Opera production earns Second Place Division II in national competition

The WWU spring 2022 opera production of Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Carlisle Floyd’s Slow Dusk was awarded Second Place in Division II of the National Opera Association’s Opera Production Competition. This is the principal opera competition for university and conservatory programs across the United States.

The Division II winner was University of Alabama. The Division I winner was University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The size and stature of the competitors and Western's ranking among them demonstrates the quality of the opera production program in the Music Department.

"I’m so grateful that our students and program were recognized in this way."
Heather Dudenbostel, Director

Floyd’s rarely performed Slow Dusk takes place at a farmhouse in the Carolinas where innocent infatuation is stifled by a family’s deep prejudices.

Traditionally set in a late seventeenth-century convent in Italy, WWU's unique approach to Suor Angelica places its characters at an American Catholic boarding house for unwed pregnant women.

Photos and a complete listing of the cast and crew.

Image by Anna Olsen