ORANGE JOURNALISM: A juicy JR134 class project

Five college-aged music majors flanking a piano on the stage of San Jose State University’s Concert Hall wouldn’t be surprising at first glance. But as soon as the singers open their mouths and belt out words to Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro,” one wonders if they are trapped in the bodies of people who are a little bit ... older.

“What are a bunch of 18 and 20-year-olds doing in opera class?” asked Michel Singher, director and conductor of SJSU’s opera program, as he witnessed SJSU students passionately performing works in last year’s workshop.

According to a 2002 survey by the National Endowment for the Arts, only 3.2 percent of American adults attend the opera, with 75 percent of that audience ages 35 and older.

Youths interested in opera are a rarity, but for the 16 students enrolled in SJSU’s opera workshop, it is the ultimate art form to display singing prowess and dramatic sensibility.

Emily Orum, a 24-year-old junior music major who sings in the SJSU workshop, said her love for performing opera was sparked when she first saw a production as a teen.

“I’ve known I wanted to do this since I was 16,” Orum said.

The beauty within operatic music and the different elements composing a production are primary draws for Orum.

“Opera is so complex,” Orum said. “You have everything from makeup to singing to acting.”

Opera, which originated in 17^th century Italy, is essentially a European phenomenon, Singher said. Operas are like musical theater works, except dialogue is sung instead of spoken, microphones are not used onstage and performances rely heavily on the strength of a singer’s voice, according to Singher.

Nicole Cooper, a first year graduate student in music and a member of the SJSU opera workshop, said acting is increasingly becoming more important to productions.

“I think that most singers, especially now, would want to consider themselves singing actors,” Cooper said. “And a lot of times if you talk to current composers, that’s what they want to have. They want people who are singing actors because they can be more expressive than just their voice.”

At SJSU’s opera workshop, students practice the dramatic elements of compositions under the direction of Daniel Helfgot while Singher guides vocal performances and points out the intricacies of singing foreign words.

Singher said opera students must take the time to learn other languages to maintain the artistic purity of original compositions, as most works are written in French, German or Italian.

“If an Italian composer like Verdi writes an Italian opera, the sounds of the words are sort of part of the music,” Singher said. “You lose that if you change the words.”

The SJSU opera workshop was started by former professor Irene Dalis, who went on to form Opera San Jose, a local opera company that uses SJSU opera students to make up 30 percent of its chorus.

Matt Siek, a 1996 SJSU creative arts graduate and artistic administrator for Opera San Jose, said young people with an interest in opera may have developed their tastes through parents or teachers who exposed them to the art at an early age.

“Because it’s such a serious art form, I think you usually get the bug early on or you just don’t,” Siek said. “There’s plenty of singers that come into it late, though it’s just a bit harder.”

Singher, an internationally renowned composer who has taught the SJSU workshop for two years, agreed that arousing interest in opera involves exposing people to it early.

“The challenge is to get them in for the first time,” Singher said.

Siek said opera generally appeals to an older crowd because of tradition and the high cost of attending performances.

It’s also hard for some to look past opera’s reputation as a “snooty” art form, according to Siek.

“(Opera) is kind of a high culture,” Siek said. “It’s the age-old battle. It’s not stuffy and inaccessible.”

Siek said some local opera aficionados are trying to revive interest in the art by appealing to a younger crowd, such as the Phantoms of the San Jose Opera Guild, a social group that unites and educates younger opera fans.

Orum, who hopes to enter a performance career after graduating SJSU, said young people would be more likely to show an interest in opera if stories were updated.

“I think it’s changing, especially in California,” Orum said. “We’re tending to do more new, modern operas. I think that’s what we need to do to keep opera around.”

Singher is optimistic about future interest in SJSU’s opera program.

“I think to some extent, we have created a culture,” he said.

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Orange Journalism:
A class project by the students of Journalism 134, Online In-depth Reporting, Fall 2006, with Dr. Richard Craig.