Monday, October 27, 2008
School of Music performs Italian opera
The Tartan Online: "This past weekend, Carnegie Mellon’s School of Music performed L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), an opera in three acts by Claudio Monteverdi. Conducted by music professor Robert Page, the performances on Thursday and Saturday had a different cast than the Wednesday and Friday performances."
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8 comments:
I personally really enjoyed the opera. I know there were a lot of mixed feelings on the show and most comments where based off the lighting, but i honestly enjoyed it! I have never been to an opera before and I think the way they used the space to get across what they wanted was brilliant! I loved the way they used the chosky. It was neat to see all the different ways they did stuff and i didnt think that the lighting was too horrible. I really enjoyed the show!
I wish I had been able to see this show, but alas there where sets to build and home work to finish. I've heard mixed reviews about the show. If I was further along in my studies of Italian maybe I would have made time for it. this review was nothing but complimentary of the show so was much more enjoyable to read.
I have to agree with paige, I really liked the opera as a whole. Of course there were parts of it, yes the lighting, that i did not particularly enjoy but overall it was very aesthetically pleasing. Personally i loved the costumes ,kudos to Jackie, and the unique use of the space. It was very creative i]and i like the encompassing theme and tone that was portrayed.
I did not care for this musical style, but I appreciated the School of Music's incentive to be creative with the set and costumes. The seating on the stage at an angle towards the house was a nice twist on seating arrangements. The set was a smart choice in that it looked easy to load in and out as it was in between "The Other Shore" and "Into the Woods". That being said, I liked the costumes and the set separately but I did not like the juxtaposition of the two. The colors and aesthetics both had two separate tones that did not work together well.
I really enjoyed the Opera especially because it presented me with an element of surprise which caused me to look at the piece as a whole from a new perspective and with an open mind. my favorite part was the use of space, the way audience was positioned onstage at an angle allowed you to look at the whole piece from a new perspective and be very close to the actors. It was also a unique experience to see the actors utilizing the house as a n acting area.
I have to absolutely disagree with the article. The show was not polished at all. All design issues aside, the acting was forced and absolutely horrendous. Sure it was charming in an amateurishly bad sort of way but this is CMU and I was hugely disappointed that this is what the School of Music produced. Some major actions in the play were not at all supported by the music, indicating that either the director forced his own vision on the show, or more likely, that the singers (who are not actors) merely did not have the skill to adequately perform the directors vision. The staging was awkward at best and while their voices may have been beautiful and poised, that was the ONLY and I mean the ONLY thing about the show that was worth seeing. I do not look forward to anymore productions put on by CMU Music anymore.
it's always interesting to see other productions work differently. i've never been a part of an opera, so it is difficult to imagine what it would be like. but i know that the singers has to be informed or cued every time they enter the stage and i can't imagine how much of a different experience it would be.
I think the school of drama needs to be more interwined with opera because it's a form of theatre that I don't think we put enough emphasis on (but where more of the money is). It's important for the tech people to understand that in order to be the best that they can be they need to be prepared for any genre or field. Ballet and Opera and Musical Theatre are all surrounded by sheet music, but music is not a strong emphasis for many of us.
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