On
the night of November 11th, our group Liang, Martell, Michael, White, and Allison attended the opera gala, "A Celebration of Opera" at the Voxman Music
Building. Why we chose this event, was because
it was culturally relevant with the singing the opera contained. Singing, a
song, a melody, is now known as a kind of language the whole world can
understand, and we thought that this could be considered as a culture. Our
members shared each of their experience at the opera in the paragraphs below.
< Liang >
Music can bring
people a feeling of comfort. Last Friday night, I went to the university
concert place. Because there was an opera conducted by students and some of the
musicians who comes from outside. At first, I had a hard time finding the
building. If I had forgot my Google maps, I wouldn’t have get
there on time.
I
was a person used to be outgoing, also means I am kind of noisy sometimes. But
at the time I step in the music hall, I became quiet. The place was filled by
people, but still remain silent. I found some of my classmate also set in the
hall as group, so I went to sit next to them. Right after the brief introduce
of singer and pianist by the host. The musical show began with a short graceful
piece of piano movement.
The
first show is “libiamo ne' lieti calici”, a part of the famous opera “La dame
aux camélias” an opera which described the great and lowliness love of a social
beauty,”the lady of the camellias”. Her love was pure, her life was miserable,
but at that part of “libiamo ne' lieti calici” shows a happy atmosphere with
dozens of young and pretty dressed men and women. They drink wine, they talk
about everything they want to. Those actors and actress reappear that moment by
using their acting and brilliant singing skills. At the end of the first show,
actors gain a lots of applauds which they should gain.
About
the second show. “de miei bollenti spiriti” is also a part of “the lady of the
camellias”. It shows a man and a woman is arguing about somethings. Seems they
finally get a comprehension after that argument. After seeing this, I am
confused about the story itself. The show was so impressive that I cannot even
wait to figure out after the whole opera. Done reading some kind of source in
the internet. I finally get the whole story. It is about the man love that
social beauty and convince her to move out of Paris, far away from the noisy
and fancy atmosphere. To live with him down the countryside.
After these
two, I have nearly no knowledge about this language. I just watching the actors
and listen to them sing those portrayal words. I cannot say I am completely
follow the whole opera, but I am still trying to get the point of every
movement, every words and expressions. Although I cannot understand French, I can
still catch up with the whole story. The tragedy of that girl who loved the right
person in wrong time. This happiness of her will bring so much sadness in the
end. The “libiamo ne' lieti calici” story end in the 3rd one.
After the act one. I had some
privacy staff to do so I left the opera concert. That makes me curious about
what goes on then. Operas is a kind of traditional art. As an international
student, I do think I need more knowledge of those stuff.
< Martell >
Oh the opera! A highly esteemed event among the
wealthy, and a tooth pulling experience among the youth. My group members and I
attended the Opera Gala at the brand new Voxman music building. Considering the
fact that I’d never been to one, the only knowledge I had about operas came
from TV. You know the old clichés; old stuffy white people, gussied up in old
suits and dresses, with their fancy binoculars and long cigarettes. However,
upon entering the auditorium I was shocked by a room with an extremely diverse
demographic. Everyone was in attendance from Asian children as young as 5 to
the oldest Latino couple sitting in the balcony. The show began with a man
explaining the plot of the show which was about a man who asked a woman to
marry him, and for some reason the engagement was called off, my memory is a
little foggy.
This particular opera was performed in what I
recognized to be Italian, so I had no idea what was being said. Operas aren’t my
cup of tea, but as an artist myself I have to say that the performance was
visually and acoustically stunning. The auditorium gave off a very clean sound,
as the presenter announced the pianist for the night, she walked across the
stage, and in the farthest back row I could hear each foot as it landed on the
hardwood floor of the stage. However, the steps were clean and lacked the dirty
echo that you’d hear in a gymnasium. Visually I have only one word to describe
the show; Graceful. The dancers moved so elegantly across the stage in a tango
with the rhythm of the singer’s voice. Even as the singer’s voice reached
violent tones the visual aspect kept the audience from feeling too anxious.
Operas aren’t my thing but I would highly recommend them to someone who’s a fan
of the romantic languages, or classical music.
< Michael >
Last
Friday, I went to watch an opera in the music building, it is called “A
Celebration of Opera”, actually it does have lots of operas, and contain
different kinds of operas, but I have to say I cannot understand any word of
them.
Although
I could not understand the meaning of their dialogue as they were speaking
Italian, I can still get lot of information from the atmosphere and some
background information of their performance. The most attracting one of the
show is the one named Habanera. I was so impressive to it because I think I
could feel the enthusiasm and the energy of the actress. Although I cannot
understand what was she talking about, I think it talks about something that
she is chasing, as I can feel the passion of the actress from her voice and
expression. I guess it is talking about love because there were lots of men
went to her at the beginning of the opera. And as the performance continue, the
tune of the song is getting higher, and those man was forced to leave maybe,
and I could feel the passion of the actress from here, so I guess it is a story
of love.
