Note: story has been updated to correct a name.

The mad scene in Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” is a dramatic and vocal pinnacle of an art form that loves tragedy — beautifully sung, of course. And it’s coming soon to a theater near you, not courtesy of the Met, which has brought lots of operatic drama to movie screens locally in the last few years, but courtesy of Arbor Opera Theater, the city’s now 11-year-old professional opera company.

AOT brings “Lucia” — Donizetti’s 1835 opera based on real events and Sir Walter Scott’s novel “The Bride of Lammermoor” — to Lydia Mendelssohn Theater June 17-20. Two casts alternate in the principal roles, with Warren Puffer Jones conducting the orchestra and singers. The opera is sung in Italian with English supertitles.

It’s unusual enough for a company of AOT’s age, size and focus on emerging singers to tackle “Lucia.” — the story of a bride bartered for power and influence with tragic consequences for all — given the vocal and dramatic demands of the title role and that of the tenor hero, Edgardo, Lucia’s beloved. But AOT has never shied from challenges.

“In fact, this is the second time we’ve done “Lucia,” says Shawn McDonald, the company’s artistic director. “ ‘Lucia’ was our first large opera that we did, and we did that back in October of 2000.”

McDonald, a tenor, was in the opera then. This time, he’ll be working on the other side of the footlights. But soprano Karin White, 2000’s Lucia, returns to reprise the title role, alternating with soprano Kelly Holst.

Like White and Holst, most of the singers in this AOT production are local, McDonald noted, including the members of the chorus, drawn from singers who auditioned for the company this year. But the company has imported both of its Edgardos — Enrique Pina and Daniel Shirley — from out of town for the show.

“It’s a challenge to find emerging singers who can sustain the vocal and musical challenges of the show,” McDonald said. “It’s not usually an opera done by younger voices.”

When Donizetti wrote “Lucia” at the height of his musical powers, he was capitalizing on Europe’s fascination with Scotland, where the action takes place. But having done “Lucia” once in a highly traditional production, the company and the show’s director, Robert Starko, have opted for something a little different the second time around.

“This year,” said McDonald, “we have a little bit of a concept. The show is set in 1940s Britain, during World War II. And it has a sort of expressionist style; it’s all done to look like woodcuts. But it’s still set in the British Isles, and Lucia is still a woman manipulated and dominated by the various men in her life — at the cost of her sanity.”

And, he might add, of her life, as well as that of Edgardo and of the husband her family has forced her to marry instead of Edgardo. Madness overcomes her, and she kills her husband in the bridal bed, rejoining the wedding guests covered in blood.

It’s grand material for song — and drama — qualities that have made “Lucia” ride high on the list of today’s most popular operas. In addition to the full performances at Mendelssohn, opera fans who can take their tragedy with a meal should consider AOT’s 4th Annual Paesano’s Opera and Wine Dinner fundraiser June 10. AOT singers entertain with “Lucia” excerpts and the chef delights with a five-course Scottish-themed meal with wine pairings. Tickets for the dinner, available online at AOT’s website, are $100, of which $50 is a donation to AOT.

There is also a Meet the Artist Afterglow following the Saturday performance of “Lucia,” with wine, hors d’oeuvres and dessert at the Michigan League. Afterglow tickets are $35. Tickets may be purchased on AOT’s website.

Susan Isaacs Nisbett is a free-lance writer who covers classical music and dance for AnnArbor.com.