Wartburg College’s Opera Workshop will offer Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Medium” and selections from operettas by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan Feb. 15-17.

The annual collaboration between the college’s music and theatre departments, which started in 2000, will feature 20 students performing the selections in McCaskey Lyceum at 7:30 p.m. The event is open to the public with a free-will donation at the door.

“Its purpose is to educate our performance majors about the basic aspects of their chosen profession,” said Dr. Brian Pfaltzgraff, assistant professor of music. “This includes stage mechanics, stage craft and understanding the terminology and complexity in theatrical productions.

“It also provides entertainment for the audience,” he added.

Menotti’s “The Medium” is a psychological tragedy about a charlatan psychic who descends into madness when she believes she gets a response from a spirit. It was intended for studio performance and is one of the first operas to be filmed for the cinema.

Pfaltzgraff said it will feature veteran Wartburg music performers.

The Gilbert and Sullivan offering is a new mini-opera pieced together using music from five different shows. It will feature students in their first year of collegiate stage work in a variety of solos and ensembles.

“These are our stars of tomorrow. We expect these people to carry the musical and opera traditions of Wartburg forward,” Pfaltzgraff said.

“The workshop is very important for the students to have as part of their background before their graduate work if they plan to become professional musicians,” he added.