USD Opera Fundraises for Spring Production
On Feb. 6, audience members visited Cee Cee’s Bar and Grill to see USD’s Opera department perform a variety of songs for their “Death by Chocolate & Aria” Gala.
The event started at 7:30 p.m., featuring a variety of chocolate desserts and alcoholic drinks. There were also multiple auctions, including a proposal to send one of the opera’s leading directors to Brookings, with all proceeds going toward funding the opera department’s spring production.
Among the people was Dr. Tracelyn Gesteland, the Art Director of the Opera department. She mentioned the difference between galas and large productions.
“We have to work on the music, and a little bit of storytelling and things like that, but on a much smaller scale than a fully staged production with an orchestra,” Dr. Gesteland said.
The performers prepare their songs differently from how they would in a typical performance. Trayden Goodman was one of the performers and sang “Quanto e bella”, a solo piece, and “Lily’s Eyes”, a duet piece with bass singer Jacob Olson.
“Quanto e bella, I really got the idea from Dr. Gesteland, and really, most of this stuff was picked out, except for Lily’s Eyes. Lily’s Eyes, I told Jacob we’d do it this first semester, and then obviously time got away, and Dr. Tuttle said, ‘you’re going to do it for this’, so it ended up working out.” Goodman said.
The “Death by Chocolate & Aria” Gala is a fundraiser for larger productions. According to Dr. Gesteland, a full production costs approximately $32,500; however, the gala raised over $24,000 to help fund it.
Katie Logsten also performed at the gala. She was a backup for a performer who got sick the day of the performance.
“This fundraiser raised money to help us towards putting on a wonderful production this spring,” Logsten said. “It goes towards paying for everything: the sheet music, renting out the instrumentalists if need be, the costumes, the set building, the sound effects, the wigs.”
The spring production will be “Light at the Piazza,” a Tony-winning Broadway musical that premiered in 2005. The musical is a love story between a southern United States woman visiting Italy on holiday and an Italian man.
“It’s just a beautiful show with great roles for a lot of students and a really touching story,” Dr. Gesteland said. ”There are some humorous things, and there are some things that will tug on your heartstrings.”
Goodman also talked about how things were going on the performer side.
“The music is really hard, It is the most chromatically challenging music I have ever heard in my life,” Logsten said. “This year we are blessed to be able to register for a class, so we have designated class time every single day to put towards rehearsal.”
The “Light at the Piazza” will be in Aalf’s Auditorium, and performs on Saturday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 3 at 3:00 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to usd.edu/opera.
