Friday evening, Otterbein's Music Department will be debuting an original opera titled "First Encounters (Berthe Morisot meets Edouard Manet)," written by Dr. Dennis Davenport, chairperson of the Music Department.
With the action set in 1868 at the Louvre Museum in Paris, the story is centered around two historic painters. Berthe Morisot, played by Allison Asarch, is a rising Impressionist painter who has come to the museum for "copying day," an event for artists to copy the work of great masters and for critics to come give their opinions on what they think of the works. Edouard Manet, played by Otterbein alumnus Andrew Szczerba, is more established as a painter and attends the event to see the critiques of the works of art.
“It’s a fairly short piece. It’s only 35 minutes long, so it’s not a full-length opera. And when I say it's an Opera it's not like one of these stuffy pieces," said Davenport. "Whatever your expectations are of an opera this is not that. It's really almost like a musical theater piece in a way.”
Davenport said the entire event, accompanied by a lecture about 19th-century French art by Janice Glowski, Otterbein's Director of Galleries and Museums, may take an hour and fifteen minutes.
Also featured in the performance will be images of the paintings discussed in the opera, including works by both Morisot and Manet, with Manet's famous portraits of Morisot ending the piece. These will be displayed on two LCD monitors set on stage and will act as if the art gallery is changing.
The piece opens on Friday, April 1 at 8 p.m. in the Battelle Fine Arts Center Riley Auditorium with admission at $5. The opera will run all weekend, with a performance Saturday, April 2 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m.
