OPERA THEATRE

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For over 15 years the CSUF OPERA THEATRE program has been directed by Professors Janet Smith and Mark Salters. They produce opera excerpts, one acts and full-length operas, both on campus, and at various venues in the Orange County and Los Angeles area.  Each spring the CSUF Opera Theatre presents a fully staged opera production with orchestra; past repertoire includes Hansel and Gretel, Albert Herring, The Elixir of Love, The Marriage of Figaro, Gianni Schicchi, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Street Scene, The Gondoliers, The Mikado and The Crucible.  The production in the fall is a program of various opera scenes and one act operas; past themes have been entitled "Vive la France!", "Magic, Witchcraft and Fairies", "Comedy Tonight" and "Scorn: Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned!".  For those training for a career in singing and for students planning to be teachers, Opera Theatre offers valuable musical, acting and staging opportunities, as well as behind-the-scenes experience in staging, costumes, props, make-up, set design and lighting.  Classes in acting as well as master classes with famous guest artists are also offered; past acting coaches have included Marla Ladd, Patrick Pearson, Michael Nehring and Richard Sheldon of Opera a la Carte; master classes have hosted Marni Nixon, Rod Gilfry, Charles Castronovo and many others.  CSUF opera singers are consistent winners in such competitions as the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and the Zachary Auditions.  Many former Opera Theatre student participants have gone on to stellar performing careers including opera’s preeminent dramatic soprano Deborah Voigt (Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York Philharmonic, Zurich Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Munich’s Bayerische Rundfunk, Barcelona Opera, Glimmerglass Opera), soprano Joni Fukuda-Prado (Doctorate from USC, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra & voice faculty of Vanguard University), mezzo-soprano Renée Tatum (Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, NY Philharmonic, New Orleans Opera, LA Philharmonic, Masters from Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard Opera Center), tenor Charles Castronovo (Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Berlin Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Salzburg Festival) and bass-baritone Chris Job (Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Lyric Opera of Virginia, Chautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Pacific and Master from Northwestern University).