center Whitsell Auditorium

“Figaro! Living in the Moment of a Character,” a feature-length documentary about an opera production by the University of Louisville School of Music and Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland, will be shown at the Whitsell Auditorium on Thursday the 15th, 2010, at 7:00 PM. Director Dan Schaefer will be in attendance.  FilmbyFrame, an independent film company based in Portland, Oregon, followed the rigorous three-month schedule of singers from the two schools and their behind-the-scenes preparation for "The Marriage of Figaro" performances in Louisville and Katowice.  Kentucky Public Broadcasting selected the film for statewide broadcast this May.  The Whitsell Auditorium screening is the first time it will be shown in Oregon.

Mike Ramach, University of Louisville Opera Theatre director, said the opera's production was just as complicated as its plot. “We’ve had an exchange program since 2003, but the 2007 opera was our most logistically involved project to date,” Ramach said. “Combining two casts from two schools from two countries on two continents and performing in two cities, not to mention two languages, provided a drama of its own.”

Producer and veteran film and commercial concept artist Dan Schaefer followed the adventure step by step as the long-distance “marriage” drew capacity crowds and standing ovations in its final performances in January 2008 in Katowice. 

Schaefer edited more than 60 hours of film to capture the spirit as well the voices of the students -- and the director's angst. More than 200 guests viewed the documentary's premiere Feb. 13 at the Margaret Comstock Concert Hall in Kentucky.  This will be the third documentary film produced by Filmbyframe and is proceeded by Mania, a film about the Portland Trailblazers, and Kings of the Road which covered the history of Portland’s most popular professional hockey team of the 60’s and early 70’s. 

Listen to Elizabeth Kramer’s interview about Figaro at: http://archive.wfpl.org/arts_and_humanities/20100212_Figaro_Film.mp3