Trekkies and Mozart fans alike will find enjoyment in this year’s 10th annual Southern Illinois Music Festival.

The festival offers more than 36 performances with an array of shows including operas, ballets, orchestras, chamber music, choral music and jazz. Singers, dancers and instrumentalists travel from all over the world to perform in the unique presentations.

Edward Benyas, the music festival director, chose Mostly Mozart in the Midwest as the theme for the festival.

Josh Shaw, the director of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio opera, said rather than just stick with the traditional Mozart pieces, some of the original versions of the operas were transformed to appeal to modern society.

Shaw completely renovated the production The Abduction from the Seraglio for the festival.

The opera not only makes its debut in English, but also incorporates Star Trek.

“I take the basis of the story and think about how I can set it in modern times or relate it to a movie or TV show, and I adapt the original characters to work with that,” Shaw said.

Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, an Orion slave girl and other characters are recognizable throughout the opera although the Star Trek characters go by the names depicted in the original version of the opera.

“The opera will appeal to anyone who likes Star Trek, sci-fi, wants to laugh and anyone who loves beautiful music of course,” he said. “The score is extremely difficult. I call it vocal fireworks.”

Sara Duchovnay, an opera singer from California performing the part of Blonde, said this particular opera is a great way to be introduced to the arts and Star Trek fans will find it especially amusing.

“It is a great way to be introduced to opera,” Duchovnay said. “It is very funny and very entertaining. Star Trek fans will find it really amusing.”

The performers started rehearsal for the production on June 17.

Performers often live far away from their work, so they only get a short amount of time to practice together before the shows.

Performers journey all the way from Europe and Asia to be a part of the productions.

“Being an opera singer you have to travel away from a lot. We are often gone three to five weeks at a time and stay in the homes of people within the community who support the festival or whatever company we are working for,” Duchovnay said.

The performers came into the first rehearsal with the script and music completely memorized.

“It is actually really great to have such a short period of time,” Duchovnay said. “We have long, intense days of rehearsal and really get to immerse ourselves completely into the opera.”

The performance runs at 7:30 p.m. Friday June 27, and at 2:00 p.m. Sunday June 29, at the Carterville High School Performing Arts Center.

“It is absolutely hilarious,” Jon Goodman, the festival administrator, said. “I would be surprised if anyone would want to miss it.”

Storey Mayer can be reached at [email protected] or 536-3311 ext. 254.