The USM School of Music presents "The Coronation of Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea)"


  • May 09, 2016

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The USM School of Music presents students from the Opera Workshop performing a full-length production of Monteverdi's baroque opera, "The Coronation of Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea)", on Saturday, April 30 at 2:00 p.m. at Corthell Concert Hall on USM's Gorham Campus. The opera follows tradition at the time, and includes two countertenors (one of whom plays a woman) and a soprano (who plays a man), among the colorful characters portrayed.Tickets are available online at http://usm.maine.edu/music/boxoffice or by phone at (207) 780-5555, or at the door, if available. Tickets are $8 for adults, and $5 for students, seniors, USM employees and alumni. Advance purchase is recommended.
 
"The Coronation of Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea)", by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello will be performed in English, and is directed by Ellen Chickering. Based loosely on actual events in first century AD Rome, "The Coronation of Poppea," was Monteverdi's final opera (1643). It charts the consuming obsession of the Emperor Nero for the beautiful Poppea Sabina. Ruthlessly sweeping away anyone who stood in the way of their union -- including Nero's wife Ottavia and the poet/philosopher Seneca -- Nero and Poppea triumph over all their opponents and rejoice in one of the most beautiful love duets ever written.What makes this opera unique for today is its gender-bending story and USM's extraordinary voices, said Ellen Chickering, an associate professor of voice at USM. "I picked the 'The Coronation of Poppea' because USM is fortunate enough to have two countertenors," she said. "These are men who sing in the alto range." The two men are James Brown and Christopher Gerrepy. Also featured are Rhiannon Vonder Haar, as Nero, and Cathryn Matthews as Poppea. "This innuendo about gender bending and gender differences was very attractive in early music, even in Mozart's time," Chickering said. "The audience loved this kind of intrigue and innuendo. I thought this would be a good learning experience for all of the students and me to learn about early opera and how to produce it." James Brown, who is playing a woman, described the 17th century tradition of having castrati perform, definitely not anything people today would be willing to do, therefore, some of the male roles are played by sopranos or more typically, mezzo sopranos in so-called "pants roles." For both Brown and Gerrapy, the discovery of their unusually high singing voices followed years of exploration. Neither sang as well as baritones or tenors. "I had to make this choice of, 'Do I try to make this tenor thing and not sound OK?' or 'Do I choose to be a countertenor and be the voice I should have been in the first place?" Brown said. Gerrapy had a similar choice. "It started taking voice lessons at about 19, and I decided to go with countertenor," Gerrapy said. "I couldn't sing baritone so that's the way it went."
 
Those needing special accommodations to participate fully in these programs, contact Lori Arsenault, (207) 780-5142, larsenault@usm.maine.edu. Hearing impaired: call USM's telex / TDD number (207) 780-5646.
 

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USM School of Music

103 Corthell Hall
37 College Ave
Gorham  ME  04038 
ude.eniam@airol
www.usm.maine.edu/music