Regardless of nerves, sweat and cottonmouth, the University opera
ensemble presented an evening of opera scenes and arias to a nearly
full Beall Hall on Tuesday.
Thrown before the eager but discriminating crowd were singers of a
“very wide range of ages and experience levels,” assistant professor of
voice Charles Turley said in his opening remarks. Turley is the new
director of the opera program.
This mix of beginners and seasoned performers is a boon to the opera
program, he said. The younger students learn from the experiences of
the older students, and the developed singers are inspired by the
energy and enthusiasm of the beginners.
This has led to an unusually collegial program in the extremely
competitive world of opera. “It makes for a very positive experience,”
said soprano Jennifer Quinnelly, a doctor of musical arts student who
sang Tuesday night.
Quinnelly has been pursuing a professional singing career for seven
years and gives voice lessons as a music school GTF. But far from being
limited to doctoral students, the ensemble also included a number of
the GTFs’ own students. Among them was tenor Erik Carlson, performing
in his first program of scenes.
Carlson, a junior music technology major, may have been nervous on
stage but beamed after the performance.
“This is my second year studying opera,” Carlson said. “It’s turned out
to be really cool.”
Tuesday’s program featured staged scenes from seven operas, including
“The Marriage of Figaro,” “La Boheme” and “Carmen.” Pianist Mindy Smith
accompanied the performance with excellent technical skill, though the
lack of a conductor is extremely challenging in “Boheme,” where the
tempo changes in nearly every bar.
The scenery was sparse, a necessity dictated by the almost innumerable
changes of scene. The bare stage suited the pedagogical purpose of the
performance by allowing the singers to focus on their singing and
acting.
Most of the scenes were performed in English, and most of the singers
pronounced the words with unusual care and comprehensibility. Several
performers showed they were up to the considerable challenges of range
and endurance, and all seemed to be well on the path to healthy, free
singing.
Quinnelly was among the standouts of the evening. As Rosalinda in “Die
Fledermaus,” she was delightfully over the top on an evening full of
hanging arms and stiff backs. Her considerable vocal talent was given
freer rein as she portrayed Mimi in scenes from “Boheme,” displaying a
warm, colorful tone, free, ringing high notes, and good Italian
diction.
Among the men, the young voice of baritone Andrew Sauvageau was a study
in great potential. Blessed with the typical operatic baritone’s
linebacker build, the junior performance major has developed an
attractive voice that glides easily into the upper register. Most
importantly, he has kept his voice healthy by not fighting its youthful
color.
Special mention should also be given to soprano Hallie Silverston, a
senior performance major, whose vocal stamina maintained a strong,
beautiful tone throughout a long scene as the comical handmaid Despina
in Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte.”
If the vocal quality was generally high, the acting was an area that
clearly needed continued focus. But for a population used to the false
intimacies of television, telephone and Internet, the grand gestures of
opera are difficult to learn.
Sauvageau echoed the sentiments of his colleagues when he described his
decision to enter the unforgiving music business: “I figured that if
I’m going to be doing something all my life, I might as well be doing
something I enjoy.”

Thomas Munro is a Freelance Reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald.