The Utah Opera Resident Artists have a busy week this week – they are traveling to Layton High School, Lomond View Elementary, North Layton Jr. High, Decker Lake Elementary, and Mountain View Elementary!

If you or your children attend this schools, keep a look out, and cheer on the Resident Artists!

We are very excited for the performance this weekend – Berlioz’ Childhood of Christ. If you’ve noticed a bit more Berlioz being programmed lately, it’s because our Music Director, Thierry Fischer, is a huge Berlioz fan. In his own words:

“I don’t just like Berlioz, I need to perform Berlioz very regularly. He’s a composer very close to my inspiration. He wrote music by putting his own life in music, so it’s very easy to identify all his troubles, fears, hopes, nightmares. His imagination was absolutely stupefying.”

Childhood of Christ is a very interesting work for many reasons. First, Berlioz was not a religious man, so the fact that he composed a “sacred trilogy”, as he called it, was unusual. But he was a huge fan of church music, so that was his inspiration. Second, it’s one of the few works of his that the audiences and critics of the time actually liked! They usually felt that his music was bizarre sounding, but they loved how simple and melodic this work is:

During the second performance on December 24, calls of “encore” drowned out the Alleluias at the end of “The Repose of the Holy Family,” prompting the composer to turn to the audience and shout, “We’re going to play the piece again, but this time please allow it to finish.”
- John Mangum, Program Designer/Annotator, Los Angeles Philharmonic

For such a beautiful work, it doesn’t get performed very often, perhaps because of the large chorus and soloists needed. If you’re a fan of choral music, this is a concert you won’t want to miss!

NPR Music had a great article two years ago about the piece, which includes a complete recording! Check it out!

Were you able to come to the concert this weekend? We had an amazing crowd in Abravanel Hall, and guest percussionist Colin Currie was amazing! Here are some of the reviews from the concert:

“The concert, which also included music by Richard Wagner and American composer Christopher Rouse, showed new levels of stylistic definition and ensemble unity, especially during Beethoven’s programmatically descriptive symphony.”
- The Salt Lake Tribune

“Thierry Fischer continues to knock it out of the park with his Beethoven symphony cycle. The Utah Symphony, under Fischer’s guiding hand, painted a vivid musical picture and offered a clear window into the emotions of the three composers on the program Friday night.”
- Reichel Recommends

“holy geez, it was amazing; the entire orchestra did a phenomenal job, but the main percussionist—absolutely stupendous and literally had me holding my breath at the end.”
- LifeIsBYUtiful

Were you at the concert this weekend? Let us know what you thought! Please leave your review in the comments.

We would like to share a moment with you in observation of Veterans Day. Echoing President Woodrow Wilson’s words when it was first proclaimed, we are filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who have served and died for our country.

It took a while to come up with a good musical selection for today, but I settled on Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.

Copland, in his autobiography, wrote of the piece:

“Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, had written to me at the end of August about an idea he wanted to put into action for the 1942-43 concert season. During World War I he had asked British composers for a fanfare to begin each orchestral concert. It had been so successful that he thought to repeat the procedure in World War II with American composers”.

Beethoven decided to take in the view of Salt Lake City this week. Identify where Beethoven is in the comments, and you’ll be entered to win a pair of tickets to Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony on November 11-12!

To wrap up National Opera Week, we’d like to wish a late happy birthday to opera composer Vicenzo Bellini, who was born November 3, 1801.

Bellini was a musical prodigy, and it is claimed that he could sing an aria by 18 months, was studying music theory at age two, and the piano at age three. Whether it is true or not, he did grow up in a very musical household, and spent his rather short life studying and composing music. Bellini died at the age of just 33. He is known for very long, lyrical melodic lines, and he is one of the best examples of the bel canto style of opera. His operas, including La sonnambula, I puritani, and Norma, are still quite popular today.

This is probably his most famous aria, “Casta Diva” from Norma.

And from La sonnambula, “Ah! non credea mirarti”.
The first line of this is engraved on Bellini’s headstone – “Ah! non credea mirarti Sì presto estinto, o fior”, which translates roughly to “I did not believe you would fade so soon, oh flower”.

It’s National Opera Week! We have guest blogs this week from members of the Utah Opera family, explaining their love and relationship with opera. Are you also touched by the opera bug? Tell us about it on our Facebook page, or comment on any of the Opera Week blogs!

My First Role
By Paula Fowler

My first opera experience was singing the role of Kate Pinkerton in Utah Opera’s 1993 Madama Butterfly. Kate sings only 6 lines and doesn’t appear til the final act, but I loved that the make-up artist told me that while I was sitting in his make-up chair, the name of the opera was Kate Pinkerton as far as he was concerned.  The experience of rehearsing and performing with amazing singers in that production, as well as getting acquainted with backstage and onstage life in the theatre, really got me hooked on opera.

I signed on for the Utah Opera Chorus afterwards, and treasure memories of various productions for all kinds of reasons: my family knows I liked being chosen as a “sexy draper” in a production of Carmen, and I loved being part of the costume parades of gorgeous gowns in The Merry Widow and La Traviata (which, as far as the chorus goes, is one big party from beginning to end). I also got a hoot being in the mariachi band featured in our production of Don Pasquale, and enjoyed the challenge of learning the complicated square dance in The Grapes of Wrath. Another delightful highlight was when Propsmaster Kelly Nickle hid the infamous plastic alligator in the bustle of my gown during one of our summer Gilbert & Sullivan productions.

