DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern Oklahoma State University Department of Music will present two short operas –The Telephone and The Medium, both by Gian Carlo Menotti – on Wednesday, October 11, featuring some of the University’s top student talent.
The operas will be presented in Montgomery Auditorium, starting at 7:30 p.m. on October 11. Both operas are sung in English and will also include projected supertitles for the audience.
The Telephone is a romantic comedy which follows a hapless gentleman attempting to propose to his beloved while she is constantly distracted by the telephone.
“This is a great opportunity for our students to explore duet form and vocal timbre,” says artistic director and Southeastern Voice Professor Dr. Stella Yoon. “It’s also fun to see the audience root for the poor guy, and the surprise ending is so endearing.” There will be a 10-minute intermission between the operas.
The Telephone will be performed by Joseph Bowen (from Denton, Texas) and Brenna Tuttle (from Broken Bow, Okla.).
The second short opera, titled The Medium, is a dark drama which follows Madame Flora, a charlatan who offers sham seances to unwitting customers, and her two young children who act as the voices of the deceased. When an actual ghost shows up during a seance, Madame Flora’s deception and sanity begin to unravel.
“This drama gives our vocalists the chance to explore their emotional range,” said Dr. Yoon, “and it draws the audience in with its compelling, yet tragic, story.”
The Medium will be performed by Lauren Manon (from Antlers, Okla.), Haylie Kreitz (from Durant, Okla.), Rachel Guevara (from Sherman, Texas), Binion Stephenson (from Antlers, Okla.), Deja Godwin (from Paris, Texas), and Diego Perez (from Kingston, Okla.).
For both pieces, Dr. Yoon is the artistic director, Dr. Jeremy Blackwood is the conductor, and Kihwa Nam is the stage director.
