Buy Tickets

The Elixir of Love

February 13 at 7:30 pm & 15 at 2:00 pm

Buy Tickets

Image of The Elixir of Love

The Elixir of Love

February 13 at 7:30 pm & 15 at 2:00 pm

Passion. Comedy. Drama.

Spend Valentine’s Day weekend immersed in the laughter and romance of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. When the shy and smitten Nemorino’s dream of winning the strong-willed Adina’s heart seems out of reach, he turns to a traveling purveyor of patent medicines in search of a love potion. After drinking every last drop, he sets off a cascade of comedic chaos. This heartwarming comedy embodies all the richness of Donizetti’s artistry and is simply too good to keep bottled up. Featuring laugh-out-loud moments and touching romance, this original, heartwarming comedy sparkles with wit and whimsy. Presented for the first time in over a decade, The Elixir of Love comes to life in a new production brought to life by conductor J. Ernest Green (Toledo Opera’s South Pacific, Ragtime, and The Merry Widow).

Starring David Walton (La Cenerentola) as Nemorino, Marnie Breckinridge (Company Debut) as Adina, and Jason Budd (Tosca, Cinderella, and The Merry Widow) as Dr. Dulcamara.

Sung in Italian with English Captions

Read about the story

Learn more with our Audience Guide

Buy Tickets

Artist Bios
J. Ernest Green

Conductor

Read Bio ►
×

J. Ernest Green

J. Ernest Green is the Artistic Director of Live Arts Maryland and the Music Director of the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra and Annapolis Chorale. He served as a Cover Conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra, where he worked with Denyce Graves, Sir James Galway, Pinchas Zuckerman, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Osmo Vanska, among others. As a Pops Conductor, he conducted for the late Marvin Hamlisch, where he worked with artists such as: Idina Menzel, Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz, Maria Friedman, Brian D’Arcy James and Klea Blackhurst, Mike Nichols, Liza Minnelli, Aretha Franklin, Chris Botti, Kevin Cole, Maria Friedman, Lang Lang, and Barbra Streisand. Mr. Green is the conductor for “Late Night” Music Director Paul Shaffer and Valerie Simpson for his symphony show, appearing with the Vancouver Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Kalamazoo Symphony, and the Long Beach Symphony. Mr. Green has appeared with many orchestras including: The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, The Tuscia Festival Orchestra (Italy), Annapolis Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Lincoln Symphony, Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional (Santo Domingo), and the Trinity Chamber Orchestra. J. Ernest Green is a graduate of the University of Toledo and the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he studied with Frederik Prausnitz. An avid advocate for the arts, he has served as a music panelist for the Maryland State Arts Council and an advisor on its Strategic Planning Committee. Maestro Green conducted the very successful The Merry Widow, Ragtime, and South Pacific for Toledo Opera.

Ian Silverman

Stage Director

Read Bio ►
×

Ian Silverman

Ian Silverman is a stage director for all forms of music theater, from opera to musical theater to operetta, and creates productions that highlight and shift character focus to enhance the story, connect to the audience, and deliver a vivid personal experience. His own performance background as a singing actor, coupled with a practical knowledge of the totality of stagecraft, make his empathy for the performers’ work central to his process. Last fall, Ian made his NYC directorial debut, directing the World Premiere of Nicholas Flagello’s Beyond the Horizon with Teatro Grattacielo at the historic La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in Downtown NYC. He then headed to the Atlanta Opera to serve as the associate director for Tomer Zvulun’s production of Die Zauberflöte. Last spring, Mr. Silverman returned to the Houston Grand Opera to assist Francesca Zambello on West Side Story and a new production of Tannhäuser. He then returned to Atlanta to associate direct Semele. He and his design team were also chosen as one of the winners of Opera America's Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize for their production concept of Fellow Travelers.

David Walton

Nemorino

Read Bio ►
×

David Walton

Praised for his “clean, clear voice,” David Walton dazzles stages across the country to critical acclaim as a versatile lyric tenor to watch. A favorite tenor of bel canto, Mr. Walton has frequented such roles as Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Tonio (La Fille du Régiment), Ramiro (La Cenerentola) and Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). His voice been described as a “plangent tenor tone” (Opera Today) and “the sweetest singing of the evening...a lyric tenor with strong Italianate stylings” (Star Tribune), “a 21st century Rossini tenor” (Opera War Horses), and “smooth, lyrical, and capable of scaling the heights” (Virginia Pilot). Company appearances include Cincinnati Opera, Kentucky Opera, Virginia Opera, Minnesota Opera, and the Glimmerglass Festival in a new production by Francesca Zambello where Opera News labeled him “genuinely funny.” Other operas include Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro and La scala di seta, Mozart’s Così FanTtutte, Die Zauberflöte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Handel’s Acis and Galatea. Last season, Mr. Walton brought his celebrated Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia) to Minnesota Opera and to Madison Opera. In his début with the South Florida Symphony, he sang the title role in their semi-staged Candide, made his role debut as Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) with Livermore Valley Opera, and débuts with the South Dakota Symphony in an all Bach/Mozart program. Mr. Walton made his Toledo Opera debut in the fall 2023 production as Prince Ramiro (La Cenerentola).

