UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre presents virtual Don Giovanni

from UC Santa Barbara Department of Music Spring 2021 Newsletter

by UC Santa Barbara Department of Music

Winter Student Recital Series

Associate Professor Dr. Isabel Bayrakdarian leads cast of undergraduate and graduate students in virtual feat

With an in-person opera in UC Santa Barbara’s historic Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall out of the question due to continued restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, UC Santa Barbara Associate Professor Dr. Isabel Bayrakdarian led the UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre students in the department’s first-ever virtual opera for their Winter 2021 production. Keeping in mind the many benefits of learning Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music, Bayrakdarian chose to present an abridged version of the composer’s two-act opera Don Giovanni, which was streamed on February 26 as a YouTube Premiere from the Department of Music’s YouTube channel.

**Dr. Isabel Bayrakdarian (photo by Zach Mendez)**

In an interview with Josef Woodard for the Santa Barbara Independent, Bayrakdarian noted that “In an ideal world, we would’ve come together, rehearsed in person with an accompanist, and then staged it for a live performance with an orchestra. However, as Carl Sagan says, ‘We live in an extraordinary age.’ No one could’ve ever imagined this worldwide scenario where established opera companies have been closed for more than a year, professional opera singers are without jobs or singing opportunities, with no end in sight. I wanted to give our UCSB voice students a glimmer of hope as well as an enviable opportunity to prepare a role vocally and dramatically, collaborate with other musicians—even if it’s remotely— and continue to hone their vocal technique, and of course have the chance to perform it for a wide audience, via a YouTube broadcast” (Woodard, 2021).

Students in the UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre Program began preparing for the virtual production in Fall 2020, rehearsing and later recording scenes in their own homes, in locations all over the country, with some students as far away as Italy and South Korea. The remote format of the project challenged the students both musically and technologically, requiring them to learn recording techniques and become familiar with new equipment. Dr. Bayrakdarian, who quickly adapted her own performances to a virtual format at the start of the pandemic, directed the project and provided valuable advice and feedback during the rehearsals and recording process.

“Directing this opera during the pandemic—and presenting it virtually—posed many challenges, but it also offered the rare chance to assign the dual roles of Don Giovanni and Leporello to the same singer, thus alluding to the notion that the servant and his master are alter-egos, opposite sides of the same person,” said Dr. Bayrakdarian. “This opera has a timeless quality, and it’s a great psychological thriller. Having sung the role of Zerlina in countless productions around the world, from the Salzburg Festival to the Metropolitan Opera, it’s an incredible honor for me to be able to pass on the experience and knowledge that I learned from the greatest conductors and stage directors, back to the new generation of singers and to our talented UCSB voice students.”

[Top row from left] Valdis Jansons (Leporello), April Amante (Donna Anna), Gianni Becker (Don Ottavio), [bottom row from left] Naomi Merer (Donna Elvira), Marta Hovhannisyan (Zerlina), and Steven Browning Thomson (Masetto) sing the Finale, “Ah, dov’è il perfido” from Don Giovanni

The opera Don Giovanni features music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, whom Mozart also collaborated with for Le Nozze di Figaro (1786) and Così fan tutte (1790). Classified by Mozart as an opera buffa, Don Giovanni received its premiere on October 29, 1787 by the Prague Italian Opera at the National Theater, now called the Estates Theatre, in Prague, Czech Republic. Based on the legend of the notorious libertine Don Juan originally brought to life by the Spanish writer Tirso de Molina, the opera is set in Seville, Spain in the mid-18th century, and follows the demise of the shameless seducer Don Giovanni over the course of a mere 24 hours.

The UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre virtual production included performances by both graduate and undergraduate Voice Program students, with piano accompaniment by UC Santa Barbara Continuing Lecturer Dr. John Ballerino and doctoral student Erik Lawrence. See the next page for a full cast list.

View the full UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre production on the UC Santa Barbara Department of Music YouTube channel.

This production was generously supported by the Carl Zytowski Fund for Opera.

Woodard, J. (2021, February 24). UCSB Opera Theatre Presents ‘Don Giovanni’: Isabel Bayrakdarian Directs Mozart for the Web. Santa Barbara Independent. https://www.independent.com/2021/02/24/ucsb-opera-theatre-presents-dongiovanni/