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[ Friday, March 5, 1999 ]
Modern operas target students
By KATE DAVIS
Collegian Staff Writer
Most people yawn at the thought of attending an opera. Yet Bruce Trinkley and Jason Charnesky hope to break that assumption by writing a trilogy of one-act operas -- written in English -- targeted at a college audience. Trinkley, professor of music, composes operas based on the lyrics and ideas of Charnesky (graduate-English). "I hope the music enhances and deepens words or situations, and then if it does that, the piece will speak," Trinkley said. "If I'm doing it right, people should get it." The National Opera Association has recognized the one-act operas: "Eve's Odds," "Dido Decides" and "Cleo." "Eve's Odds," the first act of the trilogy, won first place in the 1999 Chamber Opera Competition at the association's annual convention in New York City last month.
PHOTO: Manoj Kalaua
Modern opera composers Bruce Trinkley (wearing tan blazer) and Jason Charnesky.
The next two operas in the trilogy, "Dido Decides" and "Cleo," will be performed by Penn State students April 16 and 17 in Schwab Auditorium.
Trinkley's success as a composer started at an early age. While he attended Columbia University, he was a member of the thespian team and wrote music for The Bawd's Opera, which took first place in a contest for operas written by college students, Trinkley said.
He conducts summer musical performances and conducts the Glee Club and the Hi-Los, a small musical ensemble.
He also has taught many courses in the School of Music since arriving at Penn State in 1974.
Trinkley met Charnesky about 10 years ago. They started writing the three one-act operas after Susan Boardman, who runs the Penn State Opera theater, asked them to create one-act operas fit for a college audience.
"The two (men) work together amazingly well," Boardman said. "That kind of partnership is very hard to find in music."
The pair began working with a biblical theme and then Charnesky developed the script for "Eve's Odds," an insightful, alternative look into Eve's decision to eat the forbidden apple. Trinkley then set the script to music.
"I am guided by the text and the dramatic situation Jason (Charnesky) has given me," Trinkley said. "They allow the music to evolve."
Charnesky's lyrics "enable me to write my best music," Trinkley said.
Each of the three operas portrays a different woman and her pattern of reasoning. Charnesky wanted to focus on an opera that portrays history through the eyes of women instead of men.
Lori Formby (graduate-vocal performance and pedagogy) is starring as Dido in "Dido Decides."
"It is challenging to create a new character, to try to really think and feel as Dido would feel especially since she is a queen," Formby said.
In order to make her character more believable, the directors encouraged Formby to put a little bit of herself in Dido. Formby said this wasn't difficult since she is independent and strong willed, much like the character of Dido.
All of the pair's operas are done in English as opposed to the standard Italian.
"It is very important that the audience hears the words," Charnesky said. "We want to create fun songs that work for an audience."
Trinkley's success as a composer has made him realize how important his music is to him.
"I feel as if I have completed a full circle in my life," he said. "I have finally come back to my first love of composing music."
