Student-written operas play at Union Station

By: Teresa Sheffield

Posted: 4/28/08

In the opera world where Puccini, Wagner and Mozart are Gods, it's oftentimes difficult for new composers to break into the scene and have their work performed.

April 17-20 in Union Station, UMKC broke the mold by dedicating four of its five spring operas to student-written works.

"I just thought it would be nice because these composition majors, they never get their works performed ever," said Marciem Bazell, assistant professor and director of opera at UMKC. "[S]o I thought it would be a good way for us, the students and the directors to accommodate the students of the composition department."

The student-written works were "Tonatzin," "The Calling," "The Three Bears" and "The Emperor's Madness." The students also performed the more-than-300-year-old opera "Dido and Aeneas" by Henry Purcell.

Not only were the operas written by students, they were also directed, produced and performed by them as well.

Bazell said that being able to student-direct gave students an outlet where they could feel safe and experiment, as well as learn about the lesser-known duties of a director.

"Directing is more than just what goes on the stage - it's all the stuff that surrounds it. And it's better to learn it in school than when you get out into the real world," Bazell said.

The directors had to do a lot of things for the first time.

"This is the first time that I have directed in this capacity … so this is a huge, huge learning experience for me," said Julie Wyma, director of "The Three Bears" and "The Emperor's Madness." "I'm loving it, it's been really wonderful. I mean, there's been a lot of hurdles to jump, I've had to learn a lot about lighting design and production aspects. It definitely hasn't been easy, but it's been really rewarding, and working with the singers has been incredible. It's been very good."

Wyma said that when she was casting for her operas, she was looking for students who fit the character parts, but mostly she was looking for people with good voices who haven't had the opportunity to be in many productions.

"Because we do two main-stage operas during the year, in the fall we did "La Boheme" by Puccini, and in the spring we did "Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi" also by Puccini," Wyma said. "Those are mostly cast with graduate students. … We wanted to use as many undergraduate singers as possible, people who either hadn't had a role in these two operas, or who were looking for more experience to build their resume[s]."

The student performers enjoyed working with the other students who took roles traditionally filled by teachers.

"This is particularly fun because getting to work with a lot of students and seeing them at different levels, not just as singers…" said Katie McCreary, who played Baby Bear in "The Three Bears," and Belinda in "Dido and Aeneas." "It was kind of scary at first … but I think it's worked out really well, it's turned out really well, and everyone has done a good job."

tsheffield@unews.com