Inland Northwest Opera takes to the lake Sunday, Monday

As the titular character in a comic opera, Matthew Burns knows audiences will enjoy a production filled with beautiful music and a lighthearted story during the production of "Don Pasquale."

"These elements combined with some really good singing makes for a wonderful evening out," the actor told The Press.

On Sunday and Monday, Inland Northwest Opera will present its annual Opera on the Lake with "Don Pasquale," a tale of love, family and a playfully mad plot audiences have enjoyed since Gaetano Donizetti penned the piece in the mid-1800s.

The show will take place on Lake Coeur d'Alene Cruise boats. Burns said he has never performed on a lake.

"I have performed on a riverboat back in college in Virginia, the Annabel Lee. I suppose that’s close enough. Whoa! That is a blast from the past," he said. "We waited tables and, between courses, got up and sang from the standard American songbook. There were always smiling faces in the crowd. I look forward to embarking on this musical and theatric journey together."

Burns said opera has been a part of his life for nearly 30 years and is a second language to him.

"Opera uses a very specific musical language that requires highly elevated emotional situations and larger than life characters," he said. "In the case of 'Don Pasquale,' the stakes are high for all of the characters. True love and the tenor’s inheritance are both on the line. This reduced and succinct version of this operatic comedy promises to be an evening of both gorgeous music and hilarity."