Jordan Hohenstein
Staff Reporter
 

 
 Students and alumni in Briar Cliff University’s Opera workshop paid tribute to music greats as a farewell to their professor.

 “Its kind of like the pro-bowl of the music department,” said senior theology major Jon Konz with a laugh.

 The faculty decided to use current and former BCU students that range in age from freshman to alumni.

 The production featured Briar Cliff University students Bert Bucher, Madelyn Essig, Dan Griesel, Chris Hanson, Alex Hoefling, Jon Konz, Lina Luangrath, Micaela Ten Hoven and Molly Tullis.

 Also performing were BCU music alumni William Darwin, Christopher Kopel, Angela McDermott Iversen and Ellen Daniels Osborn, all of Sioux City. Accompanists for the production were Sister M. Arnold Staudt, OSF, assistant professor of music, and BCU alumni Jamie Schmidt and Cheryl Smith Tatro. Staging was done by Angela McDermott Iversen and Sister Mary Day, associate professor of music and chair of the music department.

 The students learned about the music and what it meant. This was a crucial step in the process of putting these musical selections together because many of them were written and performed in non-English languages.

 Members of the workshop were not only students, but also students that had an interest in this music and wanted to solute Sister Arnold Staudt for all her work over the years.

 “It really is for Sister Arnold,” said Konz. “Kind of a last hoorah for her.”

 Konz said it is a great way for Arnold to see what her students have accomplished under her direction while teaching here at Briar Cliff University.

 In front of a nearly full audience in the Meis Recital Hall on campus, members of the workshop performed arias from the Mozart operas, “Cosí fan tutte¸” “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute,” and Gilbert & Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” and “Mikado.” Musical selections by Stephen Sondheim and an operatic parody of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by Mark Schweiger were also performed.

 The music department and faculty selected the music, explained Konz. He said Sister Arnold is a fan of Gilbert & Sullivan’s, and that is why workshop members performed several pieces by these two composers.

 “Opera Workshop has been in existence for more than two decades at Briar Cliff University,” said Day. “It gives students the opportunity to perform roles from both the opera and musical theatre which contributes to the cultural enhancement of the campus.”

 Prior to the performance, Day gave an introduction and stated, “It is national laughter day.”

 She could hardly keep a strait face through that sentence as a roar of laughter came across the audience. She said this so the audience would realize that this was supposed to be a fun program, and it worked.

 Konz summed the performance up.

  “I just realized this is my last performance at Briar Cliff, and I am glad that it is a fun one.”