The Music Program at the College of Southern Nevada will present What A Wonderful Year 2020 Will Be, an original opera written by Dr. Mark Wherry which debuts at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 4th with performances scheduled November 5, 10 and 12 at 7 P.M. in the Nicholas J. Horn Theater at the North Las Vegas campus.
Dr. Mark Wherry, the composer of the opera reveals, “When I finished composing a comedy, The Baritones of Love, with Enoch Augustus Scott in 2019, I was considering doing some sort of opera treatment for my next project. I’ve taught at the Community College level for 26 years and during this time, I thought that one area of need with our students was in the opera genre. Most of our students’ voices aren’t developed to perform the typical traditional opera literature. I don’t recall ever having a tenor who could pop out repeated high C’s!”
“That’s where my head was when the Covid lockdown began. I certainly had a lot of time on my hands and started to explore various music composition content on YouTube. I was also involved with an online opera workshop. I’ve always had a comedic view with most of my writing and started thinking about some of the situations that my family and I were experiencing while being forced to stay indoors most of the time.”
“What if my daughter fell in love with the only non-relative she saw on a daily basis, the Amazon Delivery Man? What if my son couldn’t pass online school because he never did any work? Zoom meetings were driving me crazy, both with learning the technology and the tedious length of the meetings. Furthermore, what if I was in an online meeting, forgot I wasn’t wearing pants and stood up?“
“All of these were jumping off points to compose songs and the opera began to take shape. At one point I considered trying to tell the entire covid story with riots, protests and a possible covid death (after all, it is an opera!) but in the end, I decided the story would be better served sticking with comedy.”
“Another goal of mine was to incorporate some advanced compositional techniques that community college students would encounter in their study of music theory. Many times, these concepts are too advanced for the standard literature that our students begin with their studying.”
“I have included negative harmony; treatment of seventh chords; composing in various modes; and the dreaded “German 6th Chord” in the composition. During the rehearsal process I’m able to point these out and hopefully the students will have a better understanding because they have experienced them, rather than just read about them in a textbook.”
“The score is through composed, meaning every line is sung. Both types of recitative, secco, where the singer is accompanied by only keyboard or cello and accompagnato, accompaniment by the full orchestra, are used. The arias are written for young singers’ voices and try to balance the demands of singing an opera score without asking them to take on the challenges of a fully developed professional voice.”
“What a Wonderful Year 2020 Will Be has also been a fabulous opportunity for CSN’s music, theater and dance programs to combine forces in producing the show. Theater students are designing and building costumes; dance students are creating choreography and staging; and music students are singing. We even have CSN faculty playing alongside CSN music majors in the small chamber orchestra.”
The opera runs approximately one hour and twenty minutes. General admission for this special event is $10. Please visit our website at www.csn.edu/pac to purchase tickets. For more information, call the Performing Arts Center Box Office at 702-651-LIVE (5483). All proceeds will go to benefit CSN’s Music Vocal Program.
The CSN Performing Arts Center, provides quality artistic, cultural, educational, and entertainment opportunities for the college and the community. It is located at 3200 East Cheyenne Avenue in North Las Vegas.
