Centenary College Singers' Workshop presents concert December 9
SHREVEPORT, LA — The Singers’ Workshop at Centenary’s Hurley School of Music presents “La Vie de Boheme,” a concert of opera, operetta, and musical theatre excerpts, on Saturday, December 9 at 7:00 p.m. in the College’s Anderson Auditorium. The performance is free and open to the public.
“In Singers' Workshop, we learn on our feet, so in creating and staging the show itself, the singers are learning how to create vivid characters as well as breaking down some technical aspects of acting,” says Cindy Sadler, Hurley Artist-in-Residence and director of the Singers’ Workshop. “I think the singers are most excited to realize what they are capable of creating when they remove ego from the equation and also how good acting informs good singing, and vice versa.”
The concert’s “La Vie de Boheme” theme uses a diverse musical repertoire to celebrate and explore what it means to be a Bohemian – historically, literally, and figuratively. Included are selections from Rent, Carmen, The Bohemian Girl, Romeo and Juliet, The Old Maid and the Thief, Street Scene, Fun Home, Side Show, Company, Phantom of the Opera, Songs for a New World, Die Tote Stadt, La Boheme, and more.
The theme emerged from the students’ own interests. Singers’ Workshop participants researched Bohemia, writing papers and character studies to learn about geography, history, and how the Roma people came to be referred to as Bohemien in French. They studied Henri Murger's Bohemians of the French Quarter in the mid-1800s and the Bohemians of New York City in the early 1990s through today, exploring themes associated with the Bohemian life: otherness, the important of art, and longing.
“La Vie de Boheme” is directed by Sadler, with musical direction and collaborative piano by Dan Ley. The performers are all students enrolled in the semester-long Singers’ Workshop taught by Sadler. The Singers’ Workshop concentrates on both solo and ensemble performances, offering students the opportunity to improve their communication skills in musical theatre and opera while learning practical information about period movement, working with lighting, controlling nerves, and the acting process for singers.
A special preview performance of “La Vie de Boheme” will take place on Wednesday, December 6 at 12:30 p.m. in Centenary’s Hargrove Ampitheatre. This performance is also free and open to the public.