LEWISTON — The Midcoast Symphony Orchestra will present Pops at the Opera, a program of instrumental works from eight European and Russian operas, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 18, at The Dolard and Priscilla Gendron Franco Center. Eric Hewitt will be guest conductor.

The program will also be presented at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 19, at the Orion Performing Arts Center in Topsham.

There will be special activities for children before each performance. At 6:30 p.m. March 18 at the Franco Center, there will be craft activities related to the concert pieces and hosted by the Grace Note Music School of Lewiston.

At 1:30 p.m. March 19 at Orion, audience members can learn about various instruments from orchestra members.

Operas represented in the March concerts are “La Traviata,” “Die Fledermaus,” “La Gioconda,” “Tristan und Isolde,” “Der Rosenkavalier,” “Eugen Onegin,” “Manon Lescaut” and “Carmen.”

Hewitt teaches and directs ensembles at Boston Conservatory, Phillips-Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and Boston College High School, and performs as saxophonist in various ensembles, including the Ryles Jazz Orchestra and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

Maestro Rohan Smith returns to the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra podium in May for the performances of Mahler’s “Symphony No. 4, Songs of the Auvergne” by Joseph Canteloube, and the overture from “The School for Scandal” by Samuel Barber. Rachele Schmiege will be soprano soloist.

The Franco Center is at 46 Cedar St. in Lewiston; the Orion Performing Arts Center at 66 Republic Ave., Topsham.

Admission is free for everyone 18 and younger and for students with ID. All other tickets are $20.

Tickets may be purchased at Now You’re Cooking in Bath, Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick, and the Franco Center in Lewiston, online at midcoastsymphony.org, by phoning 846-5378, or at the door. Payment at the door is by cash or check only, no credit cards.

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