The Male Chorus turns into Gray Turtleheads

When I arrived at rehearsal Tuesday night I noticed some strange characters wandering around - men in quite attractive helmets! James Hopkins, one of these "creatures" and a fine young tenor at UNCSA, told me he felt like a gray-headed turtle, and that's about what they look like. I must get a photo of this headgear tomorrow night. Jamie told the men right off that they would not be able to hear as well with the helmets on, but they had to just get over it, in fact "Embrace it! You're not the first nor are you the last to have this problem. Whatever happens DO NOT remove your helmets!" I'm sure it's safer to have them on with all those swords flying around. Speaking of which, our fight master Dale Girard is leaving shortly for a stint at the Metropolitan Opera, choreographing the fights for their production of Romeo and Juliet! So we're hanging with the big boys.

Also, Jill Gardner and Mark Walters have taped a segment for WFDD radio's Triad Arts Up Close with David Ford about our production, so listen for them sometime next week, 8:50 a.m. If I find out the exact day I will post it. If you miss it, you can also find the interview on wfdd.org after it has been broadcast. (Jill told me that when she's famous, singing at the Metropolitan and being interviewed at intermission, she will proudly proclaim to the world that she grew up in Winston-Salem, home of the finest regional opera in the US! Can't beat that publicity.)

I need to put in a plug for our fantastic production stage managers, Kathleen Edwards and her assistant Ann Louise Wolf. What a job they have to do, and they do it with such skill, precision and good humor! They make sure all the props are available where we need them, and they cue each entrance on stage, to name just a few of their duties that are obvious. So much more planning, etc. has gone on behind the scenes, so to speak. They each have a complete score of the opera, and have marked places at which entrances should occur and by whom with post-it notes. So they have to know the score backwards and forwards, and know where we are at all times, no small task!  Once we get to the Stevens Center I'm sure their duties will increase with sets moving around and such. Kathleen also sends out an email each day to remind everyone of the next day's assignments as to when and where to be at rehearsal and for how long. They do everything they can to make us all look good and are greatly respected.

Tomorrow night we will reach another milestone - a complete run-through of the opera, although still in rehearsal mode. Up until now, we in the Chorus (notice that I use "we"  to include me now that I sing one line!) have not seen a lot of the action which involves the principals alone. So this will be an exciting evening of great drama! At today's La Lunch, those of us in attendance heard the entire story from Jamie's lips, so we won't need any supertitles to figure out what's going on. Having the libretto (translated) at hand can also help one keep up with the action. Plus we will also have a little audience to play to! A small group of OPERAtors (the Piedmont Opera volunteer association) seized the opportunity to be a sounding board for this effort. A little outside applause will be welcome, hint, hint!

Have a pleasant night and dream of gypsies!
La Zingarella

More Enticing Photos from Rehearsal!

Here are some more of the stars of our production, left to right: Ruiz (Marvin Kehler), Ines (Amanda Moody) and Ferrando (Richard Ollarsaba), fabulous voices all! You are really special when you play a "named" character, all very important to the action.

These lovely ladies are my support group, Kathie Eppert and Sally Wells, both seasoned Chorus members. Steve assigned them to (please) help me out in the critical points of the gypsy and convent scenes, on top of finely-tuned performances of their own! Plus they are fun to hang out with. I am grateful for their guidance.

This is not a great photo, but I wanted to show more of the dedicated chorus, beginning with Hal Garrison on the right (yellow shirt.) Hal has been in every Piedmont Opera production (that has a chorus) since the beginning of the Company, the only person who can claim that distinction! To his left (half hidden) is Gerry Gunzenhauser, and in front Guy Oldaker, both long-time chorus members. To Gerry's left is Martha Abernathy, and in back Judy Crow and Betty Jones (left to right.) They have all been in many choruses and still love every minute (well, maybe not every single minute!) of the process, they say.

And this is Sara Wichers, a first-timer like myself, only she can really sing! Sara told me that she grew up in Winston-Salem, went away to school at Furman, where she majored in Spanish. She married and lived in various places before returning to Winston-Salem a few years ago with her husband and young son. She got interested in singing her last year in college and began taking voice lessons, which she continues to pursue. She auditioned for Piedmont Opera in the spring and was delighted to find out she had won a spot in the Chorus! And this really is her first opera ever, but you'd never know it from the way she fits right in. She said that her Spanish training (she works as an interpreter at various locations in town) has helped greatly in learning to sing in Italian.

Then rehearsal started, and I had to stop taking photos. Soon I will have more to share, I hope.

