American One Act Operas coming to CWU this weekend

The CWU Opera Ensemble will present an evening of 21st Century American One Act Operas on April 12-13, and members of the CWU and Ellensburg communities are invited to attend.

The two shows — Saturday, April 12, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 13, at 4 p.m. — will be held in the Hertz Concert Hall in the McIntyre Music Building. Tickets are available on the Wildcat Tickets website. Prices are $15 for general admission and $10 for CWU students, alumni, and senior citizens.

The production will begin with a new work by Nicholas Benz and Robert Feng titled Having Guests for Dinner. The scene is about a young professional couple attending dinner at a mutual friend’s home only to question whether their host, Christoph Aberfield, has sinister intentions. This scene was chosen for a performance during the CWU New Music Festival last fall, and director Dr. Jan Nelson is looking forward to bringing the scene to the stage.

The second opera is a popular 2009 work written by Dan Shore titled The Beautiful Bridegroom by Dan Shore. The opera is based on an 18th century play by Ludvig Holberg that tells the story of a widow who is looking for a young husband — not for her daughters, but for herself. The composer describes the work as a Mozart pastiche made up of lyrical vocal writing for six sopranos.

The third act of the evening will feature Speed Dating Tonight! by Michael Ching. This innovative opera has seen 140 productions since its 2013 premiere, making it one of the most popular operas of the 21st century. Ching describes the opera as a “new numbers opera”: a traditional form of opera based on arias, duets, ensembles, and finales. The episodic and inclusive structure of this material is not gendered or limited to vocal type.

The director, Dr. Gayla Blaisdell, chose from almost 100 options to craft a story that spotlights the unique talents and voices of the CWU Opera cast. The opera starts and ends by setting up an evening of speed dating at a local pub with the bartender, server, bus staff, and dating coordinator. Once the speed dating starts, the audience learns more about each dater and the various sub-plots as each character is revealed in their number.

The CWU Department of Music looks forward to welcoming you for an evening of fun, creative, and relatable operas performed in English by the talented CWU Opera students and collaborative pianists.

If you have questions about the 21st Century American One Act Operas event, email music@cwu.edu.