WSU’s School of Music and Theatre Arts Announces Spring Opera

PULLMAN, Wash. – Students in the Opera Workshop at Washington State University will present Gaetano Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love.” Performances will be held in Bryan Hall Theatre Friday, April 7, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, April 8, at 2 p.m. Ticket prices for general seating are $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens.

“Audiences tend to be afraid or put off by the term opera, thinking that it is some distant, high-brow entertainment only for the elite,” said Julie Wieck, director of WSU’s Opera Workshop and associate professor in School of Music and Theatre Arts. “One of my missions is to break down that barrier and introduce the wonderful world of opera to the community at large, while also educating our students at WSU. With this in mind, we present our opera productions in the vernacular as European opera companies often do, singing in the language of the audience. This removes the distance often created by a foreign language.”

The WSU performance features a cast of vocal and music majors, but the ensemble of the opera is a diverse group made up of students majoring in speech and hearing sciences, mechanical engineering, elementary education, biotechnology, apparel design and psychology.

First performed in 1832, “The Elixir of Love” takes place in the Italian countryside in the nineteenth century. The story revolves around a young man’s pursuit of his true love. Believing that he needs assistance from outside himself, he purchases an elixir from a traveling snake oil salesman, which is guaranteed to make the young woman fall in love with him. The elixir, a bottle of cheap wine, gives him the courage to fight for the woman he loves.

“Donizetti is one of three Italian composers including Bellini and Rossini who are known for composing opera in the bel canto style,” said Wieck. “Bel canto, which translates as ‘beautiful singing,’ was the traditional Italian art of singing which emphasized beautiful tone, legato phrasing and strong technique. Some of the most well-known operas are from this period, and the audience will probably recognize at least one of the arias from this famous opera.”

The WSU Opera Workshop program does a full production every spring for Mom’s Weekend, alternating between opera and musical theatre, and also presents musical theatre productions in the summer.

“The Elixir of Love” cast includes Kelli Barham (senior, vocal performance) as Adina, Matthew Holter (graduate student, vocal performance) as Nemorino, Brent LiaBraaten (senior, music education) as Belcore, Craig Heider (junior, vocal performance) as Doctor Dulcamara and Emily Sternfeld-Dunn (graduate student, vocal performance) as Giannetta. Ensemble members include: Karina Brazas, Emily Parnham, Christen Morris, Rebecca Elshaw, Amanda Schmahl, Jacklyn Stricherz, Sarah Weir, Terry Cerrillo, Monica Zosel, Lacy Sutter, Kate Blackman, Emily Dahlgren and Sunny Gold, Christopher Akers, Daniel Morrison, Joel Bouchey, Dustin Neiman, Matthew Collins, Ty Pfundheller, Israel Anderson, Riley Smith and James Shumate.