Look! Photos!

These photos were taken on Sunday, September 12th during the Il Trovatore Preview at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts. To see the principals up close, come to La Lunch tomorrow (noon,9/23, Piedmont Club, call for reservations) or attend the Opera!

Director Steve and Orchestra Nancy



The beautiful Leonora, Jill Gardner



The handsome but treacherous Count di Luna, Mark Walters



The handsome and heroic Manrico, Stephen Mark Brown



Conductor Jamie with chorus and the beautiful but wild Azucena, Shannon Magee (seated)



We're gonna rehearse this until we get it right!!

The weekend was what you might call a marathon of rehearsals, and I'm just talking about the ones I am a part of, but I'm not complaining one bit! Let me give you an idea of the rehearsal schedule, which began on Wednesday, September 8th. The principals have been at it daily since then for approximately six hours a day, with only the 16th, the 23rd and the 30th off, plus (abnormally I believe) the 27th in honor of Renee Fleming's appearance with the Winston-Salem Symphony, which is eagerly anticipated! The female chorus members and I are asked to work basically three hours on each Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, except that yesterday (Sunday) we were there about six hours. The male chorus has more time on stage so they have rehearsed a few more hours than we have. On Saturday the 25th we will move into the Stevens Center, and the working hours start lengthening when sets, costumes, makeup and orchestra enter the picture. Can't wait for that!

The first time the orchestra works with the principals is at what is called a sitzprobe (pronounced "zits probe"), and again thanks to Wikipedia, a definition:
Sitzprobe (German) is a term used in opera and musical theatre to describe a seated rehearsal where the singers sing with the orchestra, focusing attention on integrating the two groups. The equivalent Italian term is prova all'italiana.

After the sitzprobe, which will occur on the afternoon of Sunday the 26th, there are only two (dress) rehearsals with the orchestra! It is always fascinating to me that so little time is needed to put the two pieces together, but all parties come to the table knowing what they're doing. In the meantime, I can't say enough about the talented Nancy Johnston, who is flawlessly portraying the orchestra until the rest of the instrumentalists show up! Angela Ward is also a masterful accompanist who works with the principals, and on occasion with the full cast.

So the two dress rehearsals are on the 28th and the 29th, with the latter designated as Student Night, an opportunity for students in grades 6 through 12 to witness live opera at a greatly reduced price. See the Piedmont Opera website at http://www.piedmontopera.org/learn/student_night for details (chaperone(s) required.) That will be our first live audience, let's hope they are kind! Opening night for the rest of the world (don't I wish) is Friday, October 1 at 7:00 p.m.

I just wish I had a video camera with a live feed so everyone could experience the delight of these rehearsals. That is the only way I might be able to capture the pithy remarks of Maestro Jamie and Director Steve, which are always little life lessons unto themselves. Sometimes they are hysterically funny, other times bitingly critical (never mean-spirited), but always they are focused on drawing the best out of each performer. We are SO lucky to have these two working for the cause of great opera, both at Piedmont Opera and UNCSA!

Last evening our Azucena (Shannon Magee) was not feeling well, and had to leave rehearsal. During a scene in which she plays a prominent role, Jamie was singing her part and the rest of the cast pretending she was there. But her dramatic presence was sorely missed, so all of a sudden Steve jumped into the fray and took her place with great flair! We all watched with mouths open, and erupted in applause and bravo!s when the scene came to an end. Steve (sweat dripping and shirttail out) said, "I've only got one of those performances in me and I've used it up tonight!" What a treat to be a witness.

Another highlight for me occurred when Jamie gave me permission to actually sing a line with the chorus (and everybody else on stage at the time!) Of course I'll have to try that out quietly, since it is Italian after all! The line is "Mesta e la tua canzon", hope I spelled that correctly, which I think means "How tragic", sung in response to Azucena relating her sad story around the gypsy firepit. Watch for it!

One more item, I am now officially a monk! To the strains of Miserere being sung by altos and male chorus, I carry a cross onto the stage, followed by three devout monks (truth be told, they are all lovely sopranos) who kneel in front of the cross when I stop for them to pray briefly, then we all leave in procession. A while later we walk back across the stage, signifying an important event has just occurred. (To find out what, see the opera!) With our lovely brown robes you won't be able to recognize any of us, however.

But I'm still devoted to Azucena (when I'm not with Leonora, since they are both lovely people.) The gypsy costume absolutely rocks and I can't wait to get back in it!
La Zingarella

Gentlemen, Draw Your Swords!

