Workshop To Feature Original-Language Performances

Operas from the genre’s “golden age” will be featured at this year’s "Unforgettable Opera Moments: An Evening of Opera Scenes featuring Jealousy, Love, Seduction, Betrayal, and More!" workshop on Friday and Saturday (Oct. 28-29).

The opera workshop will be held at 7:30 p.m. on both days in the Recital Hall.

The concerts will feature scenes from well-known operas, performed in their original languages, from such Italian operas as “La Bohème,” “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” “Un Ballo in Maschera,” “Falstaff,” and “L'Elisir d'Amore,” as well as the English “The Merry Widow” and “Les Contes d'Hoffmann,” which will be sung in French.

To facilitate patrons' understanding of the opera scenes, surtitles will projected on a screen above the stage, which will also help with the language barrier, according to Dawn Padula, voice faculty member and opera workshop co-director.

“This set-up mimics that of the majority of opera houses and other school programs in the country,” Padula said. “The one thing that always keeps people away from opera productions is the lack of understanding what the performers are ‘saying,’ so we thought we'd modernize so that the students can benefit from singing in the original language, and the audiences can benefit from having a full understanding of what is happening.”

This year’s workshop will also include two sections: the opera players, comprised of primarily voice students who also serve as the majority of the principle singers, and the opera workshop, comprised of a variety of voice majors and non-music majors.

Graduate assistants Christian Clark and Stephanie Handal will also help with the production. Clark will serve as the associate musical director, conductor and will sing in the finale, and Handal will conduct the finale. Padula and director of operatic studies Mary Kay Lake both produce and co-direct the event.

“All of the students have worked extremely hard since the start of the school year to prepare this program, and we are thrilled to present a well-rounded program of scenes that are comedic, tragic, and intriguing,” Padula said.

Tickets are $8 for general admission, $5 for non-SHSU students and senior citizens, and free for SHSU faculty, staff and students with an ID. For more information, call the School of Music at 936.294.1360.

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SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
Oct. 21, 2005
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