Students headed to Italy to perform in operas

May 11, 2015

Less than three months after performing in his first opera, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student Josh Ognenoff will travel to the birthplace of the genre — Italy.

"It's one of the greatest feelings — to be able to perform at a higher level and to take advantage of the networking opportunities," he said. "I can't wait to meet everybody."

Ognenoff and fellow music majors Zach Frank, Amanda O'Donnell, Haley-Marie Asher and Elizabeth Marvitz auditioned and were chosen to perform in La Musica Lirica 2015.

The international opera festival, held June 13-July 18 in the Italian province of Rimini, will feature professional sets, costumes, lighting, and an orchestra and string quartet.

"This really is a life-changing experience," said Brian Leeper, lecturer of music and artistic director of the festival. "Students get to do opera full-time and learn what it's like to perform at a professional level."

Leeper and his UW-Whitewater colleague Brygida Jedrzejewski held auditions in 14 cities in the United States and Canada, searching for talented singers to join the festival, now in its 15th year.

Only about 70 students made the cut, and will perform in three operas: "L'italiana in Algeri," "Madama Butterfly" and "Gianni Schicchi."

The schedule is demanding, with mornings dominated by Italian language lessons, and afternoons consisting of voice lessons and rehearsals.

"The instructors are very particular," Leeper said. "Students will be performing in front of Italian audiences. They need to sound Italian."

Leeper said the community is very rural and few people speak English, so students will truly be immersed in Italian language and culture. Some students have opted to live with families in the area during the festival.

Ognenoff, from Mayville, Wisconsin, says he participated in many vocal performances in high school, but never imaged taking part in an opera until he came to UW-Whitewater.

He recently performed in the campus production of "The Tender Land," Feb 22-28 at Barnett Theatre.

"The idea of singing through an entire show was daunting," Ognenoff said. "The resilience of opera singers to stay vocally healthy and to perform with very few to no rests is incredible. Opera opened my eyes, musically, to something I knew was there, but didn't understand. It's pushed my vocal performance in so many ways."