UTC Music Department presents “An Evening of One-Acts”,
featuring the UTC Opera Theater, Perry Ward, Director
Friday and Saturday, November 2 - 3, 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Roland Hayes Concert Hall, UTC Fine Arts Center
Ticket Required: General Admission $10.00, Students/Senior Citizens $7.00
Contact Box-Office at (423) 425-4269
Press Release Date: October 2, 2012
The UTC Music Department is pleased to present “An Evening of One-Acts”, directed by Perry Ward. The performance will include Giovanni Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona, Mozart’s The Impresario and Ned Rorem’s Fables, and will take place in the UTC Fine Arts Center, Roland Hayes Concert Hall, 752 Vine St., Chattanooga, on November 2 & 3 at 7:30 p.m. A ticket will be required to attend these performances. Please contact the box-office at the Fine Arts Center at (423) 425-4269.
The Perfect Wife by American composer Seymour Barab is an adaptation of La Serva Padrona by Giovanni Pergolesi. Pergolesi’s work was originally an intermezzo intended for a 3 act opera seria. It is the quintessential intermezzo – a short, comic scene intended to be performed in between the acts of a larger, serious opera, with characters that are relatable to any audience, namely the cunning maid and her aging master. This performance features Brittany Fong and Jason Ryan O'Neal, with Connor Behrmann in the mute role of Vespone.
Mozart's The Impresario was the result of a contest sponsored by Emperor Franz Josef II between Mozart and Salieri, in which each composer was to write a short one-act work with five or fewer characters in his native language to be presented side by side in a “contest” performance. The winner would be chosen by the audience. Interestingly, during Mozart's lifetime, Salieri's work Prima la musica, poi le parole (First the music, then the words) beat out The Impresario. Performing this updated translation by Dorie Previn are; Will Stetar, Taylor Anne Goode, C J Coffey, Kala Cisson and Leigh Wattenbarger.
Ned Rorem's Fables is a very interesting piece that is actually made up of five short operas which are based on a translation of Fontaine's Fables which were in turn poetic renderings of Aesop's Fables. It was originally commissioned and performed by the Music Department at UT Martin in 1971 and meant to be very adaptable to a variety of performing forces, from a minimum of 4 to as many as desired. There are no vocally specific roles and this performers plan on using a more non-representational approach to each scene. The cast features Will Stetar, Connor Behrmann, Taylor Anne Goode and Sarah Chapman.
Perry Ward has enjoyed a diverse musical career as a singer, teacher, director and conductor. During a career that has spanned more than thirty years; he has performed with many major regional opera companies in the United States. For the past ten years, Perry has devoted his time to teaching voice and stagecraft for singers. He is a native of East Tennessee and holds degrees in voice and opera and, is a summa cum laude graduate of the Franz Schubert Institut in Baden bei Wien, Austria. His has several awards and achievements including a Puccini Foundation Grant, a William Matheus Sullivan Role Preparation Grant, and a Shoshana Foundation Award.
If you have a disability requiring accommodations or require further information regarding this or any other UTC Music Dept. performance, please call the Music office at 423-425-4601.
