Our Crowdfunding Groups
Dear Donors and Audience Members,
Join us today, Saturday, May 8th, at 7:30 pm for the Premiere of the CSUN Music/Theater/Art production of Gianni Schicchi by Puccini.
Performance YouTube Live
Our performers, crew, and directors will be watching with you! We will have a live chat on our YouTube video and will be sharing our thoughts as the video plays. Please feel free to chime in and comment along with us, or to send messages to the people you're there to support.
Post-show reception via Zoom
https://csun.zoom.us/j/89655302684
We welcome you to join us for a post-show reception and discussion via Zoom with our cast, crew, and directors! We would love to hear from our supporters and give everyone a chance to meet and talk about the show, since we don't have a lobby to greet you in like we would in a live performance.
Please feel free to drop by our Zoom meeting to share your thoughts and say hello. Let us know where you're watching from! Whether you're an opera lover or new to this art form! If you've ever been to Florence...and what you thought of an opera brought to life through animation instead of traditional sets.
We're very proud of the hard work and skill that went into this production and we hope to have the chance to chat with you about it after the show.
This has been a unique and enriching experience for me. Born from an attempt to make some creative sense out of the pandemic, this project has brought together a remarkable group of creative artists.
When Mercedes Juan Musotto approached me with this idea, I was immediately struck by the appropriateness of this opera's themes.
Death: The action of the opera revolves around the death of the patriarch of the Donati family. Puccini treats the death with some irreverence, which gives the opera it’s farcical tone. He wrote the opera during the time of the Spanish Flu, so he knew what effect this central death would have on his audience. He surrounds the death with a family steeped in greed.
Greed: The family’s greed is clearly on display and their hypocrisy allows us to judge their actions as morally corrupt. Somehow, in comedy we forgive greed if it is served up openly and with a great deal of charm as is the case with Schicchi. He robs everyone of the family fortune but his charm, his cleverness and his promise to redistribute the wealth in favor of the young lovers keeps him sympathetic to the audience.
Love: The lovers are usually the central figures in Puccinis' operas, but they are kept in the background in this opera. Schicchi makes a point of having his daughter leave the stage in order to keep her ignorant of the deception about to take place. Love is pure and needs to be protected from taint. It is the part of the opera that is kept fresh, alive, and full of hope for a brighter future. It is the defense that Schicchi uses when he seeks forgiveness for his behavior.
Lies: At the center of farce are lies. Characters are kept in the dark with regard to the motives and actions of others, but the audience is aware of everyone’s darker motives and lies. In the penultimate scene, the family is reduced to scavenging beasts, snatching whatever they can as they are ousted. They are heard wailing down the street and sounding a bit like a pack of howling dogs.
False witness, Loyalty, and retribution also play a large role in the piece and we all had great fun exploring the beauty of Puccini’s music along with the hilarity of his farce. I feel as though this past year has given us ample examples of all of these themes. In the case of death, greed, and lies, I’m sure we’ve all had our fill, and could use a little more love. Using animation gave us the freedom to push the boundaries of absurdity and I hope you all have as much fun watching the operatic gem as we had creating it for you.
Join us this Saturday, May 8, 7:30 PM, streamed to the CSUN Opera YouTube channel.
Maurice Godin
We are super proud to showcase a little snippet of fully-rendered footage from "Gianni Schicchi: An Animated Opera"!! This is the product of almost a year of work from CSUN Opera, CSUN Symphony Orchestra, Animation Program, and Theatre department.
Thank you so much CSUN alumna Xochitl Hernandez, opera singer, and journalist, for this beautiful article and interview.
Gabriella Bluvband is a Los Angeles based classical soprano and teacher. She is an active performer and has been featured in operas through CSUN Opera and Independent Opera Company, as well as performing in churches as a guest performer. Ms. Bluvband is also an experienced teacher who teaches a variety of genres in both voice and piano at Sam Ash Music Stores as well in her own private studio. In addition, she was the inaugural recipient of the Volunteer League Career Advancement Award, as well as receiving the Curt Allen Memorial Scholarship and the CSUN Outstanding Student in Opera award. She was also recently inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, the only music honor society recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies. Ms. Bluvband will be graduating from CSUN with a Vocal Performance degree in Fall 2020 and has studied for 2 years under Diane Ketchie. She also intends upon returning to her soon to be alma mater to pursue a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance and looking further, intends to pursue a Doctorate of Musical Arts. She is excited to be performing in CSUN's newest virtual production of Gianni Schicchi and to explore this new medium of opera.
After 2 months of very intense work, we are happy to announce we have finished recording the mock-up orchestra for this project!! Thank you for your support.
All instruments were recorded individually with a MIDI keyboard, in a software called Logic Pro. Time signatures, tempo changes, and dynamics had to be adjusted manually for each instrument.
Now we are ready to record the singers individually. They will be recording their part listening to the mock-up orchestra. Then, we will put together all the singers' recordings with the mock-orchestra. The final step will be recording the CSUN Symphony orchestra, one instrumentalist at a time, and add it to the mock-up orchestra and singers.
Thank you for your support of CSUN Opera! Please spread the word and help us reach our goal of 10K. We have 18 days left!
GIANNI SCHICHHI: Dongmin Byeon (cover Adam McCrory)
LAURETTA: Amelia Camacho (cover Niko Murakami)
ZITA: Pauline Tamale
RINUCCIO: Israel Segura (cover Yosep Sim)
GHERARDO: Justin Haase
NELLA: Agnese Gallenzi (cover Sarah Lonsert)
GHERARDINO: Liana Jaden Rodriguez
BETTO DI SIGNA: William Breman
SIMONE: Edward Roberts
MARCO: Adam McCrory
LA CIESCA: Gabriella Bluvband
MASTER SPINELLOCCIO: Leo Garcia
AMANTIO DI NICOLAO: Aaron Fairbanks
PINELLINO: Jeryd Word
GUCCIO: Matthew Morton
Agavny Vardanyan, CSUN Animation Student
If you would like to know more about this project, please join us to our 2 weekly live streaming fundraising concerts here:
https://www.facebook.com/CSUN-Opera-982258528633306/
Concert dates:
Thursday 8/6 7-8PM
Saturday 8/8 5-7PM
Monday 8/10 6-7PM
Thursday 8/13 7-8PM
Monday 8/17 5-6PM
Thursday 8/20 7-8PM
Monday 8/24 5-6PM
Thursday 8/27 7-8PM
