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UCSC Opera Theater presents  “A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

The UC Santa Cruz Music Department’s fully staged performance of Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” drew capacity audiences to the Music Center Recital Hall this spring. The production, which featured theatrical sets, professional costumes, top graduate and undergraduate singers from the department, and the 40-piece UCSC Orchestra conducted by Professor Nicole Paiement, also earned strong praise from local opera lovers.


Arthur Tang as Puck and Chad Kranak as Lysander. Photo: Steve DiBartolomeo

Robert P. Kraft, professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics, said the performance “took no backseat” to the professional opera productions he’s attended in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“Conductor Nicole Paiement's admirable pacing and shaping of the score fully supported the fine singing and acting of the cast, and the orchestra responded with exceptional precision and beauty of tone under her direction,” Professor Kraft said.

Vocal instructor Brian Staufenbiel directed the English language opera (first performed in England in 1960) with libretto by the composer and Peter Pears. Staufenbiel and his design team invented a postmodern midsummer night's dreamscape in which strange fairies roamed the streets, and kings and queens ruled a Dali-esque urban land. The design team was Sylvie Vray, lighting design; Legend Theatrical, scenic design; Marti Kranak, costume design; and Jeanna Hurd, wigs and make-up. The team has also worked on previous Spring Opera productions, notably Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” in 2005 and Kurt Weill’s “Street Scene” in 2004.

For Rich and DeAnne Hart, who have been attending San Francisco Opera performances for decades, the UCSC production was a real treat. The Harts are co-presidents of the UCSC Opera Circle, a group founded in 2005 to build awareness and support for the Opera Theater Program and assist in its long-term development and growth.


Emily Fultz as Tatiana. Photo: Steve DiBartolomeo

“After 35 years of viewing grand opera with a crowd of 3,200 people in San Francisco's gilded Opera House, being in the intimate UCSC hall for a student performance of Britten's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream’ was a very distinct pleasure,” the Harts said. “Not only were instruments of both singers and orchestra surprisingly well trained and presented, the total conception — in an urban jungle rather than a predictable misty forest — was realized very successfully.”

Burney J. Le Boeuf, UCSC associate vice chancellor for research and professor of biology, attended the Sunday matinee performance. He applauded the faculty and students for their success in a “challenging undertaking,” and complimented the production’s extraordinary design and bold performances. “I loved Tatiana and that shock of red hair. What presence! Opera forever,” said Professor Le Boeuf, a member of the UCSC Opera Circle.

The Harts praised Staufenbiel, Paiement and Voice faculty Patrice Maginnis for their ability to engage and motivate talented student performers while staging productions that will help cultivate future opera-goers. “The Opera Program is bringing this exciting medium to a whole new generation, who are finding, as we have done over the years, a vital resonance that elevates all experience.”

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