Students perform in the dress rehearsal of L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) in Meek Auditorium on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., Wednesday, April 23, 2014. (DM Photo | Phillip Waller)
The University of Mississippi Opera Theatre opens its fall production, “Journeys” tonight. The performance is a collection of scenes from opera and musical theater — sources include Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” and Puccini’s “La Boheme” alongside such Broadway classics as Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George” and Mel Brooks’s “The Producers.”
Though the opera theater department puts on one full-scale opera each year, the fall is devoted to performances featuring work from all walks of musical life.
Julia Aubrey, director of opera theater at the university, said the fall performances are geared toward a broader audience.
“More students are acquainted with musical theater and might be drawn in to see the program even if they don’t know the opera genre,” Aubrey said.
To make opera newcomers more at ease with the genre, which is often sung in other languages, Aubrey said they provide supertitles with translations.
Each year’s fall opera scenes performance is themed. This year’s theme is “Journeys,” as is evident given the program’s title.
“Some journeys are internal; some take us from one place to another,” Aubrey said of the theme. “There are journeys we take on our own, and those that we experience in the company of others. Sometimes it is important that we reach a certain destination, and other times it is more important what we have learned along the way. This is an educational process for the opera students, and we want to take our audience along with us.”
And just as the show is comprised of works from many genres of music, the performers bring varying levels of experience from different areas.
“The students involved are music majors in the vocal performance and music education tracks, music minors and a theater major,” Audrey said. “This class (Opera Theatre) is open to all students who have an interest and skill in vocal performance.”
The one theater major is Nina Farris, whom readers may know Tracy Turnblad in last year’s production of “Hairspray.” This year, she is featured in scenes from “Sunday in the Park with George,” “The Book of Mormon,” “Violet” and “The Pirates of Penzance.”
Farris said operas aren’t that different from shows she’s been in with the theater department.
“At the end of the day, it’s performing,” Farris said. “Performing is always rewarding.”
She also revealed that her favorite scene isn’t even one in which she performs — it’s from “La Boheme.”
Chloe Sturges, a senior vocal performance major, performs in the scene from “La Boheme,” and it’s her favorite as well. She also emphasized that every scene is important to the success of the performance as a whole.
“There’s a huge variety of styles and voices,” Sturges said. “So, there is something for everyone.”
Julia Aubrey said she picks classic opera pieces and more modern musical theater not only to draw a broader audience, but also to introduce her students to music outside the realm of opera.
“I believe it is vital for young performers to be able to cross over,” she explained. “New operas are utilizing popular idioms in the music and settings, and new musicals often demand classically trained singers.”
The “Journeys” program gives opera students the opportunity to explore the applications of classical training to music outside their vocal comfort zones.
Nina Farris’s parting words are ones of encouragement to the Ole Miss community in the post-midterms haze.
“Everyone is stressed out, and the music that we are performing is the best stress reliever,” Farris said.
“Journeys” opens at 7:30 tonight in Meek Auditorium. Tickets are $8 for students.
