Workshop boots Italian culture onto SE operatic stage
by Linda Compton, reporter

    The SE Campus brought Italian culture to the C. A. Roberson Theatre stage last weekend for its Opera Workshop production.

   SE students presented Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica, directed by Marion Nesvadba, assistant professor of music, and Mary Nesvadba, Opera Workshop rehearsal pianist and orchestra director.

   Giovacchino Forzano, the librettist, created a story of a young woman (Sister Angelica, performed by Laura Scandiazzo) of noble birth who was placed in a convent to atone for her illicit love, which resulted in the birth of a boy.

   Angelica has no contact with her family for seven years until the Princess (Kim Bailey) pays her a visit. The Princess wants Angelica to sign over her noble rights to her younger sister who will be getting married.

   When Angelica asks about her son, the Princess coldly informs her the boy had died two years earlier. Angelica falls into despair and sings Senza mamma, o bimbo, tu sei morto, an aria in which she prays to join him.

   After Angelica prepares a poisonous potion and drinks it, she realizes she has just committed a sin and cries out to the Virgin Mary to save her soul.

   At this point the famous miracle appears: the church lights up and the Virgin Mary appears with a young boy. They walk toward the dying nun. Is this her son or the Christ Child?

   Singing since the ninth grade, Scandiazzo says opera is her main goal.
   She was the first senior in her high school to do a voice solo accompanied by an orchestra.

   Scandiazzo’s husband is from Australia, and they will move there this spring.

   While in Australia, she hopes to audition for and sing at the Sydney Conservatory.

   Bailey said the Princess is not a likeable character.

   “She is mean, self-righteous and eager to take away Sister Angelica’s inheritance because she had a baby out of wedlock,” she said.

   Bailey, who has taken voice at TCC for two years, said a voice major requires an ensemble group, which is part of a workshop. She has performed in four or five operas.

   “That is definitely a stretch for the voice,” she said.

   Marion Nesvadba chose this opera because he had such a strong group of women this year and all the parts are for female.

   During his 26 years at TCC, Nesvadba has directed at least 20 operas.
   “The opera workshop is actually a class,” he said.

   “All vocal performance majors need at least two semesters of credit for their degree, whether at TCC or ultimately where they get their baccalaureate,” he said.

   Although SE Campus students always do a fully staged opera, Nesvadba said, they perform what he calls a student opera, a smaller opera that is easier to sing.

   “However, with the strong students we have this year, we elected to do a full professional opera,” he said.

   In the early 1900s, Puccini composed three one-act operas. These included his favorite, the story of Sister Angelica, classified as a tragedy; Gianni Schicchi, the most successful of the three, and Il Tabarrro, classified as psychological.

   Usually the European operas are in Italian, French or German, but this one has been translated into English.

   Dallas and Fort Worth operas have performed this selection.

   Instrumental students also benefit from this workshop, Nesvadba said.

   It gives them experience playing in a small pit instead of being on stage.

   Nesvadba pointed out the musicians are actually following the singers as opposed to singers following the music.

   Instrumental students must watch the conductor constantly since no speed or tempo is exactly the same throughout the opera.

   “If a singer is feeling really motivated, he or she may hold a note a little longer than normal, so the instrumental student is dependent upon the conductor to know the speed to play,” he said.