Baroque style jazzes up opera production
Shepherd School opera opens Nov. 3

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News staff

Almost all Shepherd School of Music students strive for technical perfection in their playing and singing, so it’s a special kind of challenge to ask them to improvise, experiment and go off script. But that’s exactly what this year’s opera is demanding of them.

	JEFF FITLOW
	Pictured are Tyson Miller, top, and Chelsea Morris, bottom, during rehearsal.
	“The Coronation of Poppea” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3, 5 and 9, and at 2 p.m. Nov. 7 in Wortham Opera Theatre, Alice Pratt Brown Hall. Tickets are $10 for students and senior citizens and $12 for general admission and can be purchased by calling 713-348-8000.

Like all baroque operas, Monteverdi’s “The Coronation of Poppea” features just a voice line and words, so many decisions are left to the performers. It’s a deviation from most later operas, in which the composer has written out detailed markings for tempo, dynamic, articulation and orchestration.

“Singing a baroque opera is very similar to scat singing because not everything is written down,” said Richard Bado, professor and director of the opera studies program. “Think of it like jazz. It’s very improvised.”

He said that provides some flexibility for the production itself because it can be created for the singers and musicians available. It allows vocal artists to create unique vocal ornaments for their own voices, so each experience of this opera is different from those before it.

“We are creating a world premiere of this version of this piece,” Bado said. “In it, we’re not just giving them permission to be free, we’re encouraging them. It gives them more expressivity, and it teaches them the importance of expressing the words, not just singing them.”

That lesson really came to light for the opera’s leading lady, Chelsea Morris.

“I’m learning how to use my entire body to communicate,” said Morris, a second-year graduate student. “I’m also learning how to actively listen and react to the other actors in a way that strengthens what they are saying. Learning your own part isn’t enough. You need to know the whole opera.”

With “Poppea” being the first baroque opera performed in years by the Shepherd School, Morris and her cast mates had more learning than usual. That seemed to add excitement, if not anxiety, for all involved in the performance.

“I was a bit nervous at first about ‘composing’ the vocal ornaments,” she said. “I found the best ornamentation has come from knowing what stylistically appropriate ornament is and then just allowing myself to express the intention of the text.”

Tale as old as time

Though one of the first operas ever written, the text is timeless. First performed in 1642, “The Coronation of Poppea” focuses on themes of corruption, power and how one gets power. It recounts the story of Poppea, mistress of the Roman emperor Nerone (Nero), and her blind ambition to become empress.

JEFF FITLOW
Duncan College junior Amalia Bandy plays the archlute as the players rehearse.

“My favorite part about playing Poppea is that she is so unlike me,” Morris said. “It’s fun to have a safe place to explore these personality traits we all try to avoid — being manipulative, ungrateful, mean. I think she really does love Nerone though, and showing that love is what I find most natural.”

Morris is also becoming a natural with vocal ornamentation and operatic performance, Bado said. He said that Corradina Capporella, who specializes in Italian diction for Julliard, and Ellen Hargis, a baroque specialist who teaches voice at Case Western Reserve University, have played important roles in educating and preparing the performers.

As Capporella helped students understand the language — along with an online dictionary of words from 1611 — Hargis taught the distinct early baroque “trillo,” which was a new voice technique for many of the students.

“I love that Rice is so small and there is so much time for individual attention and we can learn from the expertise of our professors and visiting faculty,” Morris said.

Updated authenticity

In addition to the expertise, Bado secured an archlute to further the authenticity of the production. An archlute is a European string instrument used in the time period the opera was written. Though the Rice production of “Poppea” will feature some period instruments, vocal ornamentations and original Italian, it will be updated to modern times in post-World War II Italy.

“The costumes, sets, lighting and other production elements for ‘Poppea’ are amazing,” Morris said. “It provides great motivation to make the singing and acting meet those incredible standards.”

Morris also credits the incredible standards at the Shepherd School with helping her own goals. After graduation, she hopes to participate in the young artist programs within various operas. It’s only fitting that she remains entrenched in opera; after all, it was opera that brought her to Rice. She was visiting friends in Houston and took in the Shepherd School’s 2008 performance of “The Elixir of Love.” She was so impressed with the quality that it led her to take an introductory lesson with Kathleen Kaun, the Lynette S. Autrey Professor of Voice.

“At that moment I was convinced the Shepherd School was the right place for me,” Morris said. “The faculty here have helped me put everything together that gets segmented in undergraduate classes. Now I feel confident exploring a greater dynamic range, varied phrasing and more vocal colors. Rice has set me on the right path by focusing on healthy singing and text-based expression.”

“The Coronation of Poppea” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3, 5 and 9, and at 2 p.m. Nov. 7 in Wortham Opera Theatre, Alice Pratt Brown Hall. Tickets are $10 for students and senior citizens and $12 for general admission and can be purchased by calling 713-348-8000.