Comprehensive operatic training

University Opera is a cultural service of the Mead Witter School of Music whose mission is to provide comprehensive operatic training and performance opportunities for our students and operatic programming to the community. Students sing principal, supporting, and chorus roles in main stage productions, one-act operas, and programs of opera scenes. In addition, we offer training for directors, conductors, and pianists, and, when possible, provide opportunities for student designers, actors, and dancers. Showcases for faculty, alumni, and guest artists are presented when appropriate.

University Opera welcomes students of all levels and degree programs, from doctoral candidates to freshman music education majors, to participate in operatic classes and performances. We present an annual season of two fully staged operas, as well as evenings of opera scenes and one-act operas.

22/23 productions

Albert Herring

Purchase tickets
$30 general public
$25 senior citizens
$10 UW-Madison students

Benjamin Britten’s intricate and witty opera, Albert Herring will open the 2022-23 University Opera season at UW-Madison following the success of last season’s Two Remain (Out of Darkness) by Jake Heggie and Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. One of Britten’s few comedic operas, Albert Herring explores the themes of lost innocence, social stratification, Victorian morality, and the coming of age.

Three performances will be presented at Music Hall on the UW-Madison campus: November 18 at 7:30 pm, November 20 at 2 pm, and November 22 at 7:30 pm. The Mead Witter School of Music’s Director of Orchestral Activities, Oriol Sans, will conduct a chamber ensemble comprised of members of the UW-Madison Symphony and Karen K. Bishop Director of Opera, David Ronis, will direct the production.

Britten’s score for Albert Herring is equally as complex and beautiful as his most serious operas and the libretto by Eric Crozier inspires some of his most sensitive musical writing. The piece displays a good measure of levity as it tells a story as old as time, contrasting the values of older and younger generations. With the town’s May Day Festival approaching, Lady Billows is scandalized and shocked by the lack of moral virtue in the young women of East Suffolk and is left with no choice but to appoint a King of the May rather than a May Queen. Her committee of advisors suggests the young Albert whom they don’t view as particularly bright but is perceived as virtuous and a good son. Albert, put upon by his strong-willed mother, is forced to accept this appointment. But, in a bold move of self-actualization fueled by a bit of alcohol, he breaks free from small town conventions and uses his prize money to pursue the life experiences he so desperately desires. This all too familiar story of the conflict between generations ignites Britten’s hilarious opera and is bound to put a smile on anyone’s face regardless generational affiliation.

La traviata

Purchase tickets
General admission: $30
Senior: $25
Student (UW–Madison and all other): $10

Friday, March 3, 2023, 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 5, 2023, 2 pm
Tuesday, March 7, 2023, 7:30 pm

Music Hall
925 Bascom Mall
Madison, WI

Literally translated as “The Fallen Woman,” La traviata is probably Verdi’s best-known masterpiece. Violetta is a high-class courtesan and the most celebrated figure of the glamorous Parisian social scene. She loves her life – carefree, attached to no-one, her own woman. But Violetta is also seriously ill.

Enter Alfredo, a poet who shows Violetta real, unconditional love for the first time. She falls for him, abandons her career, and the two escape to a country retreat to live in domestic bliss. Until Alfredo’s father shows up. Unhappy with how his son’s relationship with a “fallen woman” is damaging the family’s reputation, he persuades Violetta to end things with Alfredo and return to Paris.

Later on, Alfredo’s father is remorseful and finally reveals to his son the reason Violetta left him. Alfredo rushes to be with her, but Violetta’s sickness is now much worse… is it too late?

Opera Workshop Performances

November 29, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Music Hall

April 11, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Music Hall

Mimmi Fulmer

Professor of Voice and Opera

mkfulmer@wisc.edu
608.263.1882
Bio

Thomas Kasdorf

Lecturer of Vocal Coaching

tkasdorf@wisc.edu

David Ronis

Karen K. Bishop Director of University Opera

ronis@wisc.edu
608.263.1932
Bio

Oriol Sans

Assistant Professor and Director of Orchestral Activities

osans@wisc.edu
608.262.0249
Bio

About

Since 2015, UW–Madison’s University Opera has national attention as the recipient of 10 National Opera Association Production Awards and five awards from The American Prize.

On our mainstage each year, we present two fully staged operas with the UW–Madison Symphony Orchestra. In recent seasons, repertoire has included Albert Herring, La traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, Transformations, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Into the Woods, Così fan tutte, Two Remain (Out of Darkness), Sweeney Todd, What’s Past is Prologue: The Unfinished American Conversation, The Turn of the Screw, La bohème, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Die Zauberflöte, A Kurt Weill Cabaret, Don Giovanni, and I Wish It So: Marc Blitzstein – The Man in His Music.

