Tosca Weekend is only a few days away. If you enjoy intrigue, divas, Greece, passion, perfect imperfection — and the story the goes with it — you will not want to miss this final festival weekend. Both nights are intertwined and will draw you into the story you know. The two nights will take you from the 1950s back to 1800. If you love Rome, Napoleon and Josephine — and have ever visited the Piazza Navona — this is a story you will enjoy. I promise you will be fascinated and pulled to learn even more after the close of the Festival. This is a story of our time.

Friday night, it’s Waverly Plantation for a 7 p.m. knock-out performance by Maryann Kyle in The World of Maria Callas. You will not forget the Friday evening tribute to internationally acclaimed soprano Maria Callas, one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. In 2006, Opera News wrote: “Nearly 30 years after her death, she’s still the definition of the diva as artist — and still one of classical music’s best-selling vocalists.”

Callas was beautiful, seductive and full of intrigue — and the woman in the life of Aristotle Onassis before Jackie-O. The story you will hear will certainly captivate you. Enjoy adult cash bar refreshments one hour before performance. Then, at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Natchez Eola Hotel lobby, have some fun with the new libation called, “Toscatini” as you hear “The Truth About Tosca” in a conversation with Stanley Hauer. This is a free community event, with a cash bar. At 7 p.m. Saturday, it’s Tosca at Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center in “The Apollo Theater.” Tosca is directed by Robert Grayson, Grammy Award-winning tenor and the Kirkpatrick Distinguished Professor of Voice at Louisiana State University, where he has chaired the nationally recognized voice/opera division for 27 years.

Tosca is a passionate story set to some of Puccini›s most beautiful music. It is the tale of a woman caught between her fugitive lover and the malicious police chief who is chasing him. This dynamic musical drama is filled with lust, pain, outright evil and life out of control. Enjoy adult cash bar refreshments in The Grape Escape Club Room at Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center an hour before performance.

We had terrific auditions in New York and Natchez in the fall and are very happy to be able to share this talent with the Mississippi-Louisiana region. Take a moment to look at the Festival’s 2014 season program posted on the home page of the website at natchezfestivalofmusic.com.

Don’t forget this afternoon at 5 p.m. is the Festival’s Musical Wine Tasting at Magnolia Bluffs Casino, 7 Roth Hill Road, for wine, tapas and a Mississippi sunset. The wine sommelier has a selection of wines with tapas that complement the flavor profile of each wine. This event is paired with live musical entertainment on the backdrop of the later afternoon Mississippi River Sunset.

Tickets are available by calling 601-446-6631 or at the door.

Ask about discounts for students, parents with students in grades kindergarten through the 12th grade and active military.

Details and tickets are available on the website or through natchezpilgrimage.com. For more information about the Festival and restaurant, hotel and bed and breakfast specials with tickets and to follow the Festival, visit the Festival’s website.

Come. You will love the music.

 

Jay Dean is the artistic director of the Natchez Festival of Music.