Overview
Destinations:
Mondays, October 5 - November 9,
4-6pm ET
The Osborn 101 Theall Rd, Rye, NY
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Opera’s unique storytelling element is its use of the unamplified human voice to convey character, story, and emotion in a way that feels somehow both real and metaphorically heightened. This six-week class with the Yale Alumni C0llege at the Osborn in Rye will explore how extraordinary vocal performances can enrich our experience of a given opera and how operas in different eras use specific qualities of the human voice to establish character, probe the relationship between characters, challenge our expectations of character, and how opera composers use the voice to guide our emotional engagement with the stories being told.
We will begin with a session devoted to establishing how sopranos, mezzos, tenors and baritones/basses are used most typically in opera history with excerpts from multiple eras, composers, and operatic styles of storytelling. Subsequent sessions will build on this foundation with a focus each week on a single opera in the first hour and one aspect of its use of vocal timbre. The second hour will give us a chance to celebrate extraordinary vocal performers, past and present, who exemplify the week’s topic -- in different repertoire. A video and/or audio performance will be assigned for each class to ensure that everyone has had an opportunity to experience the week’s primary opera before class. If possible/practical, we will ask members of the class to attend Macbeth as part the Met’s HD series of live-streamed performances in October so that we have at least one live performance to consider in our sample.
The course is open to anyone interested in opera, from the dabbler to the devotée. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the artform, various levels of knowledge and analytical acuity will be welcome additions to discussion.
COURSE FORMAT
This course is an interactive in-person lecture course in Rye, NY. This course will meet once a week for 6 classes and will be held in-person at the following location: The Osborn, 101 Theall Rd, Rye, NY
Weekly reading or other forms of materials may be assigned. There are no papers or grades. This course does not offer any credits or certificates. This course is intended for learning for the love of learning.
COURSE MATERIALS
This course will require participants to rent/purchase materials.
Weekly theater productions will be assigned to view. Specific productions: Marriage of Figaro (1786)
Lucia di Lammermoor (1835)
Macbeth (1847)
Carmen, (1875)
Madama Butterfly (1904)
Registrants will receive access to the course website about two weeks before the course starts.
COURSE CANCELLATION POLICY
Registrants can cancel and receive a full refund up to September 21. After September 21, there will be no refunds issued.
Yale Alumni College courses are subject to schedule changes as well as cancellations. If Yale Alumni College must cancel any course prior to its start due to low enrollment, you will be notified of this by the cancellation date. Upon cancellation of a course, registrants may transfer their registration to another available course or have the registration fee fully refunded.
In the event of a disruption to the original course schedule, including but not limited to; Professor absence, hazardous weather conditions, or local travel restrictions, Yale Alumni College will do its best to reschedule the missed class for the week immediately following the original end date at the same course time and day.
Image: NOVA_OPERA_Artists_after_performance_of_opera-requiem_IYOV_in_National_Opera_House_of_Ukraine.jpg Anastasiia Mantach, CC BY-SA 2.0