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John Hopkins

Pictured is a rehearsal for Sunday’s performance of the second act of “Die Fledermaus” by the Choir of the North and the UAF Opera Workshop. Elsenstein (Billy Gilbert) tries to woo Adele (Amy Horstman) with his old “watch tricks.” Actually, Adele is his chambermaid, but he is seeing everything through a “veil of champagne bubbles.”

FAIRBANKS -- Alaska Camerata, Choir of the North and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Opera Workshop are joining forces for an evening of vocal theatrics tonight. A second performance, “A Visit to Vienna,” without Alaska Camerata, will take place Sunday.

Alaska Camerata is 19-voice chamber choir performing renaissance-period liturgical works, in this case a pair of motets and a mass written by William Byrd. There will also be a performance of a more modern composition written by former Fairbanksan Mark Arnett.

The highlight of these pieces, explained John Hopkins, director of these three groups and chair of the UAF Music Department, will be Byrd’s “Mass for Five Voices.” Byrd was somewhat an underground artist the late 1500s, Hopkins explained, writing masses for both the Anglican and Catholic churches, even though the Catholic church was outlawed at the time.

“They were underground works because he was hired by the Anglican church and being Catholic was not the popular thing at the time. Actually it was illegal,” Hopkins said. “But they turned a blind eye to him because of his writing.”

One of his most famous works, “Mass for Five Voices,” shucked the conventional wisdom of the time that chorale music should be written for four voices. Five voices adds a layer of complexity that could be difficult for both listeners and singers to accept.

“It’s complex simply because there are five parts.,” Hopkins said. “Normal chorale works have four parts. It gives you a sort of pure sound. You can hear the chord, hear the voices clearly. When you add another voice it immediately becomes much more complex in its sound and is more difficult to perform.”

Once the mass is completed, Alaska Camerata will move into Byrd’s motets, “Ave verum Corpus” — one of his most famous works, Hopkins said — and “Ascendit Deus,” co-written by Jacobus Gallus. Following this pairing is Arnett’s “O bone Jesu.” Hopkins said this piece has a more modern feel, but still manages to fit into the renaissance-period quite well.

“In the renaissance you have these cadences and this dissonance that is worked up, but then it’s resolved. In contemporary music often these dissonances are not resolved. It sounds nice, it has a very pleasant sound to it, but it uses harmonic tones that tell you it’s not from the renaissance,” Hopkins said.

Arnett’s composition is “really an excellent piece. Has things that are in many ways reminiscent of the renaissance style, yet it is a very contemporary composition. It fits in very nicely.”

Hopkins added that this approximately 30-minute performance is a lead-in for an actual mass Camerata Alaska will sing at Sacred Heart Cathedral on April 25. It will be a “good warm-up,” he said.

When the mass has finished, Choir of the North and the UAF Opera Workshop will present a series of opera scenes from Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah,” Verdi’s “Macbeth,” Donizetti’s “Daughter of the Regiment” and a scene from the third act of Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus.”

In “Susannah,” soprano Amy Horstman will sing the title role in “Ain’t it a Pretty Night.” The story revolves around a young girl whose mother dies and drunk father abandons her, and can’t find acceptance in her church.

“It’s a very sad story and centers around the idea of being rejected by her church and then taken advantage of,” Hopkins said. “The song is before anything bad happens and portrays her innocence and beauty.”

In “Macbeth,” baritone Dean Shannon sings of Macbeth’s anxiety and insecurity about his future after a witch tells him “no man born of woman” can cause him harm. Tenor Billy Gilbert comprises the role of a young man enlisting in the military just so he can marry the girl he loves in “Daughter of the Regiment.”

The “Die Fledermaus” selection will be performed with costumes, Hopkins said. Considered Strauss’ best known opera, Horstman returns as Adele, Kirsten Hutchinson takes on the role of her sister, Ida, and Shannon appears as Frank, a 19th century jailer in Vienna.

The second act from this opera will also be performed at the Sunday show, titled, “A Visit to Vienna.” The scene centers around a party thrown by the indulgent Prince Orlofsky. Here the Choir of the North slips in as the crowd creating background chatter while soloists, including Gilbert as Gabriel von Eisenstein, baritone Spencer McAuliffe as Dr. Falke, mezzo-soprano Gwendolyn Brazier as Orlofsky and Hutchinson, Shannon and Horstman create the joviality of the evening.

“In general it’s very tune-y and people will recognize the tunes,” Hopkins said. “If they know anything about opera they’ve heard these arias before. It’s jam-packed with well-known musical things. I think we are putting one of the most fun sections of this opera and one that people will enjoy.”

The evening will also feature “Spring” from Franz Joseph Haydn’s oratorio “The Seasons.” The opera is set in a small village where the passing of winter and signs of spring are celebrated. Hopkins said the performance of this piece is in celebration of spring arriving (slowly) to Fairbanks, but also the death of Haydn 200 years ago.

“We like to celebrate these things,” Hopkins said with a laugh. “So it’s a good time to do a lot of his works.”

IF YOU GO

What: Alaska Camerata and Opera Scenes

When: 8 p.m. tonight

Where: Davis Concert Hall

Tickets: $5

Information: 474-4555

What: Choir of the North and the UAF Opera Workshop Spring Concert

When: 4 p.m. Sunday

Where: Davis Concert Hall

Tickets: $10 adults, $5 students, military, seniors

Information: 474-4555

Contact features writer Glenn BurnSilver at 459-7510.