The Pirates of Penzance Spring Opera 2019
Arts
UCSC Opera
Each year the UCSC Opera Department rehearses and stages an opera with full light and set design, costumes, and a full orchestra to be performed in the recital hall at the end of Spring quarter. This project begins in Fall quarter of that year, and then we continue to work through the project until we complete it in June. For the 2018-2019 school year, the opera program put on the show The Pirates of Penzance. The Pirates of Penzance is an operetta composed by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. It is famous for its witty musical motifs and numbers, hysterical characters, and overall critique of how high society was in Gilbert and Sullivan’s time. It is an operetta known and loved by most who come across it, and the music is unbelievably catchy. The purpose of this project is to educate and teach voice students at UCSC how the inner workings of a professional opera company works. While rehearsing, we learn to balance our vocal technique, stage movement, choreography, audience engagement, memorization and acting skills, and we also learn how to follow a conductor (which is essential if you want to have any career in the classical music genre). This program and this project prepares UCSC undergrads to enter the professional opera world by strengthening our confidence and abilities of being on the stage and singing.
