Sean Doyle, a theory professor and composer of “The Orphans in Autumn,” rehearses his original opera with cast members.
Photo courtesy of Courtnee Cesta / Assistant Reverb Editor
COURTNEE CESTA
Assistant Reverb Editor
SUNY Fredonia’s Student Opera Theatre Association will present its annual Opera Scenes production this weekend, featuring scenes from a few classics, in addition to one completely new operatic work. SOTA commissioned School of Music music theory professor Sean Doyle who has composed a one-act opera for this year’s performance; he titled it “The Orphans in Autumn.”
Doyle was approached by organizers of the event during the fall semester of last year, after the distinct success of the 2013 Opera Scenes premiere of “Felice,” by Eastman professor Benton Hess.
“We knew that having another premiere would excite audiences and be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some SUNY Fredonia students,” said Stephanie Doche, vice president of SOTA and 2014 Opera Scenes producer.
“The Orphans in Autumn” is 40 minutes of heart wrenching interaction within a group of orphans who are haunted by a dangerous sense of curiosity and stricken with a loss of innocence. Unfamiliar with death, the children learn that their classmate, little Betty, has become an angel, and they are eager to sneak into the chapel to reunite with their sister. The Nun leads them through the church to say goodbye to little Betty and to sing the Lord’s Prayer for their sister one last time — only then do they realize what death truly is. After returning to the courtyard, the youngest boy argues that little Betty couldn’t be dead, and his justification for believing so reveals a dangerous secret to the rest of the orphanage.
The idea for “The Orphans in Autumn” has been on the table for a decade since the last time Doyle premiered a work written for Opera Scenes in 2004, which he called “Crazy Sunday” and based off of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story.
“When I wrote that first opera — I was an undergrad in the Fredonia composition program at the time — I chose the Fitzgerald from two possible story sources,” said Doyle. “The other source, which I then didn’t use, was a one-act play by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke titled ‘Orphans’ That’s the play that serves as the basis for ‘The Orphans in Autumn.’”
Even though the idea for “The Orphans in Autumn” was not rushed, the pace of the writing process was rapid, to say the least. Final plans for the commission were set in the Fall 2013 semester, but due to his teaching and writing commitments, Doyle was not able to start writing until November of that year: around the same time that casting auditions for the scenes were being held.
“You can imagine the difficulty in casting for opera roles that had yet to be really written,” said Doyle. “But the students here are talented and capable, and it was easy for me to see
who would fit in to the kind of work I had in mind. I was fortunate to be able to cast a very talented group of singers.”
All talent aside, you can’t learn an opera that isn’t yet written. While other Opera Scenes cast members went on winter break with scores in hand, those in “The Orphans in Autumn” waited patiently, but for what, they didn’t really know.
According to Doyle, he wrote most of the opera over winter break. It wasn’t until this year’s spring semester started that he finished.
“I would write, which I typically do with pencil and paper, then edit and engrave, or notate the piece with computer software. Then I would send some finished pages to the cast as PDF files. They got the score in ‘chunks’ – kind of like a serialized story that appears in installments — and the cast didn’t get the final scene until our first rehearsal,” said Doyle.
The first rehearsal was on January 28 — exactly one month from this week’s opening night. With astounding dedication and hard work from all of those involved in the production, “The Orphans in Autumn” was essentially brought to life; it is prepared well, which, according to Doyle, was not easy work.
“I always say to the musicians who do me the honor of premiering a new work that it’s really the hardest thing for a performing artist to do – to bring something absolutely new to life – and the performers who I’m working with have truly risen to the occasion and I’m really grateful to them,” Doyle said.
However, the performers are not the only ones involved in “The Orphans in Autumn” who have risen to the occasion. Although Doyle has worked on a number of Opera Scenes productions in the past, this was his first performance in which he served as both music director and stage director. Doing both jobs took a lot of time and energy on Doyle’s part, but they brought him even closer to his music.
“I’ve found the challenge really invigorating artistically, and it’s given me a new awareness of some of the emotional dimensions of the score — some of which hadn’t occurred to me as I was writing the score,” Doyle said.
According to Doyle, the biggest challenge involved in creating his opera isn’t a result of having to do double duty with staging and directing and isn’t even due to lack of time. In fact, the greatest challenge falls in the hands of the audience.
In “Orphans in Autumn,” most of the singers portray young children, but they are made to not sound like young children. Doyle used musical techniques throughout the score that enhanced a childish “scatter-brained” character, but the actors must use their body language, enthusiasm and character to enhance their characteristics for the audience.
“This was obviously a significant challenge to me in writing the score, as I had to make the music convey a youthful innocence and curiosity, but at the same time not be simple so as to do a disservice to the talents and capabilities of the singers. In other words, the music needed to be ‘child-like,’ not ‘childish,’” Doyle said. “This will also be a challenge for the audience. They need to understand that the actors they are seeing are children, despite their physical size and maturity, and also despite that they are hearing the trained voices of young professional singers.”
Doyle’s hope is not only that the audience will understand the child-like characters of the production, but that they will also connect with them. “The Orphans in Autumn” shows the difference in how children and adults react to a funeral, and represents moments in life that force children, as well as adults, to ‘grow up’,” or shed a layer of innocence.
“For me, opera is always about a bigger picture, and the musical setting of the libretto must be matched with an overall spirit or character of what those words really mean,” Doyle said. “Certainly the more melodramatic aspects of the show (death, violence, ceremony) — these make for good operatic moments — but my interest as a composer was to capture and express the feeling that is by-product of these events, a feeling that is beyond what can be said in words, and my hope is that I conveyed that feeling to the listener through my combination of notes and rhythms as best I possibly could.”
Performances of scenes from “Pirates of Penzance” and “The Merry Widow” will be Feb. 27 and March 1 at 7 p.m., and performances of “The Orphans in Autumn” and scenes from “Albert Herring” will be Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. and March 2 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for seniors. Students can purchase single-night tickets at $5 or both for $8. All tickets are available by calling (716) 679-1891, or can be purchased at the door the night of the performance. All performances will be held at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House on the corner of Temple and Main Street.