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BRAVO! Lexington Opera Society Newsletter Vol.10 No. 2 Winter
2010-2011
Soaring Voices, Technical MagicSingers draped in scarves
and winter coats in the heart of Kentucky’s winter seemed a long
way from hurricane
season in Charleston, S.C. -- until they began to sing.An early
visit to rehearsals for the University of Ken-tucky Opera Theatre’s
production, with the Atlanta Opera, of Porgy and Bess promised a
thrilling evening for Lexington audiences.
However, there will be more than vibrant voices to transport
audiences when Porgy and Bess opens January 28 at UK’s Singletary
Center Concert Hall.Among the several “firsts” in this show will be
the use of SCRIBE (Self-Contained Rapidly Integratable Background
Environment), an innova-tive high-definition projection system
recently developed at UK’s Center for Visualization and Virtual
Environments (VIS Center).Atlanta Opera General Director Dennis
Hanthorn said his company had been investigating this type of
technol-ogy but, until SCRIBE it had been too expensive. Although
not developed for theatrical use, Hanthorn said SCRIBE “is easily
applicable to a stage envi-
ronment.”SCRIBE will make it possible for
the audience to see high-defini-tion filmed images of sites in
and around Charleston, the location of Porgy and Bess, including
Cat-fish Row and the nearby barrier islands. Actual hurricane
footage from the Weather Channel will also appear to threaten
Catfish Row thanks to the VIS Center.
SCRIBE employs a huge multi-tier scaffold at-tached to two large
moveable fabric screen units holding multiple small projectors,
with the images controlled by an elaborate computerized network.
The system makes it possible to re-create realis-tic renderings of
three-dimensional scenes using less than five feet of stage space,
freeing space for innovative lighting effects and the singers.
Those singers will include many members of the American
Spiritual Ensemble who will perform theatri-cally for the first
time in Lexington.
George Gershwin conceived Porgy and Bess as a ‘jazz opera’ but
the beautiful, complex music re-quires expertly trained singers to
do justice to its soaring melodies and thrilling choral
passages.
Those who have heard the Spiritual Ensemble’s con-certs and
recordings know their marvelously rich and agile vocal skills, but
these professional musicians are also superb actors, and many of
them have appeared
in Porgy and Bess in produc-tions around the world.
George and Ira Gershwin, who wrote the music and lyrics,
stipulated that Afri-can-American singers be employed throughout in
the cast, except for the few minor white characters. In UKOT’s
production all of the major roles are double cast. Spiritual
Ensemble singers Michael Preacely and Kenneth Overton sing Porgy;
Angelique Clay
At left, Kenneth Overton (Porgy) and Angelique Clay (Bess) take
a break from rehearsals. They are
double-cast with Michael Preacely and Christine Jobson,
above.
Preacely, above, and
Jobson.
Porgy and Bess7:30 pm: Jan. 28 and 29, Feb. 3,
4, and 5; 2:00 pm Feb. 6. Singletary Center Concert Hall.
Tickets, call: (859) 257-4929.
Continued on page 7
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Page 2
BRAVO!
UK Students Shone, Graves Starred, at WEG
Opera star Denyce Graves sang at the WEG opening ceremonies.
Courtesy Lexington Herald-Leader
Opera legend Denyce Graves (right) was the star but University
of Kentucky music students played important supporting roles in the
opening and closing ceremonies of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian
Games. Students sang, played in the orchestra, and learned the
rigors of stage managing. The youngest singers were the members of
Haitian Harmonies, the choir taught by UK singers Eric Brown and
Manuel Castillo, who travelled to Haiti to work with them.
Lexington’s best party is growing up but not old!Prelude to a
Grand Night for Singing became a hit when it was introduced in the
spring of 2001. A combination of live and silent auctions,
extensive wine tasting, great food and entertainment, it has taken
its place as Lexington’s most entertaining fundraiser. For this
special anniversary, the LOS board is planning a unique auction
event new to Prelude as well as many other special recognitions to
recognize and celebrate this anniver-sary.Save the date -- May 21
at UK’s Singletary Center. It will be a wonderful opportunity to
raise a glass (or two or three) in honor of Lexington’s great
operatic celebration.