Last night's rehearsal was a real treat! After a quick run-through of the convent scene that we had worked on Tuesday night, Steve introduced the guest artist for the evening, Dale Girard, well-known combat instructor from UNCSA and beyond, ready to orchestrate the fight scenes. For more info on Dale, follow this link: http://www.uncsa.edu/drama/faculty8.htm.

While the early stages of fight training were going on, Jamie took the chorus downstairs to work on their music. Since I don't sing, I was able to stay upstairs and watch the process, while being sweetly serenaded by the music wafting up from below. How great is that!

Dale was fascinating to watch as he choreographed the swordplay in Act II. The principals Manrico and Count di Luna (Stephen Mark Brown and Mark Walters) caught on quickly to their routine. I believe they've done a good bit of such fighting before! Dale next worked with Ruiz and Ferrando (Marvin Kehler and Richard Ollarsaba), who also were quickly adept. Then it was the male chorus members' turns, and they also did well. Thank goodness...we nuns are onstage directly behind all this action and flying swords, and we don't even have to "act" frightened, because we are! We were all told to shout "Hold" in a very loud voice if we should see something going awry, but let's hope that doesn't happen.

One other frightening moment occurred when we watched Steve LaCosse use a folding chair to climb up onto the windowsill, in order to get a panoramic view of the action. To everyone's great relief, he made it up (and down!) with no missteps. What he will do for Art.

It's about time to leave for the next rehearsal. Who knows what is in store for today!
Still head of the convent, waiting to be indoctrinated into the brotherhood of monks,
M. Superior

Things get Dramatic!

The first order of business last night was to celebrate our dear director Steve's 50th birthday! Brandon Whitesell, a recent UNCSA voice grad, worked his magic in the kitchen, and produced not one, but three spectacular chocolate/banana cakes! If you ever need a dessert that will dazzle your guests, Brandon is the man to call, unless he leaves us to go sing opera somewhere (mixed feelings on that possibility.)

Then we got down to some serious action in rehearsal. The scene involved Leonora (Jill Gardner, who will knock your socks off when you hear her sing), who thinks her true love Manrico is dead, is planning to enter a convent to avoid giving herself to the evil Count di Luna. Manrico and the Count are portrayed by Stephen Mark Brown and Mark Walters respectively, both with beautiful and powerful voices.

So here I am, Mother Superior, getting ready to accept Leonora into the nunnery, when all h*%# breaks loose, if you get my point. The Count jumps out of hiding to claim her before it's too late, then Manrico appears to further complicate things. Soldiers fight, nuns swoon, a lot of fabulous singing occurs, and you have to come to a performance to see how that all works out!

Steve warned all of us to be aware of the power of  the swords, that even though they are "fake" they could put a hurting on someone if we're not careful. Jill immediately said, "No kidding, I've seen someone get killed that way!" Everyone gasped in horror, then she laughed and said she made that up, to our great relief and delight. She is a hoot, keeps things quite lively. I love my scene with her, the true Diva in this narrative, in the best sense of the word.

But I really don't approve of Leonora running away from her commitment to the convent, just to be with that handsome Manrico! She may have to pay the price...

Blessings to all, especially to those who come to the opera,
Mother Superior

La zingarella gets her costume!!

I had my costume(s) fitting today and absolutely LOVE the gypsy duds! I don't look so poor as I thought I might, as it's a beautiful outfit, though a little heavy. There is a dress with a long, multi-layered skirt, a vest, an interesting scarf-belt and a colorful shawl. I'd like to keep this one. But then there's a hat, which I haven't seen yet, and I'm not a big hat person. Cathy Grillo, the costume guru, assures me the hats are delightful for all the gypsy band. These costumes, by the way, were rented from Malabar Limited, a theatrical and opera costume shop in Toronto.

The next outfit I tried on was for Mother Superior...it's a tad austere but lovely in its way. The wimple is another story, a hair-smashing number but it does give me an air of authority, I think. A cross will added to the ensemble later. Cathy put this outfit together just for me, since my M.S. is a made-up addition to the opera, thanks to Steve. I'm afraid tonight's rehearsal involves this aspect of my personality. So much for the care-free lady wineskin bearer, gotta get serious!

Lastly the monk's garb emerged, in which I will be almost totally obscured, which is probably not such a bad thing (my hairdo will be toast by then.) It is a dark brown swallow-me-up robe, with an equally swallowing hood on top. Anonymity rules!

Until rehearsal tonight, I'm still thinking of myself as...
La zingarella!!