RE: South Jersey Soprano

Erica Miller, emerging opera star and recent Thornton School of Music graduate, is featured in this USC Thornton Opera Alumni Profile.

(Posted by Damien Elwood)

When I first met Erica Miller she was just starting at USC. We were doing a production of The Magic Flute directed by Dejan Miladinovic that featured, among other things, black lights, rapping, and an electric cart as the Queen of the Night's charriot. I seem to remember Erica's Papagena as playful, perky, and precise. Add a good amount of South Jersey to that mix and you pretty much have what Erica's tenure at USC was all about. Her wit was matched only by her steller musicianship, both of which we enjoyed for the 5 1/2 years she was here.

The role that opened our eyes to Erica's versatility was Poppea in our production of Handel's Agrippina. She played the young love interest suffering under Claudio's letchery. Ken Cazan put her in a blonde wig, dressed her in pink, and had her change costume on stage getting in and out of a bubble bath. Through it all she performed Handel's music flawlessly ornamenting her 'A' returns with spectacular agility while putting on makeup, pouring martinis, or fighting off Claudio on stage.

The production consisted of flats beautifully painted with images from Baroque and Renaissance paintings representing the different settings of the opera. I have included one of my favorite pictures from the show in which Erica is dimming the lights on stage by hitting a "switch" that was represented by a nipple peeking through a young Renaissance woman's fingers. It was a wonderfully comedic moment. Erica carried it off, and the entire role, with great aplomb.

But perhaps Erica's greatest challenge at USC was her role as The Maid in Thomas Adès Powder Her Face. Adès' music is a technical tour-de-force for the singers not to mention dealing with the sexual content of the libretto. The entire cast rose to the occasion and gave us wonderful performances of great accuracy, power, and courage. Erica is pictured below with Josh Hong who was playing the Duke at this point in the opera. The production, which included musicians in the pit from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was a west-coast premiere and a wonderful success for the opera program. The herculean efforts of the cast, exemplfied by Erica, helped elevate the expectations of the entire program ever since.

I hope you take the time to read Erica's alumni profile. She is doing very well and has some big things coming up both professionally and personally.

(Damien Elwood is the Opera Program Manager for the USC Thornton Opera)