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Opera Comes to Ferrum College |
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Young members of the internationally-recognized Pittsburgh Opera will hold a variety of workshops on Tuesday April 2nd and Wednesday, April 3rd. They will end their visit with a finale of operatic proportions as they will entertain us with Il Segreto di Susanna, composed by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (Libretto by Enrico Golisciani).
The Opera will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m. on April 3rd,
in Sale Theatre. The
event is free and open to the public. Schedule, photos, bios, and
synopsis below. Related site: www.pghopera.org.
Pittsburgh Opera Tour of Young Artists Schedule Young artists and full-time staff of Pittsburgh Opera will present a two-day workshop and an opera performance at Ferrum College on April 2-3, for students, faculty colleagues, and community members. Opera
101 Marilyn Egan will present Opera 101, a program that includes a light-hearted look at opera misconceptions and insights into the many facets of this exhilarating art form. Participants will discover operatic facts and stereotypes, thrill to the sound of aria and recitatives, and explore the gamut of languages and characters in the world of opera. In addition, each person will receive a packet of opera fun facts and information. Participants are invited to bring lunch and eat while learning. Sharing
the Life of an Artist Zara Barrett and Phillipp Sulzberger, young artists of Pittsburgh Opera Center, will relate their experiences from early music and opera education through beginning a professional career. Session will include a Question and Answer period about opportunities in the world of opera. Opera
Improv Michael Borowitz, Zara Barrett, and Phillipp Sulzberger will craft an opera improvisation through audience involvement, demonstrating how opera is created, how an audience can create a plot, and how creative and stylistic choices impact on the arch of the performance. Audience members will select styles, arias, and plot points, while engaging in discussion of the pros and cons of certain selection-and ending with a culminating presentation. Staging
the Mute for Il Segreto di Susanna The young artists will work with a local surprise guest to play the role of the mute in Il Segreto di Susanna. Setting
the Scene for Susanna Benjamin Smith will discuss Il Segreto di Susanna- the synopsis, history, composer, librettist, and the cultural/societal setting. He will emphasize the importance of artist doing their "homework”" knowing exactly what every word means, English or foreign, knowing something about the period the piece was created in and also the period in which it was set. The
Performance of Il
Segreto di Susanna |
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Baritone Phillipp Sulzberger comes to Pittsburgh for his first season
with the Pittsburgh Opera Center. He has studied at the Hochschule fur Musik in Munich, the Lee
Strasberg Theater Institute in New York and most recently at the University
of Nebraska, where his roles included Marcello in La boheme, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus and Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte. Among
Mr. Sulzberger's other operatic credits are a debut with Pittsburgh
Opera as the First Soldier in Salome,
Sciarrone in Tosca with
Opera Omaha and Viscomte Cascada in Die Lustige Witwe with the Deutsche
Oper Berlin. He was a winner
of the Soli Deo Gloria Cantorum Voice Competition in 1999 and the Metropolitan
Opera District Audition in 2000. |
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Soprano Zara Barrett is a first year Pittsburgh Opera Center artist
hailing from Queensland, Australia. Her performance experience includes Mimi in La Boheme, Veronica in The Glass Blowers, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Lady Dunmow in A Dinner Engagement, Tatjana in Eugene Onegin and the title roles in Suor Angelica and Alcina. Ms. Barrett's awards include
ranking as a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Awards, the
Opera Shell Covent Garden Award, the Australian Singing Competition
and the German Operatic Awards.
Previously, Ms. Barrett has studied with the Young Artist Program
at Glimmerglass Opera, the National Opera Studio in London and with
the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. |
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American conductor and pianist Michael Borowitz is currently artistic director of Cleveland Concert Opera, director of musical studies with Pittsburgh Opera Center, and head of music staff of Des Moines Metro Opera. This season he led performances of Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Argent's Postcard from Morocco with Pittsburgh Opera Center, Puccini's Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi with Des Moines Opera Center, and a workshop/premiere of Act I of Friedman's Teddy with Encompass New Opera Theatre. Future plans include conducting the Pensacola Opera Gala, a commissioned work based on the life of poet Hart Crane for Cleveland Concert Opera's 2003 season in celebration of the Ohio bicentennial, and a world premiere of a new opera for Opera Southwest's 2002-03 season. As a recitalist, Borowitz has been heard throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, and this past year performed a series of concerts in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. His collaboration with Australian soprano Virginijia Bruozis will feature a 2002 cd release of love songs. Borowitz has served on the faculties of The Cleveland Institute of Music, Kent State University, The University of Akron, and The University of Memphis. He has also been guest conductor and assistant conductor with the Metropolitan Opera, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Opera, Opera Southwest, Cleveland Opera, and Lyric Opera Cleveland. His commitment to the commissioning and performing of new works is evident in the numerous world premieres he has led, such as Blumenfeld's Breakfast Waltzes and Wright's The Fifth String with Des Moines Metro Opera, and Stringer's Coyote's Music with Opera Southwest. |
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Il Segreto di Susanna
(Susanna's Secret) Composed by
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari Italian (premiered
in Germany). Set in Piedmont
in 1910. Set: A handsome apartment in the count's palace. Acts: 1 Act Length: 45 minutes Major roles: Count Gil (baritone) Countess Susanna (soprano) Mute: Sante Synopsis: Count Gil smells smoke. Since neither he nor his wife, Susanna, smokes, Gil worries that she may have a lover. Ashamed of his own suspicions, the count embraces Susanna- and smells tobacco. Susanna begs her husband to overlook her failing (she smokes). Gil thinks she is telling him to ignore a love affair and they fight. Susanna promises to reform. When Gil leaves for his club, she starts smoking again. Gil tries to catch Susanna, but cannot find the imagined lover. The second time he returns, he catches Susanna smoking. Relieved that his suspicions were groundless, the count decides to take up smoking himself. |
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