THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY College of Music presents
2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024 3:00 p.m. | Opperman Music Hall
Opera Workshop Showcase Matthew Lata, Director Ethan Bigelow, Lighting DesignTo Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All…
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers.
Recording Notice: This performance may be recorded. Please note that members of the audience may at times be included in this process. By attending this performance you consent to have your image or likeness appear in any live or recorded video or other transmission or reproduction made in conjunction to the performance.
Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.
PROGRAM
CARMEN (Bizet) - Trio
Frasquita: Claire Goodwin
Mercedes: Ashley Lewis
Carmen: Leah Shewmaker
Stage Director: Natalia Roscovscaia-Tumaha
Music Director: Jiaqiu Song
Carmen is coming to the end of her relationship with the jealous Don Jose. Her friends, Frasquita and Mercedes, lightheartedly tell their own fortunes. Frasquita longs to be deeply in love, and Mercedes longs to be rich. When Carmen reads her own fortune, she sees only death in her future, both for her and Jose.
I PURITANI (Bellini) - Duet
Elvira: Madison Roths
Giorgio: Carter Houston
Stage Director: Matthew Lata
Music Director: Jiaqiu Song
Elvira has been promised in marriage to Riccardo, her father’s political ally. She, however, is in love with Arturo, a Puritan. Her uncle, Giorgio, who has convinced Elvira’s father to allow her to marry Arturo, comes in to tell her of the impending wedding. Elvira misunderstands, thinking that he is referring to Riccardo, and states that she would rather die. Giorgio calms her, tells her of his conversation with her father, and tells her that she can follow her heart. Elvira is overjoyed.
THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA (Britten) - Quartet
Female Chorus: Haley Burgh
Lucretia: Leah Shewmaker
Bianca: Dawson Franzino Stage Director: Amy Helms
Lucia: Anielya Wells-Miller Music Director: Jiaqiu Song
Lucretia yearns for her husband, Collatinus, to come home from war. Her servants, Bianca and Lucia, express their love for Lucretia and comfort her as best they can. The Female Chorus functions as the narrator, commenting on women’s role in society. All of the women explore the relationship between men and women and how being trapped in those dynamics affects their minds, bodies, and souls.
NORMA (Bellini) - Duet
Norma: Mary-Bradley Knighton
Stage Director: Matthew Lata
Adalgisa: Kathleen Ledbetter Music Director: Jiaqiu Song
Norma, a druid priestess, has had an affair with a Roman general and has two children by him. She summons her acolyte, Adalgisa. Norma has discovered that the general has also seduced Adalgisa. Norma makes her swear to do everything she asks and, upon her agreement, tells her that she is entrusting the two children to her care and states that they should be taken to the Roman camp to their father, a man who she hopes will make a better lover for Adalgisa than he was for her. Adalgisa is aghast. And tells her that she will never leave. She then renounces Pollione. They sing together, each expressing her own thoughts and feelings until Norma realizes that Adalgisa will give up Pollione and remain with her.
THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE (Moore) – Duet
Baby Doe: Anielya Wells-Miller
Stage Director: Matthew Lata
Augusta Tabor: Dawson Franzino Music Director: Jiaqiu Song
Baby Doe has fallen in love with the wealthy Horace Tabor but realizes that she cannot pursue their affair. She is confronted by Augusta Tabor, Horace’s wife, who warns her about what she considers to be Horace’s true nature. Appalled by Augusta’s insults, Baby Doe decides to stay with Horace.
HÄNSEL UND GRETEL (Humperdinck) – Act I Duet
Gretel: Claire Goodwin
Stage Director: Amy Helms
Hansel: Ashley Lewis Music Director: Jiaqiu Song
Hansel and Gretel awaken to find their parents gone for the day, having left them lots of work to do at home. Starved of love and not having enough to eat, the children use their imaginations and sense of play to escape their situation and enter a more fantastical world full of dancing and fun.
A WEDDING – (Bolcom) Tallahassee Duet
Tulip: Kathleen Ledbetter
Stage Director: Matthew Lata
Jules: Carter Houston Music Director: Jiaqiu Song
At a wedding in Chicago, Jules, the groom’s uncle, has noticed Tulip, the mother of the bride, who refuses his advances. He pursues her into the ladies’ room. Tulip gives in, and the two set up a tryst in two weeks’ time – in Tallahassee.