Courage can be rewarded as you decide to go through with something that's outside of your comfort zone. Eventually, you are put in positions that you don't expect to be in. Yet, it is your mindset and your actions that determine how the journey goes for you. I chose to attend an audition for the Opera/Music Theatre Workshop at my University in the previous Spring semester. My expectation was to simply receive a role in the chorus. However, I believe God had another plan in store for me. When I received the results of the audition, I'd found out that I was double cast for the main female lead in the Opera. I freaked out! I realized that if I put my all into this performance, while remaining at a good standing in my academics, I will do just
Eastern Washington University Department of Music presented a program of Opera works by Giacomo Puccini, Aron Copland, W.A. Mozart, John Dowland, Franz Shubert, Maurice Ravel, and Robert Schumann on Friday, March 7, 6:30 p.m., in the Music Building, Recital Hall. These Opera works were sung by Senior Recitalist, Alexandra Rannow.
People have dreams of what they want to do or accomplish in life, but usually musical theatre is just pushed into the non-realistic void. It isn’t a dream for me. In the past four years, musical theatre has been clarified as my reality. Musical theatre has been the only thing I have seen myself wanting to do. My first love was The Phantom of the Opera, seeing how I watched it almost every day and it was one of the first shows I saw. Of course, I started doing all of those cute shows in middle school and making a huge deal about it to my family and friends, but I have never felt so passionate about something. The minute I get up on that stage I throw away Riley for two and a half hours and it’s the most amazing feeling! Being able to tell a story
On October 12th, I saw Tosca by Giacomo Puccini held at Atlanta Opera. Tosca is an Italian opera, directed by Tomer Zvulun, accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Arthur Fagen, included a cast of Kara Shay Thomson, Massimiliano Pisapia, and Luis Ledesma (The Atlanta Opera). Opera is an art form in which singers act out drama through a combination of acting and vocal performance. Singers deliver conversation in a musical manner, essentially singing the conversation. Since we recently learned about opera in class, I want to explore the future of opera - where it will go next with the ever advancing modern technology, media and entertainment, and what researches are currently being done at both the industry and academic levels. I will briefly describe what the traditional opera is like using Tosca as an example. Next, I will look at modern opera after the World War II. I will also select one example from the industry and university that are experimenting with opera. At last, I will offer my imagination of what the future of opera may be.
On this Fall I was taking Theater class with a great professor. His name is Kendrick Jones and he is from Detroit. The professor was so kind with the student and helpful because he wanted us to learn about Theater. He wanted us to learn at least 1 thing about Theater from his class. Also, he let the class to be fun by doing some activities because he doesn’t want the students to get bored in his class. By doing some activates and meet with our groups during the class will help the students to communicate with each other. Also, that will help them to improve their skills and to share the ideas and come up with something new for the audience. It’s gives the class a different taste when the instructor let the students meet with their groups and let them work together. For me I always want to come to theater class not just because the attendance points, but I wanted to learn some things that I don’t know. Thank god I learned some things by attending this class everyday, and I took 200 out of 200 on the attendance grade.
Opera originated in Italy in the early 1500’s. It gained popularity in the Baroque period when people began experimenting new and different sounds with their voices. Opera is very dramatic work and you must have a really great voice to be considered as an Opera singer. Operas are usually performed in Opera houses and are accompanied by different instruments/ orchestra. It started off in Italy and soon became used all over the world. In the 1800s, Italian Opera soon began to take over all of Europe. The most known Opera singer is Mozart, who is most known for the comic operas. The soprano voice is the voice typically used as the choice for the female of the opera since the 18th century. Earlier, it was common for parts to be sung by any female soprano voice.The tenor voice, from the Classical era, has been assigned the role of male.
Modernism, a major artistic movement of the first half of the twentieth century, is traditionally a classification of the visual arts, including such schools as Abstraction, Impressionism, and Expressionism. In architecture, too, was Modernism recognized, in the work of people like Frank Lloyd Wright. Even in literature, with the increasing use of symbolism, Modernism was an influence. Modernists in all of these art forms are consciously engaged in the expansion of the boundaries of their art, and in asking their audiences to reject the status quo, both of the art and of some aspect of society or culture the art form addresses. When faced with a discussion about the possibility of the existence of Modernist opera, classificationists around the world can be heard coughing quietly into their drink and muttering something vague about having somewhere else to be. Until recently, opera and Modernism were two terms rarely, if ever, heard together. The large amount of scholarship that has been devoted to the study of Modernism and its principles has not been extended with the same vigour to include its application to opera. Questions have been raised about whether it is even possible to define “Modernist opera,” and few have attempted such a feat. I confess some confusion as to why the issue raises such difficulties. An examination of just three of the operas written in the time period, Richard Strauss’s Salome, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, shows us that a categorization of Modernism is not inappropriate to the genre. Like the visual and literary arts of the time, these operas are attempting to redefine their genre and to bring public awareness both to the possibilities of the genre and to societal issues.
