PSU Magazine Spring 1997

he innovative repertoire of the PSU Opera Workshop takes a new twist this spring. Professor Salvador Brotons will conduct his own composition, Reverend Everyman-with libretto by Gary Corseri---on May 24, 25, 30, 31 , and June 1 in Lincoln H all. Reverend Everyman is a modern version of the medieval morality play Jederman. It concerns a television evangelist who has let the power of his television crusade corrupt him. H e is enormously wealthy, but he pays with his soul. A cast of outstanding PSU students will sing the opera, with the role of Reverend Jederman sung by Richard Lippold, PSU voice faculty. Lincoln Clark, the stage director of the original Florida State production, will be the guest director, and Carey Wong of Seattle returns as set and costume designer. Wong designed PSU's 1993 production of The Magic Flute. Ruth Dobson will, of course, serve as artistic director. Tickets are available through the PSU Box Office, 725-3307, and range from $12 general admission to $8 for students. Performance times are 8 p.m. May 25-3 1, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 1. But opportw1ities for young singers have multiplied since Meadows was a student. In 1993 Dob on and local vocal teacher Ellen Faull, whose Camas, Washington, vocal studio is a 11ational mecca for aspiring singers, put together Bel Canto Northwest, a three-week summer program with a national faculty, offered through PSU' School of Extended Studies. In it, high school, young college, and young profe i nal singers work intensively on scenes an<l one-acts in the original languages (PSU' annual productions are in English) under the eyes of expert teachers. That such experience-whether in the PSU program itself or in Bel Canto-pays dividends for young ingers cannot be in doubt. The proof is in hearing Meadows wax enthusiastic 18 PSU MAGAZINE SPRING 1997 about her "dynamite young students," or in hearing the pride in Dobson's voice when she talks about PSU tudents' accomplishments, both as singers and as educator . But the proof is also in the pudding. A department really is a good as the quality of grad uates it produces. A look at two of PSU 's most illustrious students shows that the department that tarted on a shoestring has made its mark. C layton Brainerd is a man on the move. As an opera singer with an inter– national career, he goes wherever the juicy roles are. During the current sea on, he has already been to Arizona and Nashville, to Buenos Aires, and New York' Carnegie Hall. This spring it will be Corvallis, Tacoma, and New Zealand, and and later in the year he will be in Augsburg, Germany, for Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. In his vocal prime at 38, Brainerd, twice the recipient of Wagner Society of New York career grant , finds himself becoming a sought-after Wagnerian. Such role as Wotan, Gunther, The Wanderer, and The Flying Dutchman are already under his b lt. And he's looking ahead hopefu lly to the year 2000 and a Ring Cycle in eattle, where he lives, with perhaps another shot at Seattle' Opera's Tristan and Isolde and The Flying Dutchman before then. It hasn't been an easy road. He took a number of wrong turns, including a too-quick jump into the world of seriou opera from which his voice didn't recover for year . "I ba ically crashed and had to completely rebuild the voice." Brainerd believes that hi current success is due in large part, to the fact that he is finally u ing the tech– nique that he began to learn almost 20 years ago at Portland State from voice teacher Dobson. "Ruth is an incredible a set as a voice teacher and coach," he says. "She has impeccable taste." In 1995 Portland soprano Kelly Nassief '89 was one of the winners of the Metropoli tan Opera aud itions in New York, opening doors right and left for her. But a year later came an even bigger payoff. A one of 18 finalists at the Leonard Bernstein Jerusalem International Song and Oratorio Competition, he carried off the top prize of $25 ,000, plus guaranteed concert appearance in Tel Aviv, London, and Vienna. Since then she has sung Beethoven's Ninth ymphony with the Israel Philharmonic, Mendelssohn's Elijah with the New York Philharmonic and with Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orche tra under Kurt Ma ur, appeared with Seiji Ozawa and with Charles Dutoit and the Philadelphia O rchestra, and signed a recording contract with ony. Nassief, only 30, has hit the big time. She now lives permanently in New York, where her management sends her out on about 100 aud itions a year. "Ruth really set the instrument," she says, in the di tinctive way opera singers have of de cribing their larger-than- life voices. "I have felt technically solid ever since. Believe me, it's a big help to know, really kn w, what you can do, to not have to look at a score and wonder if you can hit the high C's." Crucial at PSU, he say , in addition to her private study with Dob on, were the opportunities to perform. "A student needs a level of succe ," she says. Nassief ang in three shows at PSU-The Gondoliers , The Bartered Bride and Susannah-and with each her confidence grew. rainerd and Nassief are the biggest fish to leap out of the small PSU pond, but Dobson is fond of mentioning other "les plashy but just as impressive" successes. Such as mezzo-soprano Lisa Actor's '88 teaching po ition at Pacific University and frequent recitals. Or baritone Kevin Walsh's '80 many local engagements and job as mu ic editor at Oregon Catholic Press. Or performances by Teresa Schne ll '87. a regular with the O regon Symphony, or Charlotte Pistor, who has sung professionally in Austria for a decade. The list could go on, but the point is made. So when you hear those young voices in Reverend Everyman, it may not be long before you'll be able to say, "I was there when ... " and go on to name one of the ri ing tars of the opera stage. lt has happened before. D (Terry Ross is a Portland freelance writer.)