Prelude Celebrates a Decade!
If you are reading this newsletter, then the Lexington Opera
Society has your address. But we may not have your e-mail address.
LOS will
not fill up your inbox, but would like to let you know about
special events such as opera schedules, workshops, free musical
events, and alerts about
changes in venues, schedules or times. Please send a message
to:
[email protected].
Help us stay in touch
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Page 3
Winter 2010-2011
We asked some of the new members who have recently joined the
board of the Lexington Opera Society to tell us about themselves.
Here’s what they shared.
Courtney TurayBusy mom to Benjamin 9, Ethan 6 and Madeline 4;
teacher with the U.K. A.C.E. Children’s Program, frequent
children’s chorus director for UKOT.I received my undergraduate
degree in Music Education and my master’s in Voice Perfor-mance at
UK, mostly studying with Everett McCorvey and Cliff Jackson. I
performed in many operas and musicals while at UK—starting in 1990
as a ‘ciga-rette girl’ in Carmen--and went on to New York to
perform professionally. Favorite local opera moment:
Professionally: Open-ing night of UKOT’s Street Scene (2001), which
was the first time I’d directed a children’s chorus for an opera.
Personally: Opening night of UKOT’s La Bohème (2010) watching my
husband, Gregory. Why you’re willing to serve on the board: I am
honored to serve on the LOS Board as a liaison between LOS and the
newly formed group, The Bohemians (see page 7). It is so exciting
to be a tiny part of all the ‘behind the scenes’ work that plays
such an enormous role in making UKOT such a success—first on a
local level, but now, also on a national level.
Bill FortuneUK College of Law faculty member, who began
at-tending UK opera about four years ago.
Why you’re willing to serve on the board: The School of Music,
in which Everett McCorvey and the opera program play a major part,
is a true Center of Excellence at the University of Kentucky. I’m
proud of the opera program’s national
prominence and want to do what I can to help.
Madeleine Taylor BaughAttorney in solo practice, specializing in
estate planning and administration, life planning, real property
issues and the organization and advising of small business.A
lifelong singer, I love vocal music and theatre. Although new to
opera, I’m enchanted when it combines beautiful singing with solid
acting.Favorite local opera moment: Last spring’s under-graduate
production of The Magic Flute when my daughter, Taylor Coriell,
sang Papagena. I’m look-ing forward to the undergraduate production
of “The Pirates of Penzance” this spring with Taylor cast as
Mabel.Why you’re willing to serve on the board: As acting president
of Bravo Guild, I’m delighted to be one of four Bravo
representatives on the LOS Board. I en-joy volunteering my time and
organizational abili-ties to such a worthy cause and the
opportunity it gives me to meet other like-minded individuals.
Carl N. FrazierAttorney at Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLCMy interest in
opera began when a teacher at the rural high school I attended led
a group of stu-
dents to free dress rehearsals of Il Trovatore and La Bohème at
the Knox-ville Opera Company.Favorite local opera moment: A recent
favorite moment has been witnessing the formation and early
successes of The Lexington Bohe-mians.Why you’re willing to serve
on the
board: Opera is essential to a thriving arts commu-nity. The
value and quality of life that the fine arts add to our community
is immeasurable. UK Opera Theatre is doing exceptional work. I
wanted to help support UKOT and help expand our community’s
familiarity with opera.
LOS Board Welcomes New Members
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BRAVO!
