Opera is not only for the big cities and grand opera houses of the past.
This weekend, the University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton School of Music presented two Puccini one-acts Friday and Sunday in the Administration Auditorium. Both of the operas were performed in English, rather than the traditional Italian.
“We try to choose pieces that are fairly standard pieces in the repertoire, so that the, so the students get that experience with performing large masterpieces,” Opera Workshop Director Christopher Pfund said during the dress rehearsal Thursday. “A lot of people think of opera as some antiquated movies 19th century stodgy thing, and it’s really not,” Pfund said.
A class, taught by Pfund, is offered specifi- cally to produce the operas, and many of the performers are part of the class. Volunteers also help make the production successful that the school produces operas every year.
“Being able to experience something like this at the university level is just something that was just, like, a great opportunity for a lot of us,” volunteer bassoon player Jona- thon Madrid said. “We get to actually work with faculty members, who are like doctors in their fields.”
Madrid said the opera ensemble is more collaborative than other groups he has been part of at the university. Pfund said the program worked with the theater, engineer- ing and textile students for this production.
“More than just all the musical aspects and all of the artistic aspects that opera draws together, there’s a certain community kind of aspect to what we do and a connec- tion aspect,” he said. “That’s always been part of the opera world, from its origins in 17th century Italy. The opera house was always a place where people came together.”
Pfund said the opera program at UI is unique in its focus on teaching and in that casting is less competitive. Many of the per- formers are undergraduate students rather than graduate students, he said.
“It’s a known program,” Pfund said. “Certainly it’s very important regionally, we probably do the best opera in the region.”
The production is chosen after the cast, Pfund said, and is tailored to their talents. This is partially why the class performed only two plays from Puccini’s trilogy, ex- cluding Il Tabarro (The Cloak), which requires heavy singers.
Pfund said he originally left New York and his teaching positions three years ago to teach at UI. He also teaches a voice class, and said he gets people from that class in the opera as well.
He said his father taught at a university, but Pfund never thought he would do the same until he grew up.
“You get to a certain point and you want to be involved in music and expand the way in which you’re involved in music,” he said. “I can’t say that anything is more wonderful than getting up and singing opera in front of people, but I think equally as wonderful is really showing people how to do it.”