Shepherd School Opera to present spring series

Shepherd School Opera to present spring series

Students of the Shepherd School of Music, pictured above performing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” will perform 12 scenes from 10 operas during the Leon Wilson Clark Opera Series Feb. 18-20.

BY MISTY CORNELIUS
Rice News staff

The Shepherd School of Music will kick off its spring opera series Feb. 18-20 when the Leon Wilson Clark Opera Series presents 12 different scenes from 10 different operas.

Rice juniors, seniors and graduate students involved in the school’s opera workshop will perform all 12 scenes each night during the three-day series. Debra Dickinson, artist teacher in opera studies, will be the stage director; Michael Franciosi, also an artist teacher in opera studies, and Susan Dunn, lecturer of voice, will be responsible for musical preparation. The productions will be sung in English, French, German and Italian with English surtitles.

“The spring series includes a nice variety of scenes from Mozart to Verdi and everything in between,” Dickinson said. “The multiple scenes allow patrons to experience a range of musical styles while allowing our students to perform in the style best suited for their talent.”

Scenes during the series will be taken from the following operas:

• “The Pirates of Penzance,” by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, tells the story of a young pirate apprentice who has come to the end of his indentured period only to find that out of a sense of duty he must join the pirates once more to seek revenge on the father of the girl he loves.

• “Carmen,” by Georges Bizet, is the story of a dangerous passion that upsets the even disposition of a devoted soldier’s life.

• “Don Pasquale,” composed by Gaetano Donizetti in eight days, is about an old, wealthy man who wants to find a wife for himself but is against his nephew finding the same happiness. The story unfolds as his friend plans an elaborate scheme to teach him a lesson.

• “The Ballad of Baby Doe,” by Douglas Moore, is based on the true story of silver magnate Horace Tabor and his great love for Elizabeth “Baby” Doe during the 1880s in Leadville, Colo.

• “Don Giovanni,” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, recounts the adventures of a masterful seducer constantly in search of his next conquest.

• “Cosi fan tutte,” also by Mozart, is the story of two women whose commitment to their fiancés is tested when two new men (actually their fiancés in disguise) try to steal their hearts.

• “Il Trovatore,” by Giuseppe Verdi, tells a story of revenge and passion that unfolds into a tragic fate of a brother and the heroine who gives up everything to save him.

• “Arabella,” by Richard Strauss, follows two girls’ quest for love through a series of deceptions and misunderstandings, all set against the backdrop of Vienna society life.

• “Atalanta,” by George Frideric Handel, is about a princess who disguises herself as a shepherdess to escape a royal betrothal. She then falls in love with a shepherd who turns out to be none other than her own betrothed.

• “Le nozze di Figaro,” another work by Mozart, tells the story of two young servants who push on with wedding plans despite being faced with a palace full of people scheming to keep them apart.

All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Wortham Opera Theater, Alice Pratt Brown Hall, and are free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Shepherd School Web site, <www.ruf.rice.edu/~musi/>.