Opera scenes

Friday evening, Katie was in  series of scenes from a wide variety of operas. The concert as a whole featured virtually the entire vocal performance student body at Mizzou, undergrads and grads, and there were twelve scenes performed. It was amazing! Katie herself appeared in six scenes, from The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan) , Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck), La Traviata (Verdi), The Rake's Progress (Stravinsky) The Consul (Menotti), and Candide (Bernstein). In three of those, she was in the chorus, in The Consul and Candide she had minor but significant roles, and in Orfeo, she had the lead role as Orpheus. She was amazing. Orfeo required a lot of solo work as well as ensemble. As you probably recall from school days, Orpheus has been allowed to rescue Eurydice from the Underworld but cannot look at her and cannot explain why. When Eurydice stops because she thinks Orpheus no longer loves her, he turns, and she dies again. Orpheus then tries to commit suicide so he can be with Eurydice, and the goddess Amore takes pity on him and revives Eurydice. This is the scene that was portrayed - three actors, Orpheus, Eurydice and Amore. Gluck cast a famous castrato of his era as Orpheus, but ever since Berlioz' recasting of the opera, it has been performed by a female mezzo. It was just right for Katie's rich alto timbre.  In The Consul, Katie had the role of the mother of John Sorel, a political dissident in a totalitarian country. The other actor is John's wife, Magda, so again there was both solo work and fine trios. In Candide, the scene was the finale, "Make Our Garden Grow," and Katie was the Old Lady. That scene ended the entire show.  In Mikado, Katie was in the chorus for "Three Little Maids from School," in La Traviata she was in the chorus in the party scene, and in Rake's Progress (which is a powerful opera and was especially well-performed) she was a patient in Bedlam. I made videos of some of the scenes, which I don't have time to download here, but here are some photos. I'm so glad I could be here for this performance. I'm so proud!

From Thr Mikado

Orfeo ed Euridice

La Traviata party scene