MANSFIELD — Brandon Dixon was a teenager at the Richland School of Academic Arts when he was introduced to the Mid-Ohio Civic Opera.
He was blown away by the sound at his school that day.
“I was 13 or 14, trying to be the cool guy at the time. ‘Oh, man, it’s gonna be lame’ … until they start singing,” said Dixon.
“Pretty much everything around me tuned out, even my friends trying to chuckle and laugh at it. I was only focused on what they were saying, which I couldn’t understand, because it was in German.
“But I was in awe at the fact that they could produce such sound with their voices,” Dixon said.
Now a 21-year-old Mansfield Senior High School graduate, Dixon joins those voices Friday night as part of the chorus for Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio,” at Grace Episcopal Church at 41 Bowman St.
The opera is inspired by a true story from the French Revolution. It centers on a woman, Leonora, whose husband, Florestan, has been secretly imprisoned by his political rival, the villainous Don Pizarro.
Determined to rescue him, Leonore disguises herself as a young man named “Fidelio” and gets a job in the prison where he is being held. As Fidelio, she earns the trust of the jailer Rocco (and also the affections of his daughter, Marzelline, which leads to some awkward moments…)
On the orders of Don Pizarro, Rocco is slowly starving Florestan to death.
However, when news breaks that a government official named Don Fernando is coming to investigate rumors of cruelty in the prison, Don Pizarro decides to speed things up and execute Florestan himself – as soon as possible.
Will Leonore be in time to save him?
Source: https://www.operanorth.co.uk/news/fidelio-in-a-nutshell/
The cast includes eight principal singers, a chorus of 12, pianist and conductor.
It also includes local author/playwright/storyteller Mark Jordan, who provides narration to the German-language opera in key moments.
Subtitles will also be presented on a screen for the audience as songs are performed.
The free performance is one of four planned by the Mid-Ohio Civic Opera over the next two weekends, including shows in Wooster, Ashland and Marion, according to Joel Vega, director of the company.
The renowned symphony composer, Beethoven “labored for years and years” over his only opera.
“It kind of embodies his enlightenment ideals at the time. He was a really different dude. He really believed in freedom of expression, freedom of speech, specifically political speech.
“And he believed in empowering women. He actually didn’t get married because he said he found marriage to be a form of slavery,” Vega said before a rehearsal this week.
“This show really embodies the enlightened noble person speaking their mind and persevering … the love of the perfect wife who keeps hope alive for years and years and rescues her husband.
“(Beethoven) liked turning everything kind of on its head, the power structures. So this really speaks to his personal ideas … and it paid his rent,” Vega said with a laugh.
The Mid-Ohio Civic Opera will perform “Fidelio” in Mansfield, Wooster, Ashland and Marion over the next two weekends. Admission is free, though donations will be accepted.
Here are the dates, times and locations of performances:
Friday, June 23, 7 p.m., Grace Episcopal Church in Mansfield.
Sunday, June 25, 3 p.m., Zion Lutheran Church in Wooster.
Friday, June 30, 7 p.m., Trinity Lutheran Church in Ashland.
Sunday, July 2, 3 p.m., Epworth United Methodist Church in Marion.
Dixon, who said he began singing when he was 3 and is now employed at Charter Next Generation, hopes to find a way to use his music career to help pay his own way in life.
“I’m going to try and stay with Mid-Ohio Civic Opera as long as I can. In terms of learning, with my voice, I want to continue with Joel.
“I am very comfortable. He knows what he’s talking about, understands how it feels. If he can’t find something, he uses his resources and outreaches to other people that he knows how to teach,” Dixon said.
“I’m looking forward into progressing with him in my voice and also into acting. I’ve been out searching Columbus and Cleveland, looking at different agencies to try and get there.
“Acting was the first thing that I fell in love with. And then music came in second. So it’s just finding that way out to find a better way to make a living off of this,” Dixon said.
Vega praised the work of Dixon.
“He’s just started to study with me. He’s a very quick learner and has made great strides in only a couple months towards learning classical opera voice technique,” Vega said.
“He’s the tenor prisoner soloist (in the chorus) and gets to make his debut with his two sung solo lines,” he said.
Vega said the cast also includes seasoned professionals.
“They know how to bring out the emotion the singing and in their faces. They will turn to each other and kind of do their thing. If the tenor is singing to the soprano, he’ll lean over and they’ll sing to each other.
“But the melody and the harmony carry all that emotion. It’s incredible,” Vega said.
Fidelio, by Beethoven (1814)
Leonore/Fildeio – Corey Lovelace
Florestan – Daniel Juárez
Rocco – Joseph Trumbo
Marzelline – Heidi Kirschenheiter Vega
Jaquino – Dylan Davis
Don Pizarro – Andrew Potter
Don Fernando – J. Dalton Derr
Tenor Prisoner Soloist – Brandon Dixon
Community opera chorus
Paul Chandley – Conductor & Music Director
Sophia Pavlenko Chandley – Piano
Joel Vega – Company Director & Chorus Master
