April 2: MTSU Opera players to perform
“This spring production depicts several characters who are on the edge,” said Raphael Bundage, MTSU choral professor and musical director for the production, “(and) we will include the famous Rain Quartet from Marc Blitzstein’s ‘Regina’.”
The “Regina” opera, Bundage explained, is the musical version of Lillian Hellman’s play, “The Little Foxes.”
Other scenes on the April 2 program will include “I’m Not Getting Married Today” from Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” with MTSU junior Sara Mundie as Amy, a frantic bride-to-be with a severe case of cold feet.
The performance will also feature a touching scene from Leonard Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti,” in which Dinah (portrayed by MTSU graduate Christina Moore) and Sam (portrayed by MTSU student Seth Carico) lament their broken marriage.
From Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” 15-year-old Cherubino (played by Becky King) expresses the uncontrollable desire he has for all women in an English version of the aria “Non so piu.”
Bundage said the production will highlight some of the McLean School of Music’s finest vocalists, including Sharon Kay Edwards, who recently was named winner of the District Metropolitan Opera Competition.
MTSU graduate student Kelly Claus, along with seniors Carico, Mark Kano, Hannah Smith and MTSU alumna Moore, will also be highlighted in the production. Each of these vocalists was a semifinalist in the Orpheus National Vocal Competition on March 14, Bundage added.
Among the other vocalists who will perform are freshman Megan Tozer, a 2003 graduate of Riverdale High School, and King, a native of Jackson, Tenn.
Baritone and opera singer John Kramar, whose career began at the Eastman School of Music and continued with studies at the Curtis Institute and Tanglewood Institute, was invited to stage this production.
Regarding his directorial staging role, Kramar said it was during a telephone conversation with Bundage that he became involved with the upcoming MTSU opera production.
“While speaking with Raphael Bundage a few months ago, I mentioned to him that his proposed scenes program for this spring could easily be adapted to have an ‘On the Edge’ motif,” he recalled. “By the time our conversation was over, this program was reborn.”
Kramar, who first directed a program of opera scenes called ‘On the Edge’ in 2001 at East Carolina University, said he feels local operagoers “will benefit from the minimalist, intimate approach we are taking with the scenes.”
These scenes, Kramar added, “are, after all, about real people. I think everyone can relate to being on the edge from time to time.”
The program will be accompanied by MTSU graduate collaborative pianist Jason Hart and narrated by Don Henry of Murfreesboro.
The April 2 performance is free and open to the public, but optional donations will be accepted at the door.