Opera Unplugged

A classroom guide for teachers

San Diego Opera Ensemble

Dear Teachers!

Welcome to San Diego Opera’s Operation: Opera 2008-2009 Ensemble Tour. We are delighted to bring world-class opera to your school and give your students the chance to meet the opera stars of the future — today!

Opera Unplugged is a recital program that helps students understand that live opera is simply another method of storytelling using music and words in a powerful and enjoyable way. You and your students will meet our ensemble singers and music director through their music. We also make sure there is time at the end of the performance for your students to participate in a talkback with the singers after the performance. Each singer will perform a selection from a popular opera and talk with the audience about what to look and listen for when they experience an opera. They will also demonstrate some of the techniques required to sing opera.

This study guide will prepare you and your students for their Opera Unplugged performance. It includes opera vocabulary, a list of things to know before attending an opera, musical selections as well as biographies of the singers, music director and tour manager.

We hope that you will use and copy any of these materials, but please provide credit to San Diego Opera. If you have any questions about this study guide or Opera Unplugged, please call us in the Education Department, (619) 232-7636.

We will see you at the opera!

Cynthia Stokes
Associate Director of School and Community Programs

Four things to know before attending Opera Unplugged

What is opera?

Most people think opera is some big lady, wearing horns, singing in a really loud voice. While sometimes that is the case, like in Wagner’s Die Walküre, opera is SO much more than just the fat lady in horns! Opera is a story told through music. The music is accompanied by an orchestra. Opera singers have a special timbre (color or quality) to their voices that makes them able to project their voices over an orchestra. They do not use microphones! Opera singers train for many years in order to be able to sing like this. And, most opera singers are in excellent physical shape.

Opera began in Italy when a group of artists formed the Florentine Camerata. Over the last few centuries, opera has evolved throughout the world. It is probably so popular and exciting because it is an art form that combines visual art (sets, costumes), drama (the story, acting), dance (sometimes even a full ballet) and music (the orchestra, the singing). Opera stories are based on myths, folktales, great works of literature, biblical stories, fantasy, and real-life stories. Operas are written in many languages; the most popular are Italian, German and French. Operas are also written in English, Czech, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese. Most opera houses use super-titles, which are like captions for opera. Even if you don’t speak the language of the opera, you will know what is going on by watching the super-titles above the stage.

Singers who perform in operas have different voice types. For women, these types are Soprano (high), Mezzo-soprano (medium), and Contralto (low). For men, Tenor (high), Baritone (medium), and Bass (low) are the names of voice types. Principals are the singers who have “named” roles such as Pamina in The Magic Flute or Mimì in La Bohème. The singers who assist the action are called the Chorus. Sometimes, a children’s chorus helps to tell the story as well.

Most operas also use Supernumeraries or “supers”. These actors do not sing but serve an important purpose on stage. Singers and Supers aren’t the only important participants in an opera. The stage director and the music director or conductor are needed to help the singers with the music and tell them how to move on stage. A costume designer creates and builds the costumes that the singers, dancers and supernumeraries will wear. The set designer creates what the set will look like and the lighting designer helps create the desired mood or effect using special lights. All of the designers work as a team to help to create an opera. Opera is special because it takes so many people to make it work. All of these elements put together make opera a spectacle for your eyes AND ears.

Opera Vocabulary

Baritone:

Bass:

Bravo:

Coloratura Soprano:

Composer:

Duet:

Ensemble:

Lyric Soprano:

Maestro:

Mezzo-Soprano:

Trouser Role:

Opera:

Tenor:

Get the Facts

Answers to common opera questions

Opera Fact:

During a main stage opera production, there can be as many as 200 people working on stage. This includes the singers, chorus and stage crew.

Get your questions answered!

You will have time to ask the Ensemble questions after their presentation. Before the show jot down some things you might want to ask them

Opera Fact:

Opera originated in Florence, Italy in the late 1500s. Its roots come from the Greek Theater. Dafne by Jacopo Peri is considered to be the earliest known opera, but Monteverdi’s Orfeo is the earliest opera still being performed.

Opera Fact:

According to OPERA America, the most popular operas performed in America during the 2007 season were: La bohème (Puccini), Tosca (Puccini), La traviata (Verdi), The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart), Carmen (Bizet), Don Giovanni (Mozart), Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Aida (Verdi) and Turandot (Puccini).

About the San Diego Opera Ensemble

San Diego Opera Ensemble embarks on its 21st year of touring around San Diego County. The six Ensemble artists, accompanied by their Music Director, perform for every kind of audience, from children in kindergarten to college students and senior citizens. Approximately three-fourths of the performance schedule is performed in schools.  San Diego Opera brings the Ensemble to the attention of groups for which the arts are not always easily accessible, such as members of community centers in underprivileged areas of San Diego County. This exciting group of artists bring live performances to more than 30,000 thrilled students and adults each season.

