'Seven Deadly Sins' and 'Suor Angelica'

In one of the year's more creative pairings of one-act operas, the U of M Opera Theatre will put Kurt Weill's "Seven Deadly Sins" side by side by Puccini's "Suor Angelica" next month at the Ted Mann Concert Hall in Minneapolis.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8-10 and 1:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Mann, 2128 Fourth St. S. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for U of M students. For tickets, call (612) 624-2345 or go to www.tickets.umn.ed.

Director David Walsh says that "despite a very different musical style and story, the theme of lost innocence connects (the two works) intimately. 'Seven Deadly Sins' is a story of the destruction of innocence, idealism and romance. The best instincts of human nature -- for example, openness, generosity and sensuality -- are perverted or discredited in a highly cynical way. Similarly, 'Suor Angelica' distills mysticism, the supernatural, religious ecstasy, sexual repression and moral authoritarianism into a psychodrama about desire, guilt and punishment for mortal sins."

Too bad it runs just as the Minnesota Opera's "Italian Girl in Algiers" opens at the Ordway.