Norm Hollingshead, opera lecturer, will talk about “Ariadne auf Naxos” by Richard Strauss at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25 at the Bainbridge Public Library. Big voices and belly laughs are on the menu in this marvelous “mash-up” of backstage farce and grand opera.

The free program is funded by the Bainbridge Island Friends of the Library.

For more information, call the library at 206-842-4162 or visit www.krl.org.

About “Ariadne auf Naxos”

Seattle Opera concludes its 2014/15 season with “Ariadne auf Naxos.”

A rich Seattleite is throwing a dinner party and asks his hired entertainment for the impossible: the capering troupe of comedians must combine their performance with an opera company’s rendition of the mythical love and loss of the ancient Greek princess Ariadne.

“Just like Semele, Ariadne auf Naxos is another modern take on a classical myth,” said Aidan Lang, general director of Seattle Opera. “It’s a delicious confection that works on many levels—the relationship between high and low art, comedy and tragedy, and high ideals and practical commonsense. It’s also a sly send-up of the business of opera itself, in which a passionate, uncompromising young composer comes face-to-face with the realities of getting his work on the stage, complete with temperamental divas and an intractable employer. Truly, there is something in this opera for everyone.”

Director Chris Alexander won the first of his three Artist of the Year Awards for this production when it premiered in 2004.

Set designer Robert Dahlstrom and costume designer Cynthia Savage have been mainstays of Seattle Opera for 30 years. Their whimsical production has been applauded in Montreal, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

Dutch conductor Lawrence Renes is at the podium. Renes made his Seattle Opera debut in the 2008 production of “Elektra.”

Christiane Libor and Marcy Stonikas share the role of the Prima Donna/Ariadne.

Libor, who sings in the opening-night cast, made her company debut in “Fidelio” (2012).

Seattle audiences may remember Stonikas from her role as Magda Sorel in “The Consul” (2014). A Seattle Opera Young Artist Program graduate, Stonikas was also a finalist in the company’s 2014 International Wagner Competition.

Ariadne features one of the world’s most in-demand singing actresses, American mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, as the idealistic Composer.  Lindsey’s show-stopping performance as The Muse/Nicklausse in “The Tales of Hoffmann,” (2014) earned her a second Seattle Opera Artist of the Year Award.

Sarah Larsen, a former Seattle Opera Young Artist, sings the Composer in the alternate cast. In 2014, Larsen earned praise for both her sizzling performance as Maddalena in Rigoletto and as the bureaucratic Secretary in “The Consul.”

Sarah Coburn sings the flirtatious young actress Zerbinetta. Beloved American soprano and Seattle Opera Young Artist graduate, Coburn’s most recent company production was starring as Marie opposite Lawrence Brownlee’s Tonio in “The Daughter of the Regiment” (2013).

Highly sought-after American coloratura soprano Rachele Gilmore makes her Seattle Opera debut as the alternate cast Zerbinetta. A regular performer in America, Europe and Asia, Gilmore was described by Opera News as a “silvery soprano … with an effortlessness that thrills her audience.”

As the alternate-cast Zerbinetta, South Korean singer and Met regular Haeran Hong makes her Seattle Opera debut.

Issachah Savage makes his Seattle Opera role debut as the Tenor/Bacchus. Last August, Savage won Seattle Opera’s International Wagner Competition, taking home a total of $35,000 in cash prizes: a first-prize award, as well as audience choice and orchestra’s choice. Savage earned more fans two days later—Speight Jenkins asked the tenor to perform at the gala concert honoring the retiring general director. More recently, Savage caused quite a stir in the international opera world when he, the understudy, got a chance to step in as Siegmund in the Canadian Opera’s “Die Walküre.”

Making his Seattle Opera debut as The Tenor/Bacchus in the alternate cast is American tenor Jeffrey Hartman.

Ariadne auf Naxos will also include performances by Andrew Garland (Harlekin), Patrick Carfizzi (Music Teacher/Truffaldino), Doug Jones (Dancing Master), Eric Neuville (Scaramuccio), Amanda Opuszynski (Naiad), Georg Martin Bode (Butler), Barry Johnson (Butler’s Assistant), Karl Marx Reyes (Wigmaker). Making their company debuts are Joshua Kohl (Brighella), Maya Lahyani (Dryad), Andrea Caroll (Echo), and Jon Farmer (Officer).

“Ariadne auf Naxos” premieres Saturday, May 2, and runs through Saturday, May 16. Tickets are available online at seattleopera.org or by calling 206-389-7676 or 800-426-1619. Ticket prices start at $25.