SU students to present opera workshop, preview of Zaninelli’s ‘Snow White’ Jan. 27-28

SU students to present opera workshop, preview of Zaninelli’s ‘Snow White’ Jan. 27-28January 10, 2006Jaime Winne Alvarez jlwinne@syr.edu

The Opera Workshop of Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music, in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), will present a preview of Luigi Zaninelli’s opera “Snow White” Jan. 27 and 28 at 8 p.m. in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College. The performance will last about 70 minutes. Tickets are free for SU students with valid I.D. and $5 for all others. Parking is available in Irving Garage.

Based on the story “Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm, the English-language opera features a libretto by the composer. Assistant professor of music Eric Johnson will direct an all-student cast. Johnson also designed the sets for the production, with costumes by graduate students Garrett Heater and Ben Wells. Graduate student James Welsch will conduct the performance. The production is funded by a grant from VPA Dean Carole Brzozowski.

The opera’s world premiere will take place in March at the Teatro Communale in Florence, Italy. SU Florence and its director, Barbara Deimling, initiated the project. Young professionals of the world-famous Maggio Formazione, the young artist arm of the Teatro Communale, will perform in the opera’s leading roles, with 13 SU students, including those starring in the Syracuse production, in secondary parts. SU senior Joseph Rinaldi, a baritone, will appear in some performances in the same leading role he will portray in the Syracuse production. Vivien Hewitt, a native of Ireland who has lived and worked in Italy for the past 20 years, will direct. Among her major credits is the Puccini Festival at Torre Del Lago, Italy. SU assistant professor of drama Alex Koziara will design lighting and sets, with costume design by well-known Italian designer Regina Schrecker.

SU Florence will also engage with the Italian community in numerous additional activities related to the opera. Performances for local students are already sold out. A gala benefit will be held for Florence’s Meyer Children’s Hospital in conjunction with one of the public performances. Student volunteers in the SU Florence program will use “Snow White” as an opportunity to read and teach English language to students in the Florence school system and connect the opera with a program that supplies books to a local library. And a symposium is being created around the idea of fairy tales and their impact on children, conducted in partnership between SU Florence and Meyer Children’s Hospital.

Zaninelli is composer-in-residence at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg. He studied, and later taught, at the Curtis Institute of Music with legendary instructor Rosario Scalero, who also trained Menotti and Barber. A composer of more than 300 published works, Zaninelli has written in nearly every medium and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Steinway Prize and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Music Award.

For more information on the Jan. 27-28 Opera Workshop presentations, contact the Setnor School of Music at (315) 443-5892.