Opera Theater

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  Opera at WKU!

 

WKU offers a comprehensive study of opera through Opera Theatre classes and Mainstage co-productions. Further study is offered in private voice lessons for all voice majors and minors and Musical Theatre majors and minors.  Opera Literature is a regularly offered course.

WKU Opera Mainstage

From Dr. R. Wayne Pope, Professor of Music, Musical Director/Conductor:

For the past 5 decades the Department of Music and the Department of Theatre and Dance have collaborated on productions of the finest works in opera and musical theatre.  The productions feature WKU students in fully staged performances, complete with full orchestra, choreography, costumes, lighting, sound, sets and all aspects of professional grade opera and musicals. Works are chosen to feature the strengths of the student body and foster appropriate growth and appreciation for the primarily undergraduate casts.  The annual productions alternate between opera and musicals, offering students the opportunity to gain experience in each genre. 

Graduates of the program have proceeded to major US and international graduate schools and populate many opera and musical theatre stages.  Many current WKU voice students engage in summer Study Away programs and opera programs throughout the US.

 

 

Historic Van Meter Hall is home to Mainstage productions. The recently renovated 1,000-seat auditorium offers state of the art acoustics with a full orchestra pit (which can be raised to stage height) and complete technical and sound capability one would find in any professional hall. Singer/actors are treated to ample offstage and dressing room facilities with a full compliment of video and audio monitors backstage. 

Recent Van Meter productions include:  The Marriage of Figaro (2015); Curtains(2014), Pirates of Penzance (2013), Oklahoma (2012), Beauty and the Beast (2011 Grand Opening of Van Meter Hall) Other productions include: The Devil and Daniel Webster; Bastien and Banstienne, Game of Chance, Trial By Jury, Sweeney Todd, Ragtime, Street Scene, Chicago, The Gondoliers, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, Pippin, and Sweet Charity.

 

WKU Opera Theatre

Opera Theatre is a smaller more intimate learning environment where students develop the skills necessary to sing and act at the same time by strengthening the areas of imagination, spontaneity, awareness, and concentration. Students build on an awareness of how music, text, and stage action combine to form a single expression, exploring the coordination of rhythm, pulse, pitch, harmony, text, emotional impulse, and characterization on stage. Contact Dr. Liza Kelly for more information.

 

Opera Theatre Description       Opera Theatre Performance Options       Opera Theatre Avant-Guarde       Opera Outreach