Written by Alexandra Loutsion December 3, 2008One of the unique experiences the USC Thornton School of Music has to offer is the Chamber Opera of USC. It is a student run program consisting solely of undergraduate performers directed by their graduate peers. Undergraduates become the stars of their own performances and graduate students exercise new creative skills of stage direction and putting together a performance behind the scenes. From both stand points, the benefits are huge and create a lasting impression that can influence further exploration in the various artistic fields.
This past semester, I had the great joy of co-creating and co-directing the Chamber Opera performance of The Daily Grind. We essentially started from scratch, having some idea of works we wanted to include (A Hand of Bridge by Samuel Barber, The Coffee Cantata by J.S. Bach, and some musical theater pieces) but not really knowing the type of performance we wanted to create. We started by holding auditions in September, and, admittedly, we were not an easy panel. The singing-actors would offer a repertoire list of arias, songs and musical theater, and more often than not we would ask them to sing something a capella that they hadn't prepared to test our own theories and ideas of what we wanted them to ultimately do. The singing-actors were incredible. For five hours, we listened to absolutely fantastic auditions and we wrote down people who we thought would be good for the specific pieces we had in mind. We also wrote down ideas of what would be good for those who didn't fit into the two pieces. After auditions were completed, we were excited and totally overwhelmed with the amount of talent. Thus began the long task of casting.
I don't remember who in the end came up with the idea of how to create the show. We all kept throwing ideas out until finally we realized we could link the two pieces together, connecting them in between with musical theater numbers. As the discussions went on, we decided that each person would have one character that they would carry out through the show. Because the singing-actors were so wonderful, we also had to pick things that featured everyone somehow. From this, The Daily Grind was born. It became a story about a coffee shop, owned by the narrator of The Coffee Cantata whose employees were those in A Hand of Bridge. Throughout an hour and fifteen minutes of music, we created a world of colorful patrons and workers, ranging from an opera singer, a girl named Latte who was obsessed with coffee, disgruntled office workers, singing waitresses, and even people who were waiting to meet blind dates from match.com. The show flowed seamlessly throughout many styles of music, and we split all of the pieces to allow each of the 22 people to have a solo moment. Because The Coffee Cantata was so lengthy, we decided to double cast it to include more singers. Those who weren't cast in the fall were cast in the spring. Because of the organization of our new co-presidents Kira Dills-DeSurra and Alex Goldberg, we were also able to include two fabulous pianists and a string quintet for the Bach, conducted by Chris Eanes.
As co-directors, Jacquelynne Fontaine and I split the piece in half, leaving me A Hand of Bridge, Coffee Break, and Taylor the Latte Boy, while she took The Coffee Cantata, Will He Like Me, It's An Art, and a Mexican folksong. We held rehearsals at the same time every Monday night, individually directing each scene or mini opera. The singing-actors were so eager to work, responding to every crazy thing either of us asked them to do, and really took some fantastic risks. We didn't have a chance to get the whole group together until the week of the show, and so in two days, we made our two halves a whole. The singing-actors took this challenge and ran with it, filling so much of it in on their own and going so far at points that we had to tell them to step back. By the weekend of the shows, we were ready to go.
We had a huge turn out for every one of the shows, and the audiences were very responsive. The performance garnered some new interest in the Chamber Opera from both undergraduate performers and graduate directors, and introduced the program to many people who had never heard of it before. I have found through many talks in the days after with faculty and students that there is a new found respect for the organization as a whole. It just goes to show you what can happen when everyone has a goal that they are willing to work towards.
The Daily Grind is one step in a line of many previous performances that has allowed the Chamber Opera to become what it is today. There are many more projects to come, and we are always looking for more people to become involved. The next project is slated for March 6-8, 2009 and we are currently in preparation as I type this blog. If you want to know more, please feel free to email us at cousc@usc.edu or become a member of our facebook group, "Chamber Opera of USC (COUSC)". New faces are always appreciated!
This past semester, I had the great joy of co-creating and co-directing the Chamber Opera performance of The Daily Grind. We essentially started from scratch, having some idea of works we wanted to include (A Hand of Bridge by Samuel Barber, The Coffee Cantata by J.S. Bach, and some musical theater pieces) but not really knowing the type of performance we wanted to create. We started by holding auditions in September, and, admittedly, we were not an easy panel. The singing-actors would offer a repertoire list of arias, songs and musical theater, and more often than not we would ask them to sing something a capella that they hadn't prepared to test our own theories and ideas of what we wanted them to ultimately do. The singing-actors were incredible. For five hours, we listened to absolutely fantastic auditions and we wrote down people who we thought would be good for the specific pieces we had in mind. We also wrote down ideas of what would be good for those who didn't fit into the two pieces. After auditions were completed, we were excited and totally overwhelmed with the amount of talent. Thus began the long task of casting.
I don't remember who in the end came up with the idea of how to create the show. We all kept throwing ideas out until finally we realized we could link the two pieces together, connecting them in between with musical theater numbers. As the discussions went on, we decided that each person would have one character that they would carry out through the show. Because the singing-actors were so wonderful, we also had to pick things that featured everyone somehow. From this, The Daily Grind was born. It became a story about a coffee shop, owned by the narrator of The Coffee Cantata whose employees were those in A Hand of Bridge. Throughout an hour and fifteen minutes of music, we created a world of colorful patrons and workers, ranging from an opera singer, a girl named Latte who was obsessed with coffee, disgruntled office workers, singing waitresses, and even people who were waiting to meet blind dates from match.com. The show flowed seamlessly throughout many styles of music, and we split all of the pieces to allow each of the 22 people to have a solo moment. Because The Coffee Cantata was so lengthy, we decided to double cast it to include more singers. Those who weren't cast in the fall were cast in the spring. Because of the organization of our new co-presidents Kira Dills-DeSurra and Alex Goldberg, we were also able to include two fabulous pianists and a string quintet for the Bach, conducted by Chris Eanes.
As co-directors, Jacquelynne Fontaine and I split the piece in half, leaving me A Hand of Bridge, Coffee Break, and Taylor the Latte Boy, while she took The Coffee Cantata, Will He Like Me, It's An Art, and a Mexican folksong. We held rehearsals at the same time every Monday night, individually directing each scene or mini opera. The singing-actors were so eager to work, responding to every crazy thing either of us asked them to do, and really took some fantastic risks. We didn't have a chance to get the whole group together until the week of the show, and so in two days, we made our two halves a whole. The singing-actors took this challenge and ran with it, filling so much of it in on their own and going so far at points that we had to tell them to step back. By the weekend of the shows, we were ready to go.We had a huge turn out for every one of the shows, and the audiences were very responsive. The performance garnered some new interest in the Chamber Opera from both undergraduate performers and graduate directors, and introduced the program to many people who had never heard of it before. I have found through many talks in the days after with faculty and students that there is a new found respect for the organization as a whole. It just goes to show you what can happen when everyone has a goal that they are willing to work towards.
The Daily Grind is one step in a line of many previous performances that has allowed the Chamber Opera to become what it is today. There are many more projects to come, and we are always looking for more people to become involved. The next project is slated for March 6-8, 2009 and we are currently in preparation as I type this blog. If you want to know more, please feel free to email us at cousc@usc.edu or become a member of our facebook group, "Chamber Opera of USC (COUSC)". New faces are always appreciated!
The Chamber Opera of USC is a student run organization funded and supported by the University and the Thornton School of Music.
Alexandra Loutsion has completed her Masters Degree in Vocal Arts at the USC Thornton School and is in the first year of the Graduate Certificate Program.
