U.VA. OPERA STUDENTS AND FACULTY SING FOR SUPPER 

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 5 -- Dinner at the Opera is on the
menu April 26 at the University of Virginia.
	For the first time, U.Va.'s music department will hold a
two-part evening event combining dinner and opera. This celebration of
music and the arts is designed as a fundraiser to support U.Va.'s
Opera Workshop Program. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. in Garrett
Hall and singing will follow at 7 p.m. (See below for ticket
information.) 
	Scenes from a selection of opera, operettas and musical
comedies including "The Medium" by Giancarlo Menotti, the "Magic
Flute" by Mozart, "West Side Story" by Bernstein, "Oklahoma" by Rogers
and Hammerstein and songs by Kurt Weil and Gershwin will provide the
after-dinner treat. 
	The opera-performance class taught by internationally
recognized Louisa Panou-Takahashi and other faculty in the McIntire
Department of Music will take to the stage. The class is open to
students from all disciplines and to members of the local community.
Performers will also include several faculty members: mezzo Suzanne
Loerch, baritone Bruce Tammen and Panou-Takahashi herself. Loerch,
winner of a Metropolitan Opera National Council award and a fellow of
the Tanglewood Music Center, has performed locally with the Ash
Lawn-Highland Opera Company. Tammen is a member of the Robert Shaw
Chorale and is the new director of the University Glee Club. Formerly
director of choral music at the University of Chicago, he teaches
voice at U.Va.
	Patou-Takahashi, a native of Cypress, has taught and performed
throughout the world. She joined the faculty of the Department of
Music in the fall of 1996 as director of U.Va.'s Opera over
Workshop and is also artistic director of Operafestival di Roma. A
recitalist in Europe and the United States from 1970 to 1994,
Patou-Takahashi recently became involved in teaching and directing
opera. As a professor at Southeast Missouri State University, she
built an impressive opera program there, and her students have won
national and international competitions.
	While she has sung an wide range or roles herself,
Panou-Takahashi particularly loves light, comic opera and ranks Mozart
and Rossini among her favorite composers.
	"It's going to be a very enjoyable evening. There will be
something for everyone, spiced by the unique style and humor of our
Master of Ceremonies Bernard Duncan Mayes," said Patou Takahashi.
Mayes, director of U.Va.'s media studies program, will provide
commentary on the opera selections performed.
	As director of the Opera Dinner Theater, Panou-Takahashi will
be assisted by music director Stephan Prock and accompanists Gloria
Chung and Michael Mizrahi.
Tickets for the April 26 fundraiser event are $50 ($20 tax deductible)
and will be on sale through April 15. For reservations call (804)
924-6492.
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April 4, 1997
	For more information call Louisa Panou-Takahashi at (804)
984-4945 or Josie Pipkin at (804) 924-6492.  Television reporters
should call our TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.