The kids straggle in, swing down their packbacks, fish out water bottles, grin, tease, chatter. Then the baton goes up, they step to the cue, and their outsized voices soar. Rehearsal day for these students in the UW opera program!
The event they are getting ready for is Opera Night at the UW Club–the first ever: a three-course meal, accompanied by three arias, then an after-dinner ensemble program, itself in three courses.
The UW chefs are also laying the groundwork for the event, exercising their very different expertise: cooking down sauces, searing chicken breasts, stirring simmering rice until it’s thick and silky.
Show time! These two teams, with such very different talents, wove together a delicious program! They let me sit in from warm-up to execution, so take a look at how this event came together (and read the credits below):
Who prepared the dinner: Chef Greg Fazzini (who unfortunately has just left the UW Club), sous-chef (now Chef!) Jon Maley, and Mike Hoffman.
Who prepared the music: students of opera from the UW School of Music (names below), under the direction of Thomas Harper, professor of voice/opera
The pianist for all of the pieces was Alexandra Tsirkel.
Learn more about the UW Club here: http://depts.washington.edu/uwclub/
Menu
First course
The dinner:
Spring greens with pea vines, baby turnips, grape tomatoes, and herb chevre in champagne vinaigrette
The music:
“Mein Shenen, Mein Waehnen,” from Die tote Stadt, by Erich Korngold
sung by Jared Ice, baritone
Second course
The dinner:
Supreme of chicken with wild mushrooms in butter sauce, grilled fresh asparagus and red pepper, and crusted parmesan risotto
The music:
“Quando m’en vo,” from La Boheme, by G. Puccini
sung by Kathleen Payne, soprano
Third course
The dinner:
Local rhubarb cake with strawberry sabayon
The music:
“Vision fugitive,” from Herodiade, by J. Massenet
sung by Jared Ice, baritone
Continuing with dessert, after-dinner music
Card trio, from Carmen, by G. Bizet
Sung by (left to right) Emily Autrey, soprano (Frasquita), Elizabeth Giesbers, mezzo-soprano (Carmen), and Annalisee Brasil, mezzo-soprano (Mercedes)
Quartet from Idomeneo, by W.A. Mozart
Sung by (left to right) Nataly Wickham (Elettra), Jeremiah Cawley (Idomeneo), Cecile Farmer (Ilia), and Nina Alden (Idamante)
Quintet from Zauberfloete, by W.A. Mozart
Sung by (left to right) Annalisee Brasil, Nataly Wickham, Cecile Farmer, Simon Khorolskiy, and (substituting for Thomas Ball, who was ill) Thomas Harper, professor of voice/opera in the UW School of Music
Coda
Auf wiedersehen!
Sung by Thomas Ball and Simon Khorolskiy, with (off-camera) Annalisee Brasil, Nataly Wickham, and Cecile Farmer