By Erin Ratigan/reporter
NE Campus will ring with music Oct. 14, when the Fort Worth Opera Studio presents a concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the NFAB Theatre.
The Fort Worth Opera Studio is the company’s residency program for young artists fresh out of college.
The singers performing will include soprano Meriann Otaño, mezzo Clara Nieman, tenor Ian McEuen and baritone Matt Moeller.
Though the program has not yet been set, it will be a mixture of ensemble pieces, arias and duets.
The evening will end with John Bucchino’s quartet “That Smile.”
Hanna Guinn, Fort Worth Opera’s education director, said it is important for students to appreciate the fine arts.
“Students particularly should experience a culture outside of their own,” she said. “[Opera] gives students a larger worldview of what is possible.”
NE music instructor Stan Paschal said students unfamiliar with opera should be prepared to listen for emotion.
“The whole basis of opera is about conveying a human condition,” he said. “So look for the story. Don’t try to dissect it. Try to understand it from an emotional standpoint, not an academic or intellectual one.”
Surrounded by modern music, many young people consider opera an art form reserved for older audiences. Paschal, however, believes it is not physical maturity but emotional maturity that is required to understand opera.
“If you’re open to your own emotions, if you’re open to letting something sit and kind of digest, I think it’s a very appealing art form,” he said.
Students interested in listening to opera are advised to start with something well-known or lighthearted, like Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Paschal said. But that’s not his favorite opera. It’s La Bohème.
“It’s about two people who meet really quite by accident, and they fall in love and have typical ups and downs that I guess every couple has,” he said. “It really is about the transforming and transcending power of love. It’s a great story.”
Guinn also had good news for those who wish to attend the Fort Worth Opera during its upcoming season: The company offers discount tickets to students throughout the spring festival.
The company also sells rush tickets, which cover three performances for $100.
The Fort Worth Opera will present The Pearl Fishers this April. In this performance, Nadir, the lead, will be sung by Sean Panikkar, who was a member of the group Forte from this season’s America’s Got Talent.