After
I went home, I went to search for some information of this opera, and now I
know it is an opera from the opera Carmen, which is one of the most famous
operas in the world. It was written in the 19th century, and
Habanera is part of the first scene of this opera. I briefly read the first
scene of this opera, it talks about the how the Carmen sing with others, and a
soldier fall in love with her. It has some difference with what I thought
before, but it is an opera about love. And now I think it is very interesting
after I have read the story which I can understand. I have read several operas
before, such as Romeo and Juliet. But this is my first time to watch a live
opera. I may not go to see another one again as I really cannot understand
Italian, but I can still enjoy the melody of the music. So this may not be a
perfect experience of enjoying a show but I can still learn something, and I
may read the whole story of Carmen if I have time later.
< White >
Last Friday, I went to listen to a concert which located at the Voxman Music Building. The concert show was to start at
about 8 pm. My partner and I arrived there half an hour earlier, and there were so many people
who showed up to watch the opera, including many old people who took about sixty to seventy percent of all the audience.
Actually, it is the first time I went
to concert show. In my hometown the concert is not very popular and I rarely
heard about it. There is a man who named Bill Theisen, he stand in front of the
stage-- he is tall and acted very gentle, for the beginning of the show, he
gives a small speech and thanked for the all people come and the supporters who
donated money to the music college in UIowa for its development. Then a lady
name Minji Kwon come to the stage and sat in front of the piano, she has an
amazing skill of playing piano. There are so many actors in the first program
of the show include the most actors during the whole show but the main singers
are one men name Ensemble and one women named Aurora DePaul who all has a clear
voice and exquisite action skill. Men are all dress suit and women are all
dress maxi skit, it looks very formal and comfortable.
Actually, at the first my feeling is pretty amazing and a
little bit shocked, the stage is big and people are dazzling, they focus on
their show and the songs are very beautiful and pleasant to hear. It is a
really amazing experience for me and thanks for the wonderful show which
present by the excellent actors, I highly appreciate coming here to enjoy the
show and looking forward to come again.
< Allison >
On
the day of the opera gala, I was looking forward to seeing it and was filled
with excitement. It was my first time to attend an opera in person, especially
for a school project and with my team members. My memories of an opera were
always from the screen, from the famous ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, to short
clips of operas I did not know. Every time I watched it, it would be a mystery
to me of how those people could sing so beautifully for such a long period.
However, it always stopped at being a mystery, and ventured no more. But thanks
to this opportunity, I had gotten the chance to see up close on those who sang
in an opera and observe them.
Due
to my long nap I had thankfully just missed only the first performance, so when
I tried to enter the concert hall in the Voxman Music Building I was led to the
balcony’s back seats on the third floor. The view was enough to see the singer’s
face, their expressions, and actions, as the concert hall was still small
compared to huge ones where you could only see a silhouette of the singers.
There were 12 performances in total, and in each of them there would be
different people singing. In some there were only one man or a woman, some had
a duet, and few had almost over 10 women and men singing altogether. This, in
my opinion, gave great influence to the story which was inside of the lyrics
they were singing. Another thing I noticed was of their actions and face
expressions. I had always thought that in the opera people would mostly stand
still while singing, maybe walk a few paces but nothing more. But in this one,
there were far more than I thought. A couple would sing happily while dancing
with each other and look at each other so lovingly, a man would show the rage
he had contained for such a long time through his face and actions, or you
could see the saddest expression on the face of a woman as she sang and drooped
down on the floor. Even though I did not know Italian, their expressions and
actions were enough for me to understand.
There
was a performance which had caught my eye while watching the opera. It was
called “Klinget
Glöckchen (Aria of Papageno)…Pa-pa-pa”, with the music ‘Die
Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)’ by Mozart. This was the performance with the
happy couple, and their names were Papageno and Papagena. I had no idea what
they were saying, but as they sang they looked so happy together, as if the
whole world was in their hands just by being at each other’s side. After the
opera, I looked up about this one and found out that they were indeed happy. The
surprising thing was that when looking at the whole opera, they were not the
main characters of it. Papageno was helping the Tamina to find his love,
Pamina, and on the way he meets with his love, Papagena. However, an obstacle
comes along, with Papageno not being able to see Papagena because he is not
worthy of her. When he tried to commit suicide because of this, three
child-spirits appear and tell him to ring his magic bells. There Papagena was
summoned, and together they sing a song of their bright future together with
many children they were to have. This is the song that was sang at the opera.
This experience of watching the opera was really new and great for me. It
let me observe the performances much closer, something I would not have dreamed
of if at a bigger opera. It showed me the details and delicacy of an opera, and
also that singing can really break glass cups. Even now I am considering to see
more of these in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment