November 11, 2003

BYU-Idaho students to perform afternoon of opera

 

 

            The BYU-Idaho opera workshop class will present an afternoon of Mozart, love and much more Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. in the Barrus Concert Hall of the Snow Center for the Performing Arts. Admission to the performance is free of charge.

            Directed and choreographed by Kristine Ciesinski, Opera Scenes will feature selected scenes from the Mozart operas “The Magic Flute,” “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Cosi Fan Tutte.”

            Twenty-three BYU-Idaho students will perform various characters and roles in the scenes, offering a glimpse into the timeless emotion of the 18th century.

            “Mozart operas are delightful stories, exquisitely beautiful and the comedies are incredibly funny. The music isn’t methodically difficult to the ear, but it is challenging to sing,” she says.

            Ciesinski says the program will offer the audience a taste of three classic operas that portray love in a humorous and touching way. The music is of a more lyric repertoire, featuring a lighter, happier mood with characters causing themselves to fall into some very humorous and tricky circumstances.

            “I demand a lot, drive the students and demand a pretty professional standard. The students are amazingly good and go all out for the performance,” she says.

            Originally drawn to the Teton mountains while performing professionally in the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, Wyo., Ciesinski moved to Victor in 1995. She has taught as an adjunct faculty member for the past five years at BYU-Idaho and has helped produce Opera Scenes each semester since last fall.

            A native of Delaware, she graduated from Boston University and went on to study privately with well-known opera singer Todd Duncan. She has performed over 80 different roles in opera houses all over the world, spending more than 20 years performing in Europe.

 

 

  


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