Januaryn Porgy and Bess (Ticketed Event) Jan. 28, 29, Feb. 3, 4,
5, 7:30 pm; Feb. 6, 2 pm UK Single-tary Center
February n Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition (Free) Feb. 5,
2 pm Singletary Center
Marchn Brundibár (Ticketed Event) March 11, 13, 11 am, and 1 pm
Singletary Center. (Note: Sold out March 11)
Mayn Prelude to It’s A Grand Night for Singing (Ticketed Event)
UK Singletary Center, May 21. (Note: Prelude Celebrates its 10th
Anni-versary in 2010! See page 2)
Junen It’s A Grand Night for Singing (Ticketed Event) June 10,
11, 12, 17, 18, 7:30 pm; June 19, 2 pm. UK Singletary Center
Recitals(Free, open to the public, in the Singletary Recital
Hall)n Julie LaDouceur, MMA recital – Jan. 18, 7:30 pmn Joanna
Schunuemont and Nicolas Davis joint recital – Feb. 11, 7:30 pm
Metropolitan Opera HD BroadcastsNixon in China: Feb. 12, March
2Iphigénie en Tauride: Feb. 26, March 16Lucia di Lammermoor: March
19, April 6Le Comte Ory: April 9, 27
Lexington Opera Society Calendar
Bravo Guild, the volunteer arm of the Lex-ington Opera Society,
has pledged $6,000 in three yearly installments of $2,000 toward
the renovation of the Schmidt Vocal Arts Center.
The donation will be used to furnish the kitchen to be installed
during the renovation, and a plaque will acknowledge the
donation.
An integral part of the Lexington Opera So-ciety, Bravo Guild
members’ monetary dona-tions are an important and substantial part
of the funds raised for the LOS each year.
Many thanks to Bravo Guild members who are generous with their
time and their treasure.
A SPECIAL THANKS: Bravo Guild wants to take this opportunity to
thank its president, Catherine Staib, for her time, her talent and
her dedication to the work of the Bravo Guild. Catherine was vice
president of Bravo Guild from July, 2008 through June, 2010 and
began her two year term as president July 1, 2010. Sudden back
surgery has forced Catherine into a long period of re-cuperation,
and she has submitted her resigna-tion as president effective
immediately. Bravo Guild and the Lexington Opera Society accepted
her resignation with regret and understanding. Catherine, we look
forward to your swift recov-ery and return to our midst. —Madeleine
Baugh
Bravo Guild Notes
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Winter 2010-2011
Distinguished MET Judges Choose Four for MemphisTwenty-five
students competed at the Ken-
tucky District Auditions of the Metropoli-tan Opera National
Council November 20th, hosted by the Lexington Opera Society.
The contestants, ranging in age from 20 to 30, sang arias in
English, French, German and Italian.
The four winners included two from the Uni-versity of Kentucky,
Holly Flack, soprano, a master’s student, and baritone Reginald
Smith, Jr., a bachelor’s student; Ursula Kuhar, mezzo-soprano, a
doctoral student at Indiana University; and Andrea Trusty, soprano,
a master’s student at Rice University. The four shared equally the
$7,500 winners’ prize money and will advance to the Mid-South
Regional Auditions in Mem-phis in February. Mary-Hollis Hundley,
soprano, pursuing her Bachelor’s degree at U.K., received the $500
Encouragement Award. Flack won the encouragement award at last
year’s auditions.
The judges, Danielle Orlando, William Pow-ers and Samuel Ramey,
based their decisions on confidential criteria set forth by the
Metropolitan Opera National Council in New York and did not know
until after the announcement of the awards where the 25 contestants
are studying. After the
auditions, the judges discussed their observations and
recommendations with each contestant. The MONC accomplishes its
mission of discovering exceptional young talent, providing a venue
for young opera singers to be heard, assisting those with the
greatest potential, and searching for new talent through auditions
held in 41 districts in 14 regions of the United States and
Canada.
In addition to the judges, we were honored by the presence of
Clint Singley, Associate Director of the Metropolitan Opera
National Council at Lincoln Center and Mark Ensley, Associate
Profes-sor of Music at the University of Memphis and Co-Director of
the Mid-South Region. A small del-egation from the The New York
Times, interested in the audition process, also attended the
auditions.
