YSU concludes performing arts season with two short operas Ending on a high note

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The theater season at Youngstown State University will once again close its performance season with opera.

The short operas “The Medium” by Gian Carlo Menotti and “The Impresario” by Mozart will be presented as one program Friday, Saturday and next Sunday at the school’s Ford Theater, inside Bliss Hall.

Opening night will include an informal artwalk with a pre-performance lecture by Dana professor Allan Mosher at 6 p.m. in the lecture hall of the adjacent McDonough Museum of Art. Mosher will offer background information on the two operas and composers.

Dana adjunct instructor Jennifer Jones Mosher also will relay her experience working with Menotti at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music when she was a student and he returned as an alumna to direct “The Medium.”

After the lectures, patrons are invited to attend the opening-night reception for the Spring Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition in the McDonough, which showcases artwork by graduating art students. There is no charge for the lecture or art opening.

“The Medium” involves a fraud who scams money from grieving parents with her sham seances that include fake voices and apparitions. She becomes the victim of her own illusions when they begin to haunt her guilt-ridden conscience with fatal consequences. This one-act dramatic opera was Menotti’s first success when it became a surprise hit on Broadway.

“The Impresario” is about an opera producer who finds himself refereeing a battle between two rival prima donnas for roles in his upcoming season. It shows how he successfully arbitrates between the two egotistical sopranos. The opera will be sung using the original German libretto with English dialogue and supertitles.

The director of YSU’s opera program is Professor Misook Yun.

The director of the Dana Symphony Orchestra is Professor Stephen L. Gage, who will conduct “The Impresario.” Graduate student Ian LeRoy of Orwell will conduct “The Medium.”

Stage director/scenic designer is David Vosburgh; lighting designer is Kevin Wolfgang; costumer is Barbara Luce; production manager is Todd Dicken; stage manager is Devin Whitehouse; musical preparation is by Jan Crews (“The Impresario”) and LeRoy (“The Medium”); and master carpenter is Frank Bongen.

Each opera is double cast. “The Medium” includes, on Friday and next Sunday, Emilio Santiago (Hermitage, Pa.), Kathleen Howells (Baden, Pa.), Erika Walker (Canfield), David Mouse (East Liverpool), Anna Murcko (Napoleon), Brianna Crawford (Wampum, Pa.), and Sara Eckenrode (Youngstown). The Saturday cast includes Eckenrode, Crawford, Amanda Bertilacci (Niles), Sierra Ellis (New Castle, Pa.), Nicholas Hazelton (New Castle, Pa.), Rebecca Enlow (Salem), and Kristina Clemons (Austintown).

“The Impresario” cast includes, on Friday and next Sunday, Gage, Nicholas Hazelton (New Castle, Pa.), Emilio Santiago (Hermitage, Pa.), Francesca Maria Molinaro (Connellsville, Pa.), Anthony Humphrey (New Castle, Pa.), and Rebecca Enlow (Salem). The Saturday cast includes Humphrey, Stephen West (Brunswick, Ga.), David Mouse (East Liverpool), Brianne Kochunas Samson (Warren) and Olivia Kochunas (Warren).

This performance is the fourth opera at YSU staged under the auspices of the Donald P. Pipino Performing Arts Series, made possible by Christine and Edward Muransky in honor of Christine’s father. The Muransky family provided a gift to support the performing arts series and the YSU opera in 2013, and the series was renamed as a result of that gift.