Opera lovers in Western New York are in for a rare treat at 4pm on Sunday, April 1, at the King Concert Hall on the SUNY Fredonia campus. Peter Schickele (pictured right), a.k.a. PDQ Bach, will be starring in his own operatic work The Abduction of Figaro. (For ticket information, call 716-673-3501.) Professor Schickele, by special arrangement with own alter ego, PDQ Bach, will actually be appearing live on stage himself, in lieu of the more usual cardboard cutout used in previous productions of the opera.

The production is the 25th Anniversary Gala event of the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, and the event is sponsored by the Williams Visiting Professor Endowment. Schickele is on record as stating that the last place he was a visiting professor was in jail, so he’s obviously deeply moved by the honor. As a matter of fact, he was so moved that he was unavailable for an interview. For his own safety as well as that of others, the good professor is being kept incognito under close watch at an undisclosed location until show time.

Artvoice was able to speak by phone with Glen Cortese, the resident conductor of the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, shortly before he was dragged from his barricaded office and forced to begin rehearsals of Schickele’s masterpiece.

Was he aware of the rumor that La Fenice, the most famous opera house in Venice, was burned to the ground a few years ago by two disgruntled electricians who claimed to be opera lovers shortly after announcing that it would be presenting the Italian premiere of The Abduction of Figaro? Of course, true to its namesake, La Fenice (The Phoenix) has once again risen from its own ashes, but the management has since sworn off, and at, the music of PDQ Bach.

“No, that’s a new one on me,” Cortese replied, no doubt relieved that in a phone conversation neither the inevitable worried look in his eyes nor furrowed brow need be disguised. “In any case, we’re presenting a new concert version of the work. Three or four years ago I suggested to Peter that I might write a new part for him in his opera for use in concert performance. He agreed, I wrote it and he then edited the part. Peter serves as a kind of narrator, carrying the dramatic action along.”

“Basically the work is a commentary on classical and late baroque opera. It takes some of the great things from them, but it also takes some of the things that are kind of silly, and pokes fun at them. It’s a brilliant satire and it should be a very satisfying experience musically and a really fun time from the comic point of view. For people who have never been to the opera this is a good way for them to be introduced to what opera is, and they’ll be guaranteed to be able to laugh out loud and to not be embarrassed.

“It’s as if you’re listening to a Mozart opera but things suddenly go awry,” Cortese continued. “The hero never gets abducted in a Mozart opera, so right off the bat you know that something is up.”

Characters from the great Mozart operas make appearances in somewhat altered states, with names like Donna Donna (obviously a prima donna), Donald Giovanni and his faithful servant Schlepporello, Susanna Susannadanna (Marriage of Figaro as channeled by Saturday Night Live), Pasha Shaboom and his servant Opec, and of course the villain, Captain Kadd.

PDQ Bach, like his alleged father the great Johann Sebastian Bach (and if ever there was a need for DNA testing, this is it), was not above “borrowing” music from other great composers. J.S. Bach had Vivaldi; PDQ Bach, the last and least of his sons, had Mozart.

“There’s music that reminds you of The Abduction from the Seraglio, of Cosi Fan Tutti, of places in Figaro, of some late baroque opera, possibly Handel, and there are a few quotes from pieces that have nothing to do with opera, but I’ll leave those as a surprise because they’re woven in so brilliantly that I think people will just be completely shocked when they hear them.”

In previous local appearances Peter Schickele has run down the aisle and jumped up on the stage at Artpark and climbed down on a rope from the balcony at Kleinhans to make his entrance. More recently, and more sedately, he played the piano with members of the Lark String Quartet in one of his own compositions, as opposed to those of PDQ Bach. The only thing certain about his performance in The Abduction of Figaro on Sunday at Fredonia is that it will memorable, a lot of fun and not to be missed.