UA Opera Season Features Student Composers

June 18th, 2012 - Filed under: Connections

The UA Opera Theatre, under the direction of Paul Houghtaling, has announced its 2012-2013 season. Building on the momentum of the past season, which marked the opera theater’s heralded debut with the Tuscaloosa Symphony as well as a collaboration with the Huxford Symphony Orchestra for Mozart’s Così fan tutte, the new year begins with “Something Old, Something New: The Then and Now of Opera” on October 12 and 14.

This will be an evening of music from the baroque era — the very beginning of opera — alongside works written within the last few decades. Handel and Vivaldi and Monteverdi will be heard with Bernstein, Philip Glass and Carlisle Floyd.

This production will feature the winners of the first annual opera composition competition. Student composers were asked to create mini operas, no longer than 10 minutes in length, and compete for a chance to experience the world premiere of their work performed by the UA Opera Theatre.  Also featured will be a sneak peak at Opera Theatre Composer-in-Residence Amir Zaheri’s new musical Over Dinner! which will receive its world premiere in the spring.

Singers performing La Boheme Opera at Moody Music Building a few years ago. UA Opera Theatre has enriched campus life for several seasons.

The season continues in the spring with Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Mikado” on March 1-2 and March 3. Gilbert & Sullivan hold a special place in Houghtaling’s career, having won critical acclaim in this repertoire across the United States. The antics of Ko-Ko, the Lord high Executioner of Titipu,  the “Three Little Maids from School,” and a host of other illustrious residents make for a  topsy-turvy plot filled with twists and turns, set to a score filled with musical delight. Costumes for this production will be designed by students in the department of theatre and dance’s MFA program in costume design under the direction of Donna Meester.

On April 2 the season ends with the popular “One Night Only: An Annual Evening of Broadway and Pop Favorites.” This evening showcases the versatility of the young opera singers as they sing Broadway selections and beloved standards in an intimate cabaret setting.

All performances will be in the choral opera room of the Moody Music Building. More information on the season and on the UA Opera Theatre can be found on the program’s website, www.music.ua.edu/opera, or by calling the Opera Theatre office at 348-3396 or the School of Music’s Music Services office, 348-7111.

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