The Lexington Opera Society, which proudly hosts the auditions
each fall, thanks our spon-sors and volunteers for their
contributions of funding, in-kind services, and food. The applause
from the large audience at Memorial Hall and the gracious
hospitality extended to the com-petitors, guests and visiting
dignitaries demon-strated the love of opera in our community.
— Louise Shouse, Kentucky District Co-Director
UK Opera Theatre, a Center of Excellence at UK, is growing in
quantity and quality of students --- and running out of space.
The Schmidt Vocal Arts Centre on Rose St. no longer meets the
needs of the program, so a campaign is under way to complete the
renova-tion started by Bill and Casiana Schmidt, and build a
lasting endowment for opera programs.
The goal is $10 million over the next five years. A first-stage
goal of $1.6 million by December 2011 has been set to complete
renovations at the Cen-tre, where much of the second floor is a
shell. It
will be finished for vocal studios, rehearsal space, a music
library (named in memory of Gail Robin-son), a student lounge, and
offices for UKOT staff.
The other focus of the campaign is an $8.4 mil-lion endowment to
support UKOT productions, a longtime dream of director Dr. Everett
McCorvey.
UKOT supporter Warren Rosenthal is chair-ing the campaign
committee. LOS has raised $881,250 for the building, with UK adding
$250,000, for a total of $1,131,250. The Schmidts, who continue to
be extraordinarily generous to UKOT, pledged $600,000 in matching
funds.
Rosenthal has pledged $300,000 toward the endowment for opera
programs, So we are well on the way toward the next phase. Bravo to
all our contributors -past and future! — Pam Miller
Capital Campaign Off to a Strong Start
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BRAVO!
UK Opera Theatre will present Brundibár, an opera for children
written in the dark days of the Holocaust of World War II, in
March. The opera had its premiere in the winter of 1942 in Prague
at an orphanage for Jewish children.
By that time, its Jewish composer, Hans Krása, and set designer,
Frantisek Zelenka, had been interned by the Nazi SS in the Jewish
ghetto in Terezin, a transit camp for Jews en route to the
extermination camp at Auschwitz. By July 1943, most of the children
in the origi-nal orphanage cast of Brundibár, had also been
transported to Terezin. Krása managed to re-construct the full
orchestral score from memory, making use of the few musical
instruments available at the camp. Brundibár, premiered in Terezin
in Sep-tember, 1943. It was performed 55 times the following
year.
The opera’s finale became an anthem of hope for those held at
Terezin, a hope that was cru-elly denied. In 1944, Terezin was
superficially transformed into a ‘model ghetto’ in preparation for
a visit by representatives of the International Red Cross. A
special performance of Brundibár was staged for the visitors, who
were suitably impressed with the ersatz amenities. Later that year
the opera was featured in a Nazi propaganda film. Two days after
the film was completed, Krása and the children in Brundibár were
moved to Aus-chwitz, where most of them were executed.
Brundibár is a simple fairy tale about a young brother (Pepíček,
or Little Joe) and sister (Aninka, or Annette) who sing in the
marketplace to raise money for milk for their ailing mother. With
the help of a cat, a dog, a bird and the other children
of the village, they defeat an evil organ grinder named
Brundibár (a Czech folk name for ‘bumble-bee’) who tries to steal
their money. The parallels to the Nazis’ robbery of Jews are clear,
but there were no obvious references to the circumstances of the
opera’s creation (begun initially in 1938) or
performance venue. Terezin was an ‘arts
showplace’ of the Nazi regime, and many ac-complished Jewish
musicians, compos-ers, and visual artists passed through the camp.
Because Brundibár lasts about 30 minutes, UKOT Visiting Director
Richard Kagey decided the second part of the performance should
feature music by sev-eral of those compos-ers, played by members of
the University of Kentucky Orchestra. The very large cast was
recruited princi-pally from students in UKOT’s musical theatre
programs for young singers from elementary school (ACE), middle
school (Broadway Bound), and high school (Kentucky Classical
Theatre Con-servatory). The 30-member chorus will sing in all four
performances in Lexington, but each one of the 20 named roles is
double-cast. -- Mary Powell
An opera of hope from the Holocaust: UK Opera theatre presents
Brundibár
She Sang, She Survived
Very few of the young singers in the original concentration camp
production of Brundibár survived the
war. One of them, Ela Weissberger, who played the Cat, will
travel from her home in Florida to take part in the UKOT
production, joining the cast
onstage to sing the Finale with them in her native Czech
language. After the performance, she will discuss her life in
Terezin and talk about her new book, The Cat and the Star.