Auditions are held in San Diego every spring. These artists come to San Diego Opera with significant professional credits, such as the Tanglewood and Aspen Festivals, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera and Long Beach Opera, among many other companies. Many artists who participate in the Ensemble perform roles in San Diego Opera’s International Season. Some go on to contracts with other major companies such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

The 2008-2009 Ensemble’s touring repertoire includes:

Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin is based on the well-known fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. A poor Miller tells a fateful lie to the king: his daughter can spin straw into gold! When Nell discovers what her father has done, she turns to the bad-tempered magical creature Rumpelstiltskin to do her spinning for her. But in doing so he exacts a terrible demand: her first-born child. He offers her one means of escape….discover his true identity and he will relent. This opera was created especially for the students of San Diego County by our own Director of Education and the Stage Director of the ensemble.

Cosi fan tutte or The School for Sweethearts

Don Alfonso devises an experiment to see if two sets of lovers will stay faithful to one another even if the boys pretend to leave and return in disguise. He bets the two young men, Ferrando and Guglielmo that their true loves will forget about them as soon as the ladies, Dorabella and Fiordiligi, meet the handsome ‘strangers’. Toss in a crafty servant, Despina, and watch this brilliant comedy unfold with many unexpected results.

Opera Unplugged

Opera Unplugged is an assembly program designed especially for middle and high school audiences. Our Ensemble singers will thrill listeners with displays of vocal talent as they sing arias and ensembles from the great repertoire of operatic masterpieces. Excerpts from such operas as Carmen, Rigoletto, The Daughter of the Regiment, The Magic Flute and Faust will bring students closer to the excitement and brilliance of the dramatic art of opera and introduce them to common operatic terminology.

Opera Unplugged Selections

[click on the title to hear an excerpt!]

“Quando men’ vo”, La bohéme

Giacomo Puccini
Rachel Copeland, Lyric Coloratura Soprano

“Juliet’s Waltz”, Roméo et Juliette

Charles Gounod
Elyse Nakajima, Coloratura Soprano

“Ah mes amis”, La Fille du Regiment

Gaetano Donizetti
Chad Hilligus, Tenor

“Que fais tu, blanche tourterelle”, Roméo et Juliette

Charles Gounod
Crystal Jarrell, Mezzo - Soprano

“Bella siccome angelo”, Don Pasquale

Gaetano Donizetti
Sam Spade, Baritone

“Se vuol ballare”, Marriage of Figaro

W.A. Mozart
Will Earl Spanheimer, Bass - Baritone

“Sento, O Dio”, Così fan tutte

W. A. Mozart
Rachel Copeland, Soprano
Crystal Jarrell, Mezzo - Soprano
Chad Hilligus, Tenor
Sam Spade, Baritone
Will Earl Spanheimer, Bass- Baritone

“Libiamo”, La traviata

Giuseppe Verdi
Ensemble

About the company

Rachel Copeland, Lyric Coloratura Soprano
Oklahoma native Rachel Copeland completed her doctoral coursework at Indiana University, where she studies with Timothy Noble. She received a Bachelor of Music Education in Choral Conducting, as well as her Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance, at Baylor University. Recent engagements include Papagena in The Magic Flute at Indianapolis Opera, Musetta in La Boheme at DuPage Opera and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance at Louisiana Lyric Opera. She has performed with IU Opera Theater as Zdenka in Strauss' Arabella and assisted the Indianapolis Opera Ensemble as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. Rachel has also appeared extensively as a concert soloist, most notably in Mozart’s and Faure’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. She will sing the role of Nell in Rumpelstiltskin and Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte. This is Rachel's first year with the Ensemble.

Elyse Nakajima, Coloratura Soprano
Elyse Nakajima recently relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area from New York City, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Linguistics from Stanford University. She has been a young artist with the Martina Arroyo Foundation and Intermezzo Opera, and has also participated in the Spoleto Vocal Arts Symposium, Oberlin in Italy, Songfest, and Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute.  Roles performed include Marie in La Fille du Regiment with Northwest Opera in Schools, Etc., Feu/Princesse/Rossignol in L'enfant et les sortileges at Intermezzo Opera, Romilda in Serse and Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito with New York Opera Studio, and Pamina in Die Zauberflote and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance at Stanford University.  She will sing the First Guide in Rumpelstiltskin and Despina in Cosi fan tutte. This is Elyse's first year with the Ensemble.

