Don Pasquale, a man who has no heirs, has a nephew, Ernesto, for whom he tries to find a wife. Through trickery, Norina, a conspirator with one of Pasquale’s friends arranges Norina’s marriage with Pasquale. She makes his life miserable in order to make it clear to him that he was being foolish for trying to find a wife for Ernesto, and so he allows Ernesto to choose his own wife.

 The Salt Marsh Opera will perform Don Pasquale this year in Westerly, Rhode Island and Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

Jay Wilson, a French horn player and conductor at the Lyme-Old Lyme High School, has been with the Salt Marsh Opera’s orchestra ever since the first performance in 2000. This performance will have an orchestra unique from most other performances. There will be one person playing each instrument: one first viola, one second viola, one flute, one trumpet, one bass, one French horn, and so on. “We won’t be in a pit this year, either,” he remarked. “We will be above the stage, where the chorus does their part. There will be three floors behind the stage.” Normally, bands and orchestras perform on one level, the same level as the conductor, but Wilson mentioned that this layout will be somewhat new to the orchestra.

 “Our first rehearsal was yesterday,” Wilson explained on September 23. “It wasn’t even a full rehearsal; our next rehearsal will be tomorrow night with the singers, from 7 to 10. Friday is opening night.” The orchestra is professional, and they don’t need multiple rehearsals to sound flawless for the performance. Additionally, they get paid, contrasting from school or community bands where the members don’t have as much of a responsibility to learn the parts.

 The performances in Westerly will be on September 27 and 29, and in Old Saybrook will be on October 4 and 6. To find out more about the Opera, visit http://www.saltmarshopera.org/.

As a final note, Wilson expressed what he loved about being in the orchestra. “Every opera is great, I can’t choose a favorite. All of the musicians are phenomenal.”