Students to perform holiday opera

RELEASED: December 6, 2007

DANVILLE, KY—The Centre College Music program is presenting the well-known holiday opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors" on December 9 and 10 at 8 p.m. in Weisiger Theatre on campus.

This short opera, only the second one Centre has both staged and performed with student talent (the other was in the early 1980s), is a heart-warming story of a poor shepherd boy and his mother who are visited by three kings on their way to Bethlehem who need a place to rest on their journey. It was written in 1951 by Gian Carlo Menotti for television and was broadcast each December for decades after that.

"This production is unique because students are so involved with putting the whole opera together, as opposed to just performing in it," says Talia Harris '08, lighting designer for the production. Students are also working on staging (David Brown '08), costume design (Elizabeth Schildkret '08), props design (Dan Burkey '09), set (Adam Haigh '08) and lights (Talia Harris '08).  

Centre Singers, the College's elite choral ensemble, is also serving as the production's stage and set crew.

Jacob Raderer '09, a music major, is playing the role of King Melchior.  

"I've loved putting together a show and learning about my vocal abilities at the same time," Raderer says. "I used to think opera was this boring art form with 'fat ladies singing,' but this experience has taught me differently. Opera is a way to express a story or message in a very powerful way."

Schildkret, in addition to doing costume design, enjoys combining her choral and drama experience.  

"We each have characters that we portray, we interact as families," Schildkret says. " So we may be singing the same words as a chorus, but we're each portraying it differently. "

Raderer adds, "It's also interesting to see the change each of the characters goes through during the course of the performance. Everyone has an 'ah-ha' moment that ultimately builds to the greatest moment of the show."

Brown, a drama major, says that the process of putting on the performance has brought Centre students from the drama and music departments on stage together for the first time in recent history.

"It's different in that the primary storytelling medium is music, but I've found that the knowledge I've gained from my previous experiences in acting and directing for straight stage plays is just as applicable," Brown says. "The greatest challenge has been in encouraging the accomplished musicians to think of their work as actors, but seeing their improvement has been the most rewarding part of the process, as well."

Tickets for "Amahl and the Night Visitors" are $10 and are currently on sale at the Norton Center Box Office (859-236-4692) or at the door of Weisiger Theatre on the evenings of each performance . Show times are 8 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 9 and Monday, Dec. 10.

In addition, the students will be doing two performances for local school groups on December 10 and 11. For information on the student performances, contact Barbara Hall at 859-238-5431 or barbara.hall@centre.edu .

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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