Opera Theatre
Opera Workshop at FSU is an opportunity for all Music majors to explore and learn about becoming a complete vocal performer. Opera is the largest form of vocal music that combines drama and music. This combination gives students the singular opportunity to work on their acting and musical skills. Under the direction of Dr. Scott Rieker, opera students will perform opera scenes, full operas, and operettas from all centuries.
To see and hear our students sing, please visit us on YouTube.
For more information or to audition, contact Dr. Scott Rieker - 301.687.4110, choir@frostbug.edu
Visit our Concerts page for Upcoming Performances
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PREVIOUS PERFORMANCES
Fall 2019
"An Evening of Mozart Opera", Gregory Scott Stuart, director. The Fall Opera Theatre featured scenes from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Magic Flute," "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni". Voice professors and professional singers - soprano Francesca Aguado, mezzo-soprano Dr. Lori Sen and baritone Gregory Scott Stuart - joined their students and participants of FSU's Opera Workshop in offering an entertaining evening of operatic fun, including opportunities for audience participation.
Spring 2019
"A Hand of Bridge", Tory Browers, director. The Spring Opera Theatre presented famous operatic scenes from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Bastien and Bastienna,” Samuel Barber’s “A Hand of Bridge,” Henry Purcell’s “The Fairy Queen,” Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” and Georges Bizet’s “Pearl Fishers”.
Fall 2018
“An Evening of Operetta”, Mr. Gregory Scott Stuart, director. This gala concert featured operatic scenes from “La Bohème,” “Roméo et Juliette,” “The Magic Flute” and “Dido and Aeneas.”
Spring 2018
"A Hand of Bridge", Tory Browers, director. The Spring Opera Theatre presented famous operatic scenes from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Bastien and Bastienna,” Samuel Barber’s “A Hand of Bridge,” Henry Purcell’s “The Fairy Queen,” Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” and Georges Bizet’s “Pearl Fishers”.
Fall 2017
“A Night of Love, Magic and Death, With Music From Purcell to Puccini”, Tory Browers, director. This gala concert featured operatic scenes from “La Bohème,” “Roméo et Juliette,” “The Magic Flute” and “Dido and Aeneas.”
Spring 2017
“A Potpourri of Operatic Scenes", Tory Browers, director. The Opera Workshop presented a potpourri of famous operatic scenes from Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” and George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”.
Fall 2016
“A Night at the Opera House, Featuring the Music of Vienna". Tory Browers, director. The performance featured the music and waltzes from Vienna as well as lesser-known operatic gems. The gala concert included the music of operetta composers Franz Lehár and Johann Strauss, as well as Purcell, Handel, Donizetti and Sieczy?ski. The production also included an extended scene from Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.”
Spring 2016
“Opera Surf” was the theme of the Spring Opera Theatre performance at FSU; Dr. Mariana Mihai-Zoeter, Stage and Music Director.
"We sing, we dance, we rap, we snap, YOU surf!." This idea of surfing through the channels of a TV came to the director when she heard one of her students singing a rap after her voice lesson! The director thought that this semester it would be very helpful to give an opportunity to the students that can sing different genres of music to share their many talents with the audience.
Audience members were invited to imagine that they were sitting comfortably in their favorite chair at home with “total control” of the remote control to the TV. While surfing through the channels in search for their favorite opera, they would be captivated by other genres of music that fly by on the channels which they cannot resist the temptation of listening to, such as: musical theater songs that you love, operetta duos and trios, and maybe a rap or two. (The three platforms seen on stage were there to suggest the different channels.) As on any respectable TV channel there were commercials between scenes that were custom made for the opera production. Also, each channel is renamed after the composer’s name to remind them of real channels seen on TV. The jingles and lighting design completed the total experience of a night of surfing through the channels in search for their favorite opera channel.
The 'channels' surfed included: Marc Shaiman, with scenes from Hairspray; C.M.von Weber, scenes from The Freeshooter; Gilvert and Sullivan, scenes from The Yeoman of the Guard; Leornard Bernstein, scenes from West Side Story; Léo Delibes, scenes from Lakmé; Jacque Offenbach, scenes from Bluebeard; Carl Loewe, scenes from My Fair Lady; Franz Lehár, scenes from The Land of Smile and The Merry Widow; Gaitano Donizetti, scenes from Don Pasquale; and Bedrich Smetana, scenes from The Bartered Bride; as well as Opera Rap by Pateley and Hannah, and performed by Pateley Bongiorni.
Fall 2015
"Commedia dell'arte in Opera", Dr. Mariana Mihai-Zoeter, Stage and Music Director. The opera students took a journey back to 16th century Italy, at the beginning of the commedia dell'arte which translates as "theatre of the professional", and is characterized by masked "types" and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. The plots were simple: 2 young lovers were kept apart by old men, fathers/guardians, elderly suitors, etc. Servance helped to outwit the old men and bring the lovers together. The students explored characters of commedie dell'arte in four operas, of which they performed a few scenes: Rossini's El Signor Bruschino, Haydn's Lo speziale, Cimaron's Il matrimonio segreto, and Rossini's Il barbiere di Seviglia. Even though the operas were written indifferent years and by different composers, the conclusion is the same: that "love always wins" despite all the difficulties encountered along the way. (see YouTube video above)
Spring 2015
"The Auditionees", Dr. Mariana Mihai-Zoeter, Stage and Music Director. The troupe performed arias and scenes from The Maid-Mistress by Pergolesi, The Elixir of Love by Donizetti, The Barber of Seville and The Italian Girl in Algiers by Rossini, The Enchantress by Herbert and The Marriage of Figaro, The Impresario and Bastien and Bastienne by Mozart. (pics in slide show above)
Fall 2014
"A Waltz and a Song", Dr. Mariana Mihai-Zoeter, Stage and Music Director. In this performance the students performed mainly operatta scenes from The Bat and The Gypsy Baron by Johann Strauss, The Csardis Princess by Kalmann, and The Merry Widow by Lehar. (pics in slide show above)
Spring 2014
"Heroes, Heroines, Lovers and Villians", Dr. Mariana Mihai-Zoeter, Stage and Music Director. In this opera production the students will be performing arias from Cavalli's La Calisto, Mozart's Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Puccini's La Bohème, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Verdi's Rigoletto and duets and trios from Handel's Hercules, Copland's The Tender Land, Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, Mozart's The Magic Flute, Lehar's The Merry Widow, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and Cimarosa's The Secret Marriage.
Fall 2013
The Opera Workshop class presented highlights from Women Are Like That (Cosi fan tutte) for their Fall performance. Dr. Mariana Mihai-Zoeter, Stage and Music Director.
Spring 2013
Forbidden Love was the theme for the spring semester of our Opera Workshop class. Our opera students presented to the public arias and scenes from Bizet's Carmen and The Pearl Fishers, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and The Mikado, and Verdi's Rigoletto. Dr. Mariana Mihai-Zoeter, Stage and Music Director.
Fall 2012
The Wedding by Lantern-Light by Jacques Offenbach - one act operetta - was our fall semester production. Dr. Mariana Mihai-Zoeter, Stage and Music Director. Below is our publicity poem!
At Frostburg State, a tale will be told,
Of a marvelous treasure, more valuable than gold.
A show that shall be enjoyed upon site,
Called The Wedding by Lantern Light.
The story of Peter, given a treasure to explore,
Only to find, that it’s worth something more.
Meanwhile Two greedy widows fight for his hand,
And his cousin sits aloof, feeling particularly bland.
So who will Peter marry and take under his wings?
Find out at Frostburg, when the vesper bell rings.
(Dominic Rogers, junior-Music Management)
