 "Photo: Jami Bonner")
The Orchestra of Southern Utah performed their Bravo Opera! program with SUU professors soprano Carol Ann Modesitt and tenor Lawrence Johnson as guest artists at the Heritage Center Thursday.
Associate Professor of Music and Orchestral Activities Director Xun Sun served as the music director and conductor for the performance.
Modesitt, professor of voice, said she was chosen to participate as a guest singer because she has run SUU's opera program since 1993. Modesitt also sang professionally in countries including England, Ireland, Scotland, Bolivia, Ecuador and at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She has also directed more than 40 productions at SUU.
Johnson, assistant professor of voice, said he had been sick for the week leading up to the performance.
"I tried to take good care of myself the whole week," Johnson said. "The plan was if I didn't start feeling better, I'd just bow out of the perfomance."
But the day of the performance, Johnson said he was feeling well enough to perform.
"I felt good going into it," Johnson said. "But the longer we went the worse it got. But I managed to keep it together till the end."
Elise Berrett, a sophomore psychology major from Cedar, said she she was impressed with Johnson's ability to perform.
"I had heard that he'd been sick all week," Berrett said. "So to see him go on a perform even though he was sick and still do as well as he did was awesome."
OSU performed some of the world’s most popular operatic pieces, including the overture from The Flying Dutchman, arias from Carmen, a portion of La Bohème, arias from The Magic Flute and a humorous duet from Mikado. The Egmont Overture by Beethoven rounded out the concert.
The SUU opera student choir also performed for the Carmen pieces of the program.
Modesitt said she chose the other singers for the program and helped with the pieces performed.
"We wanted to make this concert appeal to a wide range of individuals," she said. "We tried to pick pieces that would have a wide appeal."
Heidi Jorgensen, a senior graphic design major from Salt Lake, said she enjoyed the performance.
"I love opera and was really impressed with the quality of the performances," Jorgensen said.
Berrett attends OSU performances regularly to support friends in the orchestra. She said her favorite piece of the night was "Der Holle Rache" from Mozart's The Magic Flute.
"It was really beautiful and well performed," Berrett said.
Heather Burton, a junior English major from Salt Lake City and orchestra violinist, said the orchestra had been working hard to get the pieces down.
"It's really challenging music, but very beautiful," Burton said. "I loved doing Egmont because it is such a beautiful piece."
Tara Anderson, a freshman music performance major from Kaysville and orchestra violinist said the orchestra had been working on the music for about two months.
She said she felt the hard work paid off, and emotion was present in the pieces performed.
"I think we did really well," Anderson said. "We were all feeling the music rather than just playing it."
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