EXHIBIT TRACES DEVELOPMENT OF OPERA, MUSICALS AT LIBRARY'S DIEHN COMPOSERS ROOM

The Diehn Composers Room of the Old Dominion University Libraries will present "The Seed of Orpheus: Spanning 4 Centuries of Musical Drama in the West," an exhibit focusing on the history of opera and musical theater, May 9 through July 31.

The exhibit follows the development of opera from Claudio Monteverdi's "Orfeo" in 1607, the earliest Western opera, to John Duffy's "Black Water" in 1998; and traces the origins of musicals like Larson's "Rent" and Sondheim's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," back to works by Offenbach, Kendrick, and Gilbert and Sullivan. A Web exhibit will also be available at http://www.lib.odu.edu/musiclib/exhibits/orpheus2006.

Funding for the exhibit, which is free and open to the public, is provided by the Virginia Arts Festival. The Diehn Composers Room is located in room 189 of the Diehn Fine and Performing Arts Building, 49th Street and Elkhorn Avenue, on the Old Dominion University campus. It is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For more information call 683-4175.