PSU Magazine Spring 1997

By Terry Ross I t's often said that an academic program is only as good as the grad– uates it produces. If so, PSU's Opera Workshop is a very good program indeed. In the 20 years since Ruth Dobson began teaching in the University's Mu ic Department and supervising opera, the small program has produced more than its share of first-class singers and educator . C layton Brainerd '86 was the first but by no means the last to go on to a ucce ful professional career. In a ense, Portland State had an opera program before Dobson came to the Univer ity in 1977. Since the early '60s, under the direction of Marie Peake, the chool had been the catalyst for a series of almost annual produc– tions. In these, University undergradu– ate took the mailer roles, both onstage and in the pit, while faculty members and community musician sang the principal parts and anchored the orche tra. With the inception of the perfor– mance work hop, which for the first time offered credit for opera tudy, Dobson began shifting emphasis away from full productions, in which tudent had only minor involvem nt, to the formula she had leamed in her studie at University of C incinnati ollege– Conservatory of Music. Choo ing care– fully to suit indi vidual tudents, Doh on offered a variety of semi-staged one-act opera and scenes from larger operas, designed to bring students along at a reasonable pace, preparing their voice · for the demands of future professional– ism. 16 PSU MAGAZINE SPRING 1997 • ta1n Faculty, student, and guest talent reigns in Lincoln Hall during the spring opera production. As a professional singer her elf, Dobson knows first-hand what the voice can and cannot do. A fi xture in Portland theaters and concert halls for two decades, she has performed every– thing from Broadway mu ic to the thomie t of contemporary compositions, and despite her devotion to teaching, he maintains a bu y performance schedule singing in the Northwest and frequently beyond. "I guess what I've done from the beginning at PSU," she says, "was what I had seen in conse1vatory. My goal has always been to prepare students ~ r a professional career in music, whether as a singer or an educator. It was all I knew," she ays, "but it seems to have worked." Within a few year , Dob on sensed that she could revive the tradition of full productions, although at first on only an every-other-year basis. By 198 1 he was able to plan Cimarosa's The Secret Marriage for a cast composed entirely of tudent singers, in fact, double-cast in all the lead roles. With faculty member John Trudeau (now retired and conducting the Columbia Symphony) conducting the orchestra, and with the experienced stage director Patsy Maxson supervising the production , the program moved from trength to strength, although Dobson kx)k back on some early shows with amu ement. "When the Theater Arts Department separated from the Music Department in the early '80s," he recalls, "we had liter– ally no money for production . I not only had to choo e how with student vocal demands in mind, I al o had to find one that co t nothing to stage." She chose Aaron Copland' The Tender Land in 1983 because of how cheap the set was: two bales of hay, a simple front porch, and a rocking chair. After a imilarly thrifty production of Henry Mollicone's The Face on the Ban·oom Floor in 1985, the opera program worked its way up to $500 for The Mikado in 1986. But that how wa a breakthrough. Stefan Minde, who only two years earlier had been conduc– tor of Portland Opera, took charge of the orchestra. Costumers and et design– ers made an especially strong effort, and voi/a, for the first time, The Oregonian gave the event serious pre s attention (including a favorable review), and all the shows sold out. T hereafter, slightly loosened University purse strings made it possible to put on more ophi ticated shows, with comparatively elaborate sets. Better yet, the increased visibility of the program drew outside funding, most notably in 1992, when benefactor Jeannine B. Cowles donated $10,000 toward a production of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah, making it possible to bring in the legendary teacher Phyllis C urtin from Tanglewood for a series of coaching e ·sions and master classe . An even larger gift from Cowles in 1993 fin anced th participation of British conductor Nick Carthy, plus sets and co tume by noted d signer Carey Wong. The re ulting production of Mozart' The Magic Flute remains a high