In addition to presenting works from the standard repertory, University Opera is dedicated to presenting new operas as well as works representing diverse composers and topics. In 2023, we will be collaborating with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in performing excerpts from Bill Banfield’s Edmonia (about Edmonia Lewis, a 19^th century African American sculptor) as well as a reading of a new opera by Scott Gendel and Sandra Flores-Strand.

In addition to mainstage presentations, we offer Opera Workshop, a course dedicated to the study of staging skills and repertoire, culminating each semester in performances of opera and musical theater scenes and one-act pieces. We also offer Acting for Singers, a two-semester sequence focusing on acting techniques specific to the operatic and musical theater stage. UW–Madison students also have the opportunity to perform around the state for outreach programs in schools and arts centers.

University Opera frequently hosts prestigious guest artists in concerts and master classes. Recent guests include Renée Fleming, Amanda Majeski, Karen Slack, Brenda Rae, Gary Thor Wedow, Daniel Belcher, Nathaniel Stampley, Brenda Harris, Ben Heppner, Dawn Upshaw, and Barbara Bonney.

Support University Opera

University Opera’s season is made possible by the support of alumni, friends, and community organizations. Due to the significant costs of producing opera, the university can fund only a small fraction of our budget. Generous donors have helped underwrite productions and support students who would not otherwise have been able to attend UW–Madison.

We are deeply grateful for the assistance of The Karen K. Bishop Fund for Voice and Opera, The Ann Crow Fund for Voice and Opera, and to The Dara Elizabeth Welty Fund for helping make a high-quality season available to our students and audiences. Our goal is an endowed annual operating fund to provide infrastructure for recruiting, training, and performance opportunities to our singers.

We welcome your inquiries about becoming part of our family of donors. To find out more, please contact Rebekah Sherman at the University of Wisconsin Foundation at 608.572.2077 or at Rebekah.Sherman@supportuw.org.

The Karen K. Bishop Fund for Voice and Opera

The friends and family of Karen K. Bishop, utilizing the generous opportunity of the Morgridge Match program, endowed an opera director professorship in her name following her untimely death in January of 2015. A proud alumna of the School of Music, as well as an active scholar, performer and philanthropist, Dr. Bishop was a devoted supporter of the Opera program from which she received her D.M.A. degree in 2011.

Karen K. Bishop

With the success of the professorship, Karen’s husband, Dr. Charles W. Bishop, called for the creation of a committee for advancement work to ensure the success of the voice and opera program for years to come. The committee, which consists of Charles Bishop, members of the School of Music faculty and staff as well as friends and supporters from the larger Madison community, has identified four critical needs for the opera program:

1. An additional endowed professorship in voice to ensure that the School of Music can attract and retain the highest caliber of faculty to support its student performers.

2. Student financial support to provide fellowships, teaching assistantships, scholarships and awards for graduate and undergraduate students in order to recruit best quality talent around the country and the world, making UW-Madison one of the best schools in the country for voice and opera studies.

3. Underwriting support for opera productions to provide the highest quality musical and dramatic experiences for our students and audiences.

4. Funding to renovate the Opera Program’s historic Carol Rennebohm Auditorium in Music Hall to provide professional experiences for our students.

You can join in strengthening the UW-Madison opera program by giving at the following levels of support. Donors who make gifts to this fund will be recognized in ongoing opera programs.

Levels of support for the Karen K. Bishop Fund for Voice and Opera, with examples of impact to the program.

The Chorus
$100-$999
Awards for students for travel/summer program; production costs

The Impresario
$1,000-$4,999
Awards for voice/opera students; production costs.

The Director
$5,000-$9,999
Scholarships and awards for students; production costs.

The Prima Donna
$10,000-$24,999
Support for scholarships, awards, fellowships and teaching assistants.

The Producer Circle
$25,000-$49,999
Underwriters for one or more University Opera productions; fellowships; scholarships.

The Bishop Circle
$50,000 or more
Endow portions of the voice and opera program, including professorships, scholarships and fellowships.

Give online now!

Or, if you prefer, make a check payable to University of Wisconsin Foundation and note “Bishop Fund for Voice and Opera” in the memo line. Please mail your check to University of Wisconsin Foundation, US Bank Lockbox, Box 78807, Milwaukee, WI 53278-0807.

Learn More About Giving

For more information about giving opportunities, contact Rebekah Sherman at 608.572.2077 or at rebekah.sherman@supportuw.org

Mead Witter School of Music