BGSU/CMA DMA student Elizabeth Pearse was selected as a winner of the Michigan District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She will travel to Buffalo in January to represent the Michigan District in the Great Lakes Regional Finals. Ms. Pearse is a student of Dr. Jane Rodgers.
Category Archives: voice
BGSU opera students to perform Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Iolanthe’
Students and alumni from Bowling Green State University Opera Theater will present Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera “Iolanthe” at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, and Saturday, Nov. 6, in the Wooster Center, 1124 E. Wooster St. in Bowling Green.
“Iolanthe,” which premiered in 1882 to hostile criticism, is now one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most beloved works. Iolanthe, mistress of the fairy revels, marries a mortal, which causes discord among the humans. Also known as “The Peer and the Peri,” the play comments on ineffective political institutions by using the make-believe world of fairies who infiltrate Parliament in order to “re-set” social boundaries.
“There will be a lot of energy and a lot of laughs,” promised Dr. Christopher Scholl, an assistant professor of music performance studies.
Stage Director Jesse A. Koza, a recent BGSU graduate, and Music Director Conrad Chu, a musical arts doctoral candidate in conducting, join forces with costume designer Melissa A. Penkava, a senior; set designer Meghan Johannes, and accompanist Kate Stubbs, also a BGSU alumna. The performance will be sung in English.
The title role of Iolanthe will be played by mezzo-sopranos Aubrey VonAlmen from Lima, Ohio, and Briana Sosenheimer, from Fort Wayne, Ind., both first-year graduate students. In the role of Phyllis will be sopranos Summer Aebker, a first-year graduate student from Lima, and McKayela Collins, a second-year graduate student from Elkhart, Ind. Playing the role of the Lord Chancellor is baritone Austin Heath, a senior from Rockford, Ohio. Playing the role of Lord Tolloller is tenor Chris Jackson, a junior from Cincinnati. Baritone Sean Manterfield, a second-year graduate student, will play Lord Mountararat. Bass Aaron Wagner, a senior from Dayton, will play Private Willis. Baritone Nathan Kendrick, a senior from Carlisle, Ohio, will play the role of Strephon. Mezzo-soprano Christine Amon, a first-year graduate student from Grand Rapids, Mich., will play the Queen of the Fairies. The role of Celia will be played by soprano Grace Hirt, a sophomore from Celina, Ohio. Mezzo-soprano Melissa A. Penkava, a senior from North Ridgeville, Ohio, will play the role of Leila. Soprano Brianna Michalko, a junior from Canadaigua, N.Y., will play Fleta.
The performances are free and open to the public.
Acclaimed opera educator presents master class
Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts will host nationally heralded opera educator Ann Baltz, the founder of OperaWorks, from Oct. 24-26.
This year’s Helen McMaster Endowed Professor in Vocal and Choral Studies, Baltz will coach students on performance and improvisation techniques and conduct career discussion sessions.
Her visit will also include a master class on performance techniques that is free and open to the public at 7 p.m. Oct. 25 in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center.
Through her deep commitment to new and experimental works, Baltz has earned distinguished posts as music director and co-creator of Composer-Librettist Studios in San Francisco, New York and Minneapolis, along with music director for New Works Projects at the Minnesota Opera Institute and Portland Opera.
Helen and the late Harold McMaster established this endowed professorship in spring 2000. Helen McMaster, a long-time Perrysburg resident, has supported the arts at BGSU for many years. Generous friends of BGSU, she and her husband previously donated to programs in music, business, science and the Center for Photochemical Sciences. College professors in the vocal, choral or opera area may nominate potential guests for this endowed professorship.
Bowling Green opera students to perform Mozart and Handel works
From stage lights to sunlight, audiences at Bowling Green State University’s next Opera Theater production will see a double bill of Mozart and Handel. Mozart’s “The Impresario” and Handel’s “Acis and Galatea” will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 26, in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center.
“The Impresario,” one of Mozart’s early works, is a delightful glimpse into the backstage world of opera, complete with rich bankers, poor impresarios and dueling divas. In the comic opera with spoken dialogue, Gottlieb Stephanie’s libretto is combined with Mozart’s score, which he created as an entry for a musical competition.
Originally written in Italian, “Acis and Galatea” is a pastoral tale of love between a demigoddess and a simple shepherd who is threatened by a crude cyclops. The secondary characters provide humor without diminishing the audience’s capacity to sympathize with the main characters.
The production’s co-directors are Darin Kerr, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Theater and Film, and Dr. Ronald Shields, department chair. Dr. Emily Freeman Brown, director of BGSU orchestral activities, is the musical director. The performance will be sung in English with English supertitles.
The cast of “The Impresario” includes sopranos Rachel Snitzer, a vocal performance major from Forest City, Iowa, in the role of Miss Silverpeal, and Rebecca Eaddy, a graduate student in vocal performance from Milan, Mich., as Madame Goldentrill. In addition to co-directing, Kerr will play the speaking role of Mr. Scruples. Performing the role of Mr. Bluff is baritone Ryan Jones from Columbus, a senior majoring in vocal performance. Tenor John Carmack, a graduate student in vocal performance from Willoughby, will appear as Mr. Angel.
The cast of “Acis and Galatea” will include tenor Greg Ashe from Huber Heights in the tile role of Acis. Galatea will be played by soprano Jing Lin, a graduate student in vocal performance from Putian, China. Also in the cast are Jake Wilder from Van Wert, a senior in vocal performance, as Damond; soprano Amanda Deboer, a doctoral candidate in contemporary studies in vocal performance from Bellevue, Neb., as Demetrius, and mezzo-soprano Kaleigh Butcher, a graduate student from St. Louis, Mo., studying vocal performance, as Octavia. Baritone Stephen Maus, from El Paso, Texas, will perform the role of Polypheme.
Advance tickets are $12 for adults and $9 for senior citizens. On the day of the performance, tickets will be $15 for adults and $12 for students and senior citizens. Tickets can be purchased at the Moore Musical Arts Center box office weekdays from noon to 6 p.m. or by calling 419-372-8171 or toll-free 1-800-589-2224.
You can learn more about the opera and hear from the performers and faculty by clicking here.
Annual Peatee art song competition coming up at BGSU
Forty duos will participate in the 11th annual Marjorie Conrad Peatee Art Song Competition at Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts on March 27.
The first round of the competition will begin at noon and end around 5 p.m. in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center. Finalists will be announced at 6 p.m., and the final round, in the form of a formal evening concert, will begin at 8 p.m. in Bryan Recital Hall.
The Dr. Marjorie Conrad Peatee Art Song Fund provides monetary prizes for the singers and their collaborative pianists in two divisions, undergraduate and graduate.
The students will compete for two first prizes of $1,500, two second prizes of $1,000 and two third prizes of $750. The first-prize winning duos will present a recital on the “Music from Bowling Green at the Manor House” series, an outreach program of the college, on March 30 at Toledo’s Wildwood Metropark.
The goal of the competition is to encourage students enrolled at BGSU to approach the art song in a serious and intense manner and enhance their learning experience.
All rounds of the competition are free and open to the public.