Crystal Jarrell, Mezzo-Soprano
San Antonio, Texas resident Crystal Jarrell holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Abilene Christian University and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Indiana University.  She has sung Stephano in Roméo et Juliette and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Nashville Opera, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors with San Antonio Opera, and Olga in The Merry Widow with Indianapolis Opera. Other roles performed include Olga in Eugene Onegin, Emily in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Mary Stone in Moore's The Devil and Daniel Webster, and Zita in Gianni Schicchi.  She is an alumna of the young artist programs of Nashville Opera, Utah Festival Opera, and Indianapolis Opera.  She was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition regional finalist in the Western Region in 2007. This season she will make her San Diego Opera mainstage debut as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto. She will sing the role of the Second Guide in Rumpelstiltskin and Dorabella in Così fan tutte. This is her second year with the Ensemble.

Chad Hilligus, Tenor
Kansas native Chad Hilligus holds a Bachelor of Music from Olivet Nazarene University and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Utah. He has performed as a resident artist with Tulsa Opera (Faust), Sarasota Opera (Halka, Madame Butterfly, Attila), Ash Lawn Opera (La Bohème, Merry Widow) and, most recently, Nashville Opera, where he made his company debut as Ruiz in Il Trovatore.  Other roles include Remendado in Carmen (Mendocino Opera), Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi (Chelsea Opera) and Rudolph in William Tell (American West Symphony).  On the musical theatre stage, Chad has performed leading roles in West Side Story, Bye, Bye Birdie, Scrooge, Oklahoma!, State Fair, Godspell, Sound of Music and most recently in Show Boat at the Gateway Playhouse.  He will sing the title role in Rumpelstiltskin and Ferrando in Così fan tutte. This is his first year with the San Diego Opera Ensemble.
Sam Spade, Baritone
Omaha resident Sam Spade holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance, both from Indiana University. He has been a Young Artist at Indianapolis Opera, the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program at Central City Opera and Le Festival Lyrique de Belle Ile en Mer in France.  Roles sung include the creation of the part of Mr. Webb in Our Town by Ned Rorem at Indiana University, Morales in Carmen at Indianapolis Opera, Barney in The Ballad of Baby Doe at Opera Illinois and Marullo in Rigoletto at Festival Lyrique.  This season, Sam will make his mainstage debut at San Diego Opera in the role of the Jailer in Tosca. He will be singing the role of The Miller in Rumpelstiltskin and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.  This is Sam’s second year with the San Diego Opera Ensemble.

Will Earl Spanheimer, Bass-Baritone
Currently a resident of Miami, Florida, Will Earl Spanheimer received a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance from Grand Canyon University, Masters’ Degrees in Church Music and Music, respectively, from Baylor University and Arizona State University, and an Artist Diploma in Vocal Performance from the University of Miami.  He has sung Danilo in The Merry Widow at the University of Miami, Ashby in La Fanciulla del West at the St. Barths Music Festival, and David in L’amico Fritz at the Opera Theatre Festival of Lucca, Italy, and Escamillo in Carmen at the ASU Lyric Opera Theatre, where he also originated the role of Alvin in American Gothic. He has performed in oratorio work as the bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah and Orff’s Carmina Burana. He is also a past First Place Division Winner at the Arizona regional National Association of Teachers of Singing competition. Will Earl will sing the roles of The King in Rumpelstiltskin and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. This is Will Earl’s first year with the San Diego Opera Ensemble.

Tina Chang, Music Director
An avid chamber musician, Vancouver pianist Tina Chang has appeared in many recitals, most recently as a guest pianist on the St. Cecilia Chamber Recital Series in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was on faculty at Dalhousie University these past two years where she coached students of various disciplines and taught 2nd year Keyboard Skills. Tina has served as staff pianist at the Summer Vocal Academy for the Victoria Conservatory of Music, as well as the Interlochen Center for the Arts during their summer session, where she coached various operetta scenes, was rehearsal pianist for multiple choirs and ensemble pianist with the Interlochen Philharmonic. She was invited back to the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara this summer after being named the Julia Stearns Dockweiler Fellow at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara in 2007 and 2008.

Currently the Music Director of the San Diego Opera Ensemble, she coaches and performs with young professional singers around San Diego County. Born in Taiwan, Tina immigrated to Vancouver, Canada with her family when she was nine. There, she completed her undergraduate degree in music at the University of British Columbia. From there, she went on to complete her Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano at the University of Minnesota. Her principal teachers include Timothy Lovelace, Kenneth Broadway and Alice Enns.

Brian Pedersen, Education Tour Manager
Brian Pedersen is a graduate of the University at Albany with a degree in Theatre.  While at the University at Albany he studied acting, directing, stage management, and technician practices.  His credits include: Production Manager/Stage Manager for Lorna Luft’s Songs my Mother Taught Me; Stage Manager for Lyric Opera San Diego’s Iolanthe, and ion Theatre Company’s The Glass Menagerie. His eventual goal is to portray all his since-and-soon-to-be-learned knowledge to the children of tomorrow as a professor of theatre.  Since his employment with the San Diego Opera Education and Outreach Program he has learned a vast amount about opera, and how opera can affect and change lives of virtually anyone.

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