One inescapable headache associated with the J-Term Opera Workshop at Carthage is that the work of preparing the opera (or operas) occurs during J-Term – but the actual performances do not occur until the first weekend of second semester. That means that between the last day of class (typically the last Thursday in January) and the first day of classes for the next semester (typically the first Tuesday in February) is a break during which most of the students head home to relax, recharge – and (I always fear) forget everything they worked so hard to prepare and memorize. Somehow I have in my mind this picture of a given student camped out on their sofa, playing video games, and with every punch of the joystick (or whatever it is with which you play video games) expelling out of their mind one more line of text, one more phrase of music ….day after day ….. until the last day of break, by which time the score has been all but erased from their memory – meaning that the first three days of the spring term end up being a frantic dash to re-teach the entire score in the hopes that even a halfway respectable performance will be possible. And I don’t just picture this scenario with one or two of the more undisciplined students; I imagine each and every student, including my ‘heavy hitters,’ spending their break this way …. forgetting everything we worked so hard to achieve, almost as though the lid atop their brains were opened up and all of the hard earned memorization just floating away into the ether. And even after imploring them at our last January rehearsal to revisit their scores from time to time over break- and even after seeing their solemn, earnest head nodding- I still envision them spending their break without giving the opera even a momentary thought.
I am such an idiot.
Year after year after stinking year, I am always proved wrong. Without fail, the students come back with the opera fully intact – and perhaps even more solidly in place than when we had our last rehearsal five days before. I’m not so naive as to think that they are all studiously reviewing their scores day after day- but I can tell that at least most of them are doing something over break to help them retain the score – or at least have given it an occasional thought. All I know is, one way or another they always manage to come back and pleasantly surprise me. Year after year after year.
But this year …. they came back and thrilled me. I really could not get over how incredibly well they sang at last night’s pickup rehearsal. What I envisioned as a crucial opportunity to pound the score back into their heads and to fix all of the mental memorization potholes that had opened up was instead a remarkably breezy, comfortable, confident run through. Both the women in “Suor Angelica” (who are singing the opera in Italian, by the way!) and the guys of “Black September” sang last night as though no break had occurred at all. If anything, these were two of the most solid performances that we’ve had yet. It shows me that these are smart young people- and perhaps even more, it shows me just how much they care. And no director or composer or librettist or teacher could ask for anything more than that. I am so thrilled that these young people are this devoted. Of course, the time we have demanded from them is actually relatively modest compared to other theatrical projects around here. (There is another production opening the weekend after ours which has its cast rehearsing night after night after night.) But what it has meant is that the fairly modest amount of time that we have made on them has left more of the ultimate responsibility on their shoulders. And they have taken that responsibility to heart and done astounding things.
And by the way, last night’s rehearsal of “Black September” faced an unexpected complication when we had to vacate Siebert Chapel for another group who had reserved the space fair and square. The guys didn’t question it, but moved efficiently and uncomplainingly into the small Ehrler Chapel where we finished our sing-thru. And actually, I was glad for the move because it was easier for me to hear every detail of their singing- and also a little easier for me to just bask in the glorious sounds that these guys make when they unleash the most thundering climaxes of the score.
So for all of the nervousness I am feeling about this coming weekend, NONE of it has anything to do with the preparedness of our students. They have done their part and more- and I could not be more excited about the performances they are going to deliver. Now it is about polishing the frame within which their performances will be presented, which has Matt Boresi and me running around frantically, taking care of various technical matters. (A student assistant director has rather mysteriously vanished, leaving the two of us to take care of matters that ideally would have been addressed by this MIA student.) But the singers are ready and eager …. and doing amazing things. Matt and I could not be more pleased by what their energy and devotion has made possible.
Puccini’s “Suor Angelica” and Berg/Boresi’s “Black September” are performed this weekend: Friday night, February 5th – and Saturday night, February 6th – 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.