Canadian Mike Nyby will be making his role debut as the evil police chief Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca with Opera Ithaca. Nyby will be replacing fellow barihunk Zachary James, who had to withdraw for personal reasons. Nyby has previously performed with the company as Demetrio in Kristin Hevner Wyatt's
Il Sogno and as Falke in Johann Strauss'
Die Fledermaus.The cast also includes barihunk Jake Stamatis as Angelotti, Megan Nielsen as Floria Tosca and Paola Buffagni as Mario Cavaradossi. The semi-staged production will be performed at the Community School of Music & Arts in Ithaca on February 16th and at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn on February 18th. Tickets and additional cast information is available
online.
This is Nyby's fourth Puccini role, have previously performed Pinellino in
Gianni Schicchi and both Schaunard and Marcello in
La bohème. This is a homecoming of sorts for Nyby, who graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Music.
