The Opera Workshop is a spring semester activity at SDSU and involves both majors and non-majors. Students in the Opera Workshop present staged performances of opera scenes set for soloists and chorus. Performances are held during the Spring Festival of Music.
Auditions are held each November and rehearsals begin in January. The workshop gives students the opportunity to experience both the technical and performance aspects of opera production.
Performance repertoire from previous concerts include Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, Adamo’s Little Women, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Le Nozze di Figaro, Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Bizet’s Carmen, Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin and Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. The Opera Workshop has also presented two chamber operas in recent years: Trinkley and Charnesky’s Chicken Little and Chauls’ Alice in Wonderland.
The Opera Workshop is under the direction of Emily Toronto, professor of music.