A student-run opera performance company has returned to OCU.
OPERAtions is a student opera company that was reintroduced this semester for the first time since 2015.
The company is run by artistic directors Chelsea Mondesir and Solveig Neseth, opera performance graduates. Hallie Schmidt, vocal performance junior, works alongside the two as production manager.
“This will be my last semester with OPERAtions,” Mondesir said. “We wanted Hallie Schmidt to be on the team so that when Solveig and I leave, we have someone else to keep it going.”
Mondesir said the former OPERAtions ended in 2015 because no one stepped up to run it.
“I’m sure that we’ll have some people that we’ve cast this semester that will start helping with the management side of things for next semester,” Mondesir said. “We’ve brought it back, and we want to make sure that it doesn’t fall off the grid again.”
Neseth and Mondesir said they had the idea to restart OPERAtions independently of each other. They decided to work together after separately pitching the idea to Dr. David Herendeen, director of opera and musical theater.
“We both made another meeting with Dr. Herendeen together, which I think really worked out better anyway because it ended up being a lot of work for just one person,” Mondesir said.
Herendeen approved the project.
“The first auditions were really great,” Neseth said. “We had a lot of interest. Way more than we thought. Three times the applications we were expecting.”
For their auditions, Neseth, Mondesir and Schmidt sat in on the opera auditions for the Wanda L. Bass School of Music and allowed students the option of auditioning for OPERAtions as well.
“Out of 150 people who auditioned, we had just over 100 people interested in us,” Neseth said.
Anyone who auditions for the opera can audition for OPERAtions.
OPERAtions’s first production will be an about 10-minute opera called A Hand of Bridge by Samuel Barber. Rehearsals started Sept. 6. The cast is four people.
“It’s the shortest one-act that is frequently performed,” Neseth said. “We didn’t have to cut it down at all. We’re doing the whole thing.”
They also will perform some scenes from the opera separately.
“In pre-show, there are 20 other kids, so they will be doing ensembles and famous numbers of the opera genre,” Mondesir said. “Crowd pleasers. The greatest hits.”
Both performances are taking place alongside OCU Stripped’s production of The Spitfire Grill. Stripped is a student-run musical theater troupe.
“We’re going to have the short, one-act opera in the intermission of Stripped, and then we’re going to do opera scenes before Stripped starts,” Mondesir said.
Mondesir said the scenes will start about 30 minutes before the Stripped production and take place in the Hall of Queens in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center. The one-act opera will be performed in the hallway by Petree Recital Hall.
“They’re doing a lot of things in the theater school right now, so it was really hard to find a weekend to perform, but Stripped was awesome enough to collaborate with us,” Neseth said.
Mondesir said it will be a bit of a free-for-all for space, so the exact locations of performances in Wanda L. Bass Music Center are not set in stone.
“We’re sort of piggy backing off of Stripped because they have such a big audience,” Mondesir said. “There’s a lot of people that come to Stripped, and they don’t really know about OPERAtions, so we want put that out there so they’re aware of it.”
Mondesir said OPERAtions will have their own time and space next semester.
“We’re really excited for that,” Neseth said. “We’re going to be in the Medium Rehearsal Hall.”
Lyndsey Boyer, music theater graduate, said she is supportive of the group starting up again.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for students to get more opera exposure and experience, and the new leaders,” Boyer said. “Solveig and Chelsea are open to giving new students a chance.”
Mondesir and Neseth said they hope to create a fun, community-based organization that will benefit the student body.
“We thought it was important to have OPERAtions because we have a lot of singers at this school and not enough performance opportunities, so we wanted to give everyone a chance to be cast in something,” Mondesir said.
Schmidt said people who are interested in Stripped also will be interested in the group.
“Opera is for everyone,” Schmidt said. “We have amazing singers and amazing music, so if you’re excited about Stripped, you’ll be excited about OPERAtions.”
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