738 200 Years of Light Opera
Class | Registration opens 8/10/2026 11:00 AM
Misconceptions about opera abound. Even the most stalwart theatre-goers and classic music listeners may be intimidated by the belief that you need to be an expert in foreign languages and compositional complexities to appreciate it. Others assume operas are all boring, irrelevant, highbrow and melodramatic.
Gary Boerckel seeks to dispel these myths by looking at 200 Years of Light Opera. From La Serva Padrona of Pergolesi to Romberg's The Student Prince and a special emphasis on the works of Offenbach, Gilbert and Sullivan and Johann Strauss II, Gary introduces students to popular, amusing and entertaining examples of light operas with the hope that appreciation may deepen for this too-often overlooked genre.
Gary Boerckel
GARY BOERCKEL grew up in Philadelphia, where he attended concerts and opera at the Academy of Music. He has bachelor’s degrees in music (piano performance) and European history from Oberlin College and postgraduate degrees in piano performance from Ohio University and the University of Iowa. Gary taught courses in music and music history —including opera – for 33 years at Lycoming College until his retirement in 2012. He has also directed operas, operettas, and musicals at Lycoming and for the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra.