Students and community members attended the San Jose State Concert Hall on Nov. 20 to watch “Rapture,” the biggest performance of the semester for the Opera Theater program.
The SJSU Opera Theater program provides performance and interpretation technique training, stage movement and other related subjects, according to the School of Music and Dance website.
The performance lasted from 7:30-9:30 p.m. and featured songs from musicals including “Les Miserables” and Italian opera “Don Giovanni.”
Lecturer Sandra Bengochea, Director of the Opera Theater program, organized the event.
Bengochea said she began planning the event, which was more intricate than some performances the program put on in the past, at the beginning of the semester.
“I guess what makes it big this semester compared to the other semesters that I've done Opera Theatre is the scenes have usually been shorter and not as prop heavy, and not as advanced,” Bengochea said. “The scenes that I chose for the semester are the most advanced I've ever had.
She said the title “Rapture” came from students in the SJSU opera production club.
The students were very involved in the process and did all the marketing for the show, including making a poster, Bengochea said.
Since they didn’t have a big budget for props, she said they had to borrow props from the theater department.
“We got prop pieces like couches, tables, and chairs from the San Jose State Theater Department,” Bengochea said. “We don’t really have a prop storage room in the music department.”
Bengochea said it was a challenge for students to perform in the concert hall as it lacked a backstage, so they constructed moving walls.
A projector and a screen on the stage translated the lyrics into English so the audience could read it.
Even though some songs were performed entirely in Italian, the student performers brought the words they sang to life with choreography and body language .
Music education junior Daniel Navarrete-Estassi played Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni and Baby John in West Side Story. He also conducted Les Miserables during the event.
He said the Figaro scene was the hardest to learn because it’s 12 minutes long and completely sung in Italian.
In the scene, Figaro is ready to begin the wedding festivities, but the Count questions him about a note he received. Figaro avoids the questioning until the gardener, Antonio, complains that someone has jumped from the window.
Figaro improvises quickly, feigning a limp and pretending to be the one who jumped from the window. The scene ends with the Count holding a contract that says that Figaro has to marry Marcellina so his wedding to Susanna will be postponed.
“I don't speak Italian,” Navarrete-Estassi said. “I mean, I speak Spanish, so there's like some cognates, but overall, there's a lot of stuff that I need to know like what we're saying and knowing what you're saying really helps with the intention of what you're doing onstage.”
Navarrete-Estassi’s performance of Figaro was very convincing as he limped across the stage and his bass-baritone voice resonated throughout the performance.
Ashley Willits, an SJSU vocal performance graduate student who’s been teaching music for the past 10 years at local elementary, middle and high schools, gave a standout performance as Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni” and Susanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro.”
Her soprano voice carried the high notes very well and her voice was filled with emotion. She’s a coloratura, someone who can do runs, which are long vocals that alternate in pitch.
“I think God gives people gifts, and I feel like God has given me the vessel to bring music to people and in return to share that with the community,” Willits said.
She said it was exciting seeing all the masked faces in the audience, since the last time she performed live was before the coronavirus pandemic.
“I mean, it did feel a little nerve-racking at first,” Willits said. “I dusted the cobwebs off a little bit. It’s been probably three years or so since I've really been on the stage like that.”
Many students attended the event, including musical performance freshman Erik Viovode.
“It was my first time watching opera theater,” Viovode said. “It was awesome to see all my colleagues up on the stage and [do] what I’m learning.”