Theatre has heavily evolved over the past 100 years, particularly Musical Theatre- a subgenre of theatre in which the storyline is conveyed relying on songs and lyrics rather than dialogue. From its origination in Athens, musical theatre has spread across the world and is a popular form of entertainment today. This essay will discuss the evolution and change of musical theatre from 1980-2016, primarily focusing on Broadway (New York) and the West End (London). It will consider in depth, the time periods of: The 1980s: “Brit Hits”- the influence of European mega musicals, the 1990s: “The downfall of musicals”- what failed and what redeemed, and the 2000s/2010s: “The Resurgence of musicals”- including the rise of pop and movie musicals. Concluding
The Italian Renaissance marked a pivotal time for theatre, as well as art in general. It spanned roughly from the year 1400-1600 CE. This era took place following the barbarous Middle Ages, or “Dark Ages”. It was at the end of the 14th Century that a vast group of scholars decided that they had entered a new “rebirth” era of learning, literature, and culture.
As I prepared for the auditions, I thought of several ways I could perform my monologue. Adding more blocking in certain parts, placing more emphasis on different words to give a new meaning to the piece—the list goes on. All of the options had equal attractiveness, but in the end, I was able to come to a decision and picked the one I thought would work best. In the moment, I had thought I made the right choice, but after I got home and started to reflect on how the day had gone and the options I did not choose, I started to regret what I had chosen. This feeling was short-lived, as I soon started thinking about how the other options could have failed or been inferior. Perhaps they had been too similar to what other people had done, whereas mine was more original and memorable. This same trend followed with the improvisation and cold-reading portions of the audition, but after experience some regret, both came to the same conclusion: the way I had chosen was the best
The Unchanging Opera In the late 1600 and 1700 is where Opera first grasped the hearts of Rome, Florence, and Venice and became the Opera corner of the world. Opera was first created for telling fables and narratives that would captivate the audience. Unfortunately, opera was extremely exclusively for the wealthy and was only seen at pricey weddings and special occasions. Opera was first created by Italy for entertainment and to hear and see the drama unfolding before their eyes.
Opera has been described as an art form whereby singers and musicians indulge in thespian work that brings together both text and musical store in a theatrical setting. Text in opera is also described as libretto. According to scholars, opera was introduced in France from Italy before 1650. It however was unable to take a firm hold in Paris within the royal circles and other audiences because it had to compete unfairly on unequal terms with the spoken drama and the ballet that was the favorite form musical entertainment at courts. Lully an immigrant from Italy, who died in 1687, shaped the history of opera in France down to the mid 19th century (Sadie, 25).
French Opera: From Lully to the Grand Opera Opera had existed in Europe ever since the first steps were taken to revive the Greek dramas during the Renaissance Era but were restricted to Italy, the birthplace of opera. The French audience was first given an exposure to operatic arts during 1640s when Francesco Sacrati, an Italian composer toured France and performed La finta pazza. The audience didn’t give the opera a warm reception since it was backed by an unpopular minster among the people. Not only politics played a role but the French courtiers also objected the use of Italian language and the length of the performance. More attempts were made by several composers to win over the French audience but to no avail.
For a total of seven day, I received the best experience ever at the Vancouver Opera. I have learned so much from all types of extraordinary people. The work experience was like nothing I have ever done. Doors opened and I enthusiastically went after every opportunities that was offered. The whole time, I was overly excited and I just could not stop smiling at everything.
One of the subjects I have always wanted to major in is Drama. I have been in school plays since the fourth grade, but it was not until my sophomore year of high school that I learned why I cherished acting so much. My school was holding auditions for a comedy play called “Greek Mythology Olympiaganza” and I wanted to try out for it. For auditions, everyone had to read a short script in front of the drama teachers. I poured every single ounce of energy that I contained when I auditioned. I left the drama room with my fingers crossed, hoping that I secured a role in the play. The next day a list of the actors was hung out by the drama room. The list was miniscule, so I was worried that I did not acquire a role in the play. But, yet I
Opera, in its simplest definition, is a form of the stage production that where the story is told primarily with music and singing that originated in Florence, Italy. Alternatively phrased as “Musical drama.” It incorporates acting, instruments and occasionally ballet. A song sung in an opera as a solo is called an “Aria” and a song sung in pairs is called a “Dueto” Every line is sung, including the most ordinary ones. Costumes are glitzy and dramatic to draw attention to the actors. Musicians are placed in an orchestra pit in a lowered area in front of the stage. It is placed there to provide the highest quality sound, and for timed music. Lighting is often utilized in the telling of a story. E.g, a performance of Don Giovanni. White light