One of my favorite opera chorus recollections is of our production of Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice. The chorus was an important part of each of the 4 scenes in the opera, and in each scene we portrayed a different pure emotion: we were sad at Eurydice’s funeral, angry in red as demons in hell, then serene in white in heaven, and finally exuberant in a final celebration.  It was a fantastic emotional and musical journey every performance, and I remember thinking what a fabulous thing it was to be able to pursue singing as a life hobby but get the opportunity to be part of the performances of a professional company. I don’t know any other art form where people can do that.

It’s National Opera Week! We have guest blogs this week from members of the Utah Opera family, explaining their love and relationship with opera. Are you also touched by the opera bug? Tell us about it on our Facebook page, or comment on any of the Opera Week blogs!

The Opera Bug
by Julie McBeth

After getting bitten by the ‘opera bug’ at a music camp in high school, I pursued a career as a professional singer until I discovered I was not cut out for the lifestyle. Spending only a few weeks with each company before moving on to the next performances and not seeing my home for months at a time just didn’t seem like living to me. Luckily, I’ve always felt fulfilled by any sort of performance regardless of the size of role or theater. Singing in the Opera Chorus (or performing an acting role in an opera as a Supernumerary) satisfies my creative expression needs and has the added bonus of allowing me to more deeply engage with all of the artists involved in each production. I love the collaborative spirit of opera: how all of the art forms come together to create a sum greater than each of the parts and how the artists who participate support each other and work together.

My favorite Utah Opera experiences are numerous, but two particularly stand out. First was, acting one of the attendants of Cleopatra in Julius Caesar — wearing fantastic 1920s era costumes and doing a Busby Berkeley style production number during two of the arias. And the second was as a chorus member of The Grapes of Wrath — playing numerous characters and incorporating challenging choreography into our staging.

It’s National Opera Week! We have guest blogs this week from members of the Utah Opera family, explaining their love and relationship with opera. Are you also touched by the opera bug? Tell us about it on our Facebook page, or comment on any of the Opera Week blogs!

Fun in the Utah Opera Chorus
by Ashley Magnus

I hadn’t really been exposed to opera much until I was an undergraduate student, studying voice. I was always far more interested in working behind the scenes on our operas, specifically enjoying stage managing and directing, but as a voice student had to sing my share of required performances as well.  I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait to graduate and get out into the “real world”, where nobody makes you sing the role of “Grandma” in Little Red Riding Hood for a bunch of rowdy kids at the library, and you don’t have to spend all your spare time studying a role that you are singing for no actual class credit. I was positive I would not miss singing onstage at all.

Less than a year later, I had started working for Utah Opera, and got to be around all of the buzz and excitement of working on an opera production again. The first performance at Capitol Theatre that I actually got to see the Utah Opera Chorus featured in was Madame Butterfly - and I, much to my surprise, missed being onstage! I wanted to participate, too! The costumes(kimonos!) and the wigs and the sets were so cool, how could someone not want to be a part of that? Since then, I’ve gotten to participate in a few operas with the company: Gilbert & Sullivan Highlights at Deer Valley, Don Pasquale, Carmen, and Falstaff so far. My favorite part about singing in the Utah Opera Chorus is the camaraderie that comes from working on a show together, and the sense of fulfillment you get when you’ve put on a good performance. I have learned so much about opera since I’ve started working at Utah Opera and participating with the Utah Opera Chorus, and I love continually learning about this wonderful art form!

It’s National Opera Week! We have guest blogs this week from members of the Utah Opera family, explaining their love and relationship with opera. Are you also touched by the opera bug? Tell us about it on our Facebook page, or comment on any of the Opera Week blogs!

On Being A Super
By Gunter Radinger

In 1998, Michelle Peterson called me to ask if I could help out with a performance of Turandot since one of the supers had to have an emergency kidney operation. It was in the middle of the run and I had not had the benefit of any rehearsals. It was very frightening, but the chorus and cast were very helpful and supportive and I lived through it. Of course, I was hooked from then on.

I asked Michelle that I was to be signed up whenever she needed a super. I’m now in my 24th opera as a super, and I cannot think of anything that I would rather do. It is very addictive, and offers a chance to perform in operas without having to sing. We get to wear the great costumes and sometimes do really crazy things on stage, such as fight scenes, romantic encounters, and also play both “good guys” and “bad guys”. I think my two favorite roles were very small ones, but the most fun. First, I played the notary in the Barber of Seville. This was a cameo role and I was even named in the cast of characters ( a large ego boost ); the second was the devil in Orpheus and Eurydice. It entailed wearing a very elaborate costume with six inch platform shoes and a red Cardinal’s robe with Kiss makeup. There are many other parts to name, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed doing. In addition, one gets to meet the finest artists, directors, conductors, and performers in the chorus, which is, perhaps, the most rewarding aspect of all. The people who perform in the chorus are like a family and one feels very much a part of that family over the years.

Someone asked me once if supers received a salary. My answer is that I could not be paid enough to be a super. I mean that sincerely- there is nothing that I would rather do, and I could never allow anyone to pay me for it! Thank you, Utah Opera for allowing me to be a part of your history for the last thirteen years.