general information
The Opera Scenes/Opera Workshop program was developed in the 1990s in response to student requests that more operatic performing opportunities be made available. Each fall, the Department of Music offers Opera Scenes/Opera Workshop to provide valuable experience with age-appropriate operatic repertoire. A wide variety of repertoire is programmed, from repertoire standards by Mozart and Puccini, to cutting-edge modern works by Jake Heggie and Jack Beeson.
Two evenings of scenes are performed every fall semester with piano accompaniment. The performances feature blocking, sets, costuming, props and make-up. Since 2005, each scene's production has been organized by Director Dawn Krogh around a central theme:
2008 - Inside the Composer's Studio
2007 - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Opera
2006 - Opera Goes to the Movies
2005 - Poison and Daggers
Recent Opera Scenes programs have included excerpts from the following operas:
Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart) |
La serva Padrona (Pergolesi) |
A Little Night Music (Sondheim) |
La Traviata (Verdi) |
The Barber of Seville (Rossini) |
Linda di Chamounix (Donizetti) |
The Bartered Bride (Smetana) |
Lizzie Borden (Beeson) |
Bastien und Bastienne (Mozart) |
Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) |
The Beggar's Opera (Gay) |
The Magic Flute (Mozart) |
Candide (Bernstein) |
Martha (Flotow) |
Carmen (Bizet) |
The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) |
The Consul (Menotti) |
The Medium (Menotti) |
The Coronation of Poppea (Monteverdi) |
The Mikado (Gilbert & Sullivan) |
Così fan tutte (Mozart) |
Of Mice and Men (Floyd) |
The Crucible (Ward) |
The Pearl Fishers (Bizet) |
Daughter of the Regiment (Donizetti) |
Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan) |
Dead Man Walking (Heggie) |
The Prima Donna (Benjamin) |
Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) |
Ruddigore (Gilbert & Sullivan) |
Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss) |
Sid the Serpent Who Wants to Sing (Fox) |
Don Giovanni (Mozart) |
Street Scene (Weill) |
Faust (Gounod) |
The Tales 0f Hoffmann (Offenbach) |
Gianni Schicchi (Puccini) |
Tartuffe (Mechem)
|
Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck) |
The Tender Land (Copland)
|
La Bohème (Puccini) |
When the students are not rehearsing full productions or scenes, additional topics are covered, including acting, audition skills, movement, dance, character development, performance preparation, memorization, score study, choreography, and directing. Students are also actively involved in the technical production of Opera Scenes and productions (costuming, make-up, lighting, scenic design, props, choreography, musical direction, and stage managing). All performing opportunities at Nebraska Wesleyan, including operas and opera scenes, are available to any student, regardless of major.
