[nabs-l] blind opera singer in The Magic Flute this weekend

Thu Oct 28 16:26:36 UTC 2010

Hello Robert and everyone,

    I wonder if there's a way to block image attachments making attached 
text documents easier to find. Thanks for sending the news story.

Peter Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Jaquiss" <rjaquiss at earthlink.net>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 12:06 AM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] blind opera singer in The Magic Flute this weekend

Hello:

     The original message I received had four attachments. The fourth
attachment was a .txt file that was perfectly readable. For those of you who
need it, I am appending the text below my signature.

Regards,

Robert Jaquiss

---------------- Text attachment from original message -------

NFB member, Jessica Bachicha, to sing lead in Mozart's opera, "The Magic
Flute"

WHAT:

Opera: CUA to Stage The Magic Flute
Blind Doctoral Student to Play Queen of the Night
President John Garvey Appears in Walk-on Role Oct. 29
  WHEN:
Thursday, Oct. 28, 7:30 p.m., preview performance
Friday, Oct. 29, and Saturday, Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 31, 2 p.m.

  WHERE:

The Catholic University of America
Hartke Theatre
620 Michigan Ave., N.E.
Washington, D.C.

DETAILS:

Blind doctoral candidate Jessica Bachicha will
perform the role of the Queen of the Night in the
Oct. 29 and 31 performances. To read a story
about Bachicha, click
<http://publicaffairs.cua.edu/releases/2010/10JessicaBachicha.cfm>here.

On Oct. 29, Catholic University President John
Garvey will appear in a walk-on role in CUA's
production of The Magic Flute, an opera in two
acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Sung in German
with English dialogue, the production is directed
by Jay D. Brock, lecturer in the drama department
and artistic director of Opera Alterna based in
Washington, D.C. David Searle, assistant
professor and director of orchestral activities
and conducting studies, will lead the CUA Orchestra.

The opera, with libretto by Emanuel Shikaneder,
chronicles the rescue of Pamina  daughter of the
Queen of the Night  from Sarastro by the hero
Tamino, who is armed with a magic flute. Mozart's
final masterpiece is filled with enigmatic
references to the Freemasons. The composer and
librettist were friends and members of the fraternal organization.

Rife with ritual and symbolism, the fairy-tale
opera is a playful but profound look at man's
search for love and his struggle to attain wisdom
and virtue. The opera features the virtuosic
arias of the Queen of the Night and the
folksong-like melodies of the bird catcher Papageno.

Tickets for the Oct. 28 performance are $10 for
general admission and $5 for students, seniors
and CUA alumni, faculty and staff. Tickets for
the other performances are $15 for general
admission and $10 for students, seniors and CUA alumni, faculty and staff.

For more information, contact the Benjamin T.
Rome School of Music at 202-319-5414.
  SPONSOR:
  Benjamin T. Rome School of Music

30
#053

Oct. 20, 2010

Blind Doctoral Candidate Blossoms at CUA's Music School

Jessica Bachicha to Play Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute

[]

Singer Jessica Bachicha with her voice coach
Sharon Christman, associate professor and chair of the voice program.

Catholic University doctoral candidate Jessica
Bachicha stands next to a grand piano in Ward
Hall, rehearsing the Queen of the Night's
difficult vengeance aria for the upcoming
production of The Magic Flute at Hartke Theatre.
As her voice rises, so do her hands.

A beaming Sharon Christman, associate professor
and chair of the voice program, says "That was
beautiful." But Christman notices that her
student's hand movements do not reflect the drama
in her voice. She takes Bachicha's hands in her
own as she demonstrates more expressive gestures.
Bachicha focuses on memorizing the movement of her teacher's hands.

As the practice session ends, Bachicha turns and
reaches for a water bottle. Her hands rest for a
second on a bottle of hand sanitizer, and then she finds the water bottle.

The winner of a concerto competition at CUA
earlier this year, Bachicha happens to be blind.
(To watch a video of Bachicha rehearsing, click
<http://voice.cua.edu/bachicha.cfm>here.)

Eroica, which recorded Bachicha's "Illuminations"
CD, notes that Bachicha "sings with the freshness
of Charlotte Church, the vigor of Maria Callas,
and the resonance of Kiri Te Kanawa."

A resident of Baltimore, Bachicha expects to
graduate in 2011 with a Doctor of Musical Arts
degree. She was accepted at CUA's Benjamin T.
Rome in 2008 following an audition that amazed
Christman and other music faculty. At the time,
Christman knew that she wanted to work with
Bachicha, but she realized she would need the support of other professors.

"When I heard Jessica, there wasn't a doubt in my
mind," says Christman, herself a renowned soprano
who sang the Queen of the Night role at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York City. "Jessica has
a potential performance career. Her voice is
lovely; she is beautiful and personable  the
total package  but her stage experience had been somewhat limited."

Bachicha says, "At Catholic University, it's been
so refreshing to work with musicians who
recognize me as a peer and realize that's it not
that different from working with a sighted
singer. The thing that matters most is
musicianship and the faculty here judge me on that alone."
[]

Jessica Bachicha

At the conservatory where Bachicha earned a
master's degree in vocal performance before
coming to CUA, she notes that she learned a lot
from the faculty. She performed as a soloist in
recitals and in concerts with orchestra and
chamber groups. But she did not have the chance to perform a major opera
role.

With a voice like Bachicha's, Christman notes,
there's a responsibility to provide the
opportunities she needs to realize her full
potential. "We have no right to set limits on
Jessica when she doesn't set any on herself," Christman notes.

And what better place to grow as an artist than
at Catholic University, where faculty members
routinely go the extra mile for their students, says Christman.

David Searle, assistant professor, director of
orchestral activities and conductor of the CUA
Orchestra, says that when working with Bachicha,
he sometimes gives her an audible cue  a loud
breath  "when there's no audible pulse in the music."

Bachicha's academic resume is impressive. In
addition to earning her master's in vocal
performance at the New England Conservatory,
Bachicha spent a year as a graduate research
student at the University of Leeds in England,
and earned bachelor's degrees in music and
foreign languages from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

As part of her doctoral work at CUA, she is
designing interdisciplinary courses that explore
the ways in which music reflects philosophical
and theological truths. As she explains, "music
is a door between the worlds of intellect and
affectivity. Beautiful music infused with meaning
can bridge the gap that often exists between the
two and, more importantly, the longing for
realization which moves the will to moral action."

Bachicha notes that her role in The Magic Flute
and the opportunity to work with the music
faculty has enabled her to grow significantly as a musician.

"I have a lot more confidence in myself and in
what God wants to do through me," she says. "It's
so important to be an instrument of the music and
to ask 'how can I do that better?' The more
confidence you have to have in yourself, the more
you have to let yourself go and just think about
how can I serve better as a musician."

<http://publicaffairs.cua.edu/newsandinfo/newsreleases.cfm>More news from
CUA

30
#058

Last reviewed: October 20, 2010
Reason. Faith. Service.
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