It’s hard to believe the pandemic is easing, with continued mask requirements in classes, lessons, and rehearsals, as well as news of worrisome new variants. Singing has been viewed as (and at times felt) risky due to this wretched virus, but despite COVID, music has been sung and art has been made.
This women’s history month, I want to remember the extraordinary efforts of the students in Sonoma State University’s Opera Scenes Workshop on the one year anniversary of the creation of PROJECT PAULINE, a spring of 2021 exploration of the life and work of Pauline Viardot in celebration of her 200th birthday. The students, many of them women and all of them determined to uplift women’s voices, performed music by Viardot, her family, and friends, combined with a virtual production of her last opera, Cendrillon. They wrote new dialogue to create scenes that dramatically contextualized sections of the opera in the timeline of Viardot’s life, releasing these scenes as episodes in an innovative operatic video podcast from March to May of 2021.
You can watch all the individual episodes, as well as the full world premiere performance of PROJECT PAULINE (with a special ending not featured in the podcast episodes) at the links below.
Pauline Viardot was amazing, but she certainly didn’t create art in obscurity, as so many amazing women have done and continue to do. This spring during Women’s History Month, SSU students are singing pieces by lesser known composers from the past, writing scenes for a new music theatre work to be presented in May, preparing to premiere new work by women on our faculty written especially for them, and creating vivid junior and senior recital programs that feature women composers and uplift the voices of future generations of women in song. This work continues, and their voices need continued support. We sing on.
Watch the full two-act version here:
PROJECT PAULINE playlist on YouTube
Watch eight weekly episodes here:
Episode 1 - March 24, 8pm on Youtube
Episode 2 - March 31, 8pm on Youtube
Episode 3 - April 7, 8pm on Youtube
Episode 4 - April 14, 8pm on Youtube
Episode 5 - April 21, 8pm on Youtube
Episode 6 - April 28, 8pm on Youtube
In the spring 2021 semester, the SSU Opera Scenes class celebrated the life and work of Pauline Viardot on the 200th anniversary of her birthday. Viardot was one of the most important singers and composers of her era, and had a monumental effect on the musical life and development of Europe in the latter half of the 19th century.
The opera scenes workshop performed Viardot’s last opera, Cendrillon, as well as other songs by her family and important contemporaries. The opera was presented as a show-within-a-show. In addition to its roles and plot, important figures from Viardot's life, including Maria Malibran, Manuel Garcia, and the composer herself led the audience through the production and the incidental music associated with the opera. Each student held a named role, with all students sharing the experience of singing, acting, and production work over the course of the semester.
Project Pauline is a series of eight video episodes released as a podcast on YouTube from late March through early May, 2021. At the culmination of the podcast and semester, SSU Opera Scenes premiered the complete version of Project Pauline (view at the end of this playlist).
Students gained skills in operatic performance, production scheduling, videography and sound engineering, marketing and publicity, and more in this comprehensive artistic effort. Their creative work will persist online for SSU recruitment efforts, musicological and performance reference by singers and schools the world over, and as a lasting contribution from our students to the understanding and awareness of Pauline Viardot’s importance and artistry in vocal music history.
PROJECT PAULINE PROGRAM
CAST:
Pauline Viardot - Kristina Ibarra, soprano
Maria Malibran - Linda Peng, mezzo-soprano
Manuel Garcia Sr. - Michael Coury Murdock, tenor
Johannes Brahms - Noah Evans, bass-baritone
Gioachino Rossini - Chihiro Fujii, tenor
Louis Viardot - Brayden Simmons Ayala, baritone
Ivan Turgenev - Andrew Cedeño, baritone
Manuel Garcia Jr. - Michael Coury Murdock, tenor
Frédéric Chopin - Noah Evans, bass-baritone
Cendrillon - Abbi Samuels, soprano
The Prince - Annie Kessler, soprano
The Fairy Godmother - Jennifer Silvera, soprano
Maguelonne - Lee Patrick, soprano
Armelinde - Linda Peng, mezzo-soprano
Barigoule - Brian Carrillo, tenor
Baron Pictordu - Liam Daley, baritone
PROJECT PAULINE ACT I:
Scene A.1: Dialogue - Pauline Viardot and Maria Malibran
Scene A.2 - "Habanera” by Pauline Viardot
"Cendrillon" - Prelude, Act I, Scenes 1-5a
Scene B.1: Dialogue - Gioachino Rossini and Manuel Garcia Sr
Scene B.2 - "Son disperato" (Plus d'Esperance) by Pauline Viardot
"Cendrillon" - Act I, Scenes 5b-12
Scene C.1: Dialogue - Manuel Garcia Sr and Pauline Viardot
Scene C.2: "Floris” by Pauline Viardot
"Cendrillon" - Act I, Scenes 13 & 14
Scene D.1: Dialogue Louis Viardot and Pauline Viardot
Scene D.2: "La Mésange” by Pauline Viardot
"Cendrillon" - Act II, Scenes 1-IIIa
PROJECT PAULINE ACT II:
Scene E.1: Dialogue - Johannes Brahms, Manuel Garcia Jr, and Gioachino Rossini
"Cendrillon" - Act II, Scene 3b
Scene E.2: "Les Cavaliers” by Pauline Viardot
Scene F.1: Dialogue - Pauline Viardot and Frédéric Chopin
Scene F.2 - "Separation” by Pauline Viardot
"Cendrillon" - Act II, Scenes 4 & 5
Scene G.1: Dialogue - Pauline Viardot, Louis Viardot, and Ivan Turgenev
Scene G. 2: "Chanson du Pecheur” by Gabriel Fauré
Scene G. 3: "L’Orage” by Pauline Viardot
"Cendrillon" Act III, Scenes 1 & 2
Scene H.1: Dialogue - Pauline Viardot, Maria Malibran, Manuel Garcia Sr, Johannes Brahms, Gioachino Rossini, Louis Viardot, Ivan Turgenev, Manuel Garcia Jr, Frédéric Chopin
"Cendrillon" - Act III, Scenes 3-6