Music « Augusta State University

Director: Patty Meyers

The Augusta State University Opera Ensemble (Opera Workshop program) has its origins in the 1960s and 1970s, and has been funded by student activities funds for approximately 2 decades. The program is designed for students interested in the performance of operatic and musical theater repertoire. The organization presents a recital of scenes in the fall and a fully mounted production of either an opera or a musical at least every other spring semester. Since the Spring of 2000, the program has produced several scene recitals, five operas, and four musicals, in which several hundred students have participated. This past year alone, more than 60 students participated in our various performances.

The Opera Ensemble strives to keep a vibrant presence on the ASU campus. In addition to our public performances (Classic Connections: Mozart to Musical in October and our very well-received three performances Oklahoma! in March), we have appeared in campus events such as the Music Department’s Gala Concert in conjunction with the community-wide Westobou Festival (September 2008), and were also invited to perform at the Phi Kappa Phi Student Research and Fine Arts Conference in March 11, 2009. We consistently strive to provide presentations appropriate for our Humanities students and which can also be enjoyed by the wider campus community.

The organization also wishes to represent the university in our wider community. We have performed at other area colleges and area public schools.In the fall of 2008, we implemented a partnership with the Augusta Opera, as eight members of the Ensemble participated in the Opera’s production of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. We were also invited to perform for the residents of Brandon Wilde retirement community, and presented a program of selections from Oklahoma! to a very enthusiastic audience on February 2009. In addition, several members of the community were involved in our productions in one capacity or another.

The 2008 – 2009 school year saw a great growth in awareness of our program among the student body and the ASU and Augusta communities. Our performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! were seen and enthusiastically enjoyed by over 1000 audience members, and helped cement our position in the community as providers of quality arts presentations in the operatic and musical theater realms.

Past full productions:

2000 Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach)
2001 Kiss Me, Kate (Cole Porter)
2002 The Magic Flute (Mozart)
2003 The Music Man (M. Willson)
2004 Suor Angelica (Puccini)
2006 A Mozart Celebration
(The Impresario; The Marriage of Figaro, Act II)
2007 Dido and Aeneas
2008 An Evening on Broadway
2009 Oklahoma!
2010 An Evening on Broadway 2

Upcoming this year are productions of Leonard Bernstein's "Trouble in Tahiti," Menotti's "The Old Maid and the Thief," scene recitals and much, much more. Stay tuned, opera fans!