American Musicological Society Selects Opera Scenes by Oberlin Alumna for Conference By Charity Johnson ('99)
			Lydia Steier '00 (back row, fourth from right) with the cast and musicians of Scorn "Chamber opera that gives a big impression." That's how music director Michael Sponseller (AD '00) describes Scorn, an opera scenes program that focuses on the phenomenon of "the woman scorned" in Baroque opera. The work, conceived and directed by Lydia Steier (BMus'00), features scenes by Handel, Charpentier, Purcell, Rameau, and Royer, and was chosen for performance at the American Musicological Society's annual conference in Toronto in early November. Scorn premiered in Oberlin last December, and was Steier's project for her independent major in opera directing. She submitted a video of this production, along with a statement about the project, to the AMS, and she was "pleasantly surprised" to be invited to the conference. "I didn't realize at first that there were going to be several thousand people there, and that there were many professional music organizations meeting in Toronto at this conference -- this was definitely a tremendous honor." The honor meant reuniting the cast, rehearsing, and planning a tour from Oberlin to Toronto. Steier had to delegate duties from Pittsburgh, where she is pursuing her master of fine arts degree in directing at Carnegie-Mellon University. "The last six or seven weeks, I've been commuting every weekend from Pittsburgh. I've found it really challenging not to be in Oberlin; it has definitely taught me to collaborate." Scott Mello (BMus '01), who performed in Scorn, also assisted Steier, serving as the production's tour manager. Sponseller coached the nine singers and prepared the small group of instrumentalists - two baroque violinists, a baroque cellist and a harpsichordist. "We decided to take a chamber version, sort of minimalist forces." says Sponseller of the small number of players. "It worked very nicely. It was a challenge maintaining the grandness of opera with the intimacy of the chamber group, and it made for a very interesting effect." Steier cites her unique approach to these scenes as the project's primary attraction. "I think the reason we were picked is because we were treating Baroque opera in a way it is not usually treated." she says. "We've had a chance to completely do away with modern conventions, to work with the singers and have them feel such genuine emotion on the stage. We can show these people a new way of looking at an old art form."
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