Marnie Breckenridge

Adina

Read Bio ►
×

Marnie Breckenridge

American soprano Marnie Breckenridge has won international acclaim in a vast repertoire spanning from the Baroque to the Modern. She is continuously praised for her grounded storytelling and known for her deeply expressive score interpretations, layered characterizations, and her beautiful pure soprano. A favorite among some of the most gifted composers of our time, her excellent musicianship and technique have solidly established her as a go-to performer of critically acclaimed new works praising her, “bell-like ring over an enormous range and personality spilling from every note” (The Globe and Mail), “lovely soprano” voice (The New York Times), and “lyrical poignancy and dramatic power” (The Chicago Tribune).  In 2020, she received the DORA award for “Outstanding Performance by an Individual in an Opera” for Jacqueline, a role she helped create with composer Luna Pearl Woolf and librettist Royce Vavrek about the life of Jacqueline Du Pré written for her and cellist, Matt Haimovitz (Tapestry Opera, Toronto). Other passionate interpretations of contemporary works include: Mother (Dog Days) by David T. Little (TimeOut Magazine voted it Best Opera) with performances at Montclair Peak Performances, Los Angeles Opera, Prototype Festival, and Ft. Worth Opera, Sierva Maria in Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons (Glyndebourne Festival Opera), Susannah in Laura Schwendinger’s Artemisia (Left Coast Ensemble), La Princesse in Philip Glass’ Orphée, title role in Milhaud’s Médée, and Margarita Xirgu in Golijov’s AINADAMAR (Opera Parallèle), Ruth in Luna Pearl Woolf’s THE PILLAR (Julian Wachner and Washington Chorus), her Berkeley Symphony debut in Chin’s CANTANTRIX SOPRANICA with Kent Nagano and her Ravinia Festival debut in Jake Heggie’s TO HELL AND BACK with Philharmonia Baroque, co-staring Patti LuPone. Of her performance at Ravinia noted by reviewer John Von Rein, "she sounded as gorgeous as she looked…a young Meryl Streep, achieving both lyrical poignancy and dramatic power" (The Chicago Tribune). 

Jason Budd

Dr. Dulcamara

Read Bio ►
×

Jason Budd

Jason Budd has garnered a reputation for being a consummate singer-actor. Having received accolades for his performances across the United States and Europe, Mr. Budd's South American debut as the title role in Verdi's Falstaff in São Paulo, Brazil was a great success. He was a resident artist with Toledo Opera while he studied at BGSU with Andreas Poulimenos and has been a principal artist with the company several times. He has also had much success in vocal competitions over the years, including wins at the Opera Columbus Competition, the Heinz Rehfuss Competition with Orlando Opera, the Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year competition with Shreveport Opera, and the Meistersinger Competition in Graz, Austria, which was broadcast on Austrian television. Recent engagements include performances with the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, Boston Midsummer Opera, Toledo Opera, Fremont Opera in California, Opera Project Columbus, Opera Western Reserve, and Cleveland Opera Theater. Toledo audiences may remember Mr. Budd as the Sacristan from last fall’s Tosca, Alidoro (Cinderella) in 2023, or his show-stealing performance in The Merry Widow in 2023. 

Robbie Raso

Belcore

Read Bio ►
×

Robbie Raso

Baritone Robbie Raso is a graduate of the AJ Fletcher Opera Institute at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the Eastman School of Music, and the Carnegie Mellon School of Music. Most recently, he performed the roles of Chrevreuse (Maria di Rohan) and Marcaniello (Lo frate 'nnamurato) at UNCSA. In the summer of 2023, Mr. Raso performed the roles of Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Dandini (La Cenerentola) with Mediterranean Opera Festival in Caltagirone, Sicily. Other performance highlights include Jack Absolute (The Rivals), Rodomonte (Orlando paladino), and Zebul (Jeptha) at UNCSA; Johannes "Pa" Zegner )Proving Up), Rapunzel's Prince (Into the Woods), and Ophèmon (L'amant anonyme) at Eastman; and Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Count Robinson (Il Matrimonio Segreto), and Papageno (The Magic Flute) at Carnegie Mellon University. He also originated the role of Border Guard (ID, Please) at the Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival in London in 2017. In addition to singing, Mr. Raso is also an instrumentalist, having studied trombone since middle school. He last appeared with Toledo Opera as Billis in South Pacific.

Sarah Rachel Bacani

Gianetta

Read Bio ►
×

Sarah Rachel Bacani

Filipino-American soprano Sarah Rachel Bacani is currently the soprano Resident Artist at Toledo Opera. Her 2023-2024 season included covering the role of Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) at Central City Opera, where she also performed the role in their Family Matinee production as a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program Apprentice Artist. In 2022, also with Central City Opera, she made her professional debut performing the role of Mariola in Heggie’s Two Remain. On the Indiana University Opera Theater stage, she performed the roles of Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte). There, she also performed in scenes as Leïla (Les Pécheurs de Perles), Micaëla (Carmen), and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte). An accomplished competitor, this year, she placed in the Top 12 of the Inaugural Luciano Pavarotti Foundation Opera Naples International Voice Competition and is a semi-finalist in Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Voice Competition. She previously competed as a finalist for the 2024 Young Patronesses of the Opera/Florida Grand Opera National Voice Competition, placing sixth (Kay Carpenter Memorial Award) and winning the Irene Patti Swartz Memorial Award to a Soprano. She was also a semi-finalist for the 2024 Shreveport Opera Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year Competition. In concert, Ms. Bacani has performed the soprano solo in Britten's Les Illuminations, Mozart’s Requiem, and Getty’s The White Election. Hailing from Toms River, NJ, Ms. Bacani received her Performer Diploma and Master of Music in voice at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied under the tutelage of Jane Dutton. She received her Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Cynthia Hoffmann. Ms. Bacani last appeared with Toledo Opera as Liat and a nurse in South Pacific.

Production Details

Not seen in Toledo for over 15 years, The Elixir of Love is full of infectious, lively tunes. It is an opera buffa, or comic opera (think “buffoon”), and as such is a lot of fun and entertaining. 

Back to all Toledo Opera Performances

This site uses cookies to improve your experience.

By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Ok