Brundibár: Ghosts of the HolocaustMarch 13, 2:00 pm and 4:00
pm;
Singletary Center Concert Hall. Two performances on March 11 are
sold out.
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Page 7
Winter 2010-2011
The mayhem continues, and so does the music.The Bohemians, a
group of young profes-
sionals whose mission is to make opera a pas-sion for a new
generation, launched last year with -- no surprise -- a lot of
energy.
Appropriately enough, the Bohemians’ first pre-view night at the
opera was for La Bohème. They attended the dress re-hearsal after a
reception at Institute 193, a visual arts space at 193 N.
Lime-stone. During intermission director Richard Kagey answered
questions and talked about what he might want to “tweak” before
opening night.
On July 21, prior to the opening night of Rent (itself inspired
by La Bo-hème) at Summerfest, members enjoyed a Bohe-mian Bash
sponsored by Langdon Shoop of Frank Shoop, Inc.The Bash included
front row seats, wine from Lover’s Leap Vineyards & Winery,
food from Slone’s Signature Market and Sunrise Bakery. Bry-ant’s
Rent-All provided a canopy and table.
Singers from UKOT’s La Bohème performed selections from the
opera after Dr. Tedrin Blair Lindsay talked about the connection
between Rent and La Bohème.
Membership is only $15/year and our members will have the
opportunity to attend “Bohemian Night” at
the final dress rehearsal of UK Opera Theatre pro-ductions for
only $5.
The Bohemians launched at Prelude to A Grand Night for Singing
in June and now counts over 100 members.The Bohemians are plan-ning
an exciting evening around UKOT’s Porgy and Bess later in January
(for details on this innovative production, see the story on Page
1) but details
weren’t final at the publica-tion deadline.
To learn about the mayhem planned for Porgy and Bess or to get
more information about the Bo-hemians, email
[email protected], check out “Lexington Bohemians” on
Facebook, on Twitter @LexBohemians, or call 257-9331.
Opera is a bash for the Bohemians
Bohemians enjoyed a pre-Rent bash at Summerfest
and Christine Jobson will share the role of Bess. The large cast
also includes many UKOT student sing-ers in named roles, and
members of the Kentucky State University Choir appear as the
opera’s chorus.
This American opera was first peformed in 1935 but didn’t gain
acceptance as a legiti-mate work until 1976 when it was performed
by the Houston Grand Opera. It first appeared at the Metropolitan
Opera nine years later. It tells the story of Porgy, a disabled
beggar on Catfish Row, and Bess,a woman trying to escape her
violent and possessive lover.
UKOT Executive Director, Dr. Everett McCor-vey, who founded and
directs the Spiritual En-semble, has long wanted to stage this
remark-able work, but the challenges were daunting.
So, when Atlanta Opera called last year about the possibility of
collaborating on a new produc-tion of Porgy and Bess, McCorvey was
“elated.”
Richard Kagey of Atlanta, a Visiting Artist at UKOT this season,
created the design for this production that will be used in both
Lexington and Atlanta.
The joint venture continues UKOT’s record of collaborations with
professional compa-nies from San Francisco to New York.
“The chance for our students to work with es-tablished singers,
directors, choreographers, and musicians in professional companies
across the country is an unparalleled opportunity for them,
definitely worth all of the hard work neces-sary to bring these
collaborations to the stage,” McCorvey said. -Mary Powell
Continued from page1
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Page 8
BRAVO!
Publisher: Lexington Opera SocietyEditor: Jacalyn CarfagnoCopy
editor: Sylvia Davis
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