The Sacred in Opera Initiative

Winter 2022 Newsletter

In This Issue

Words of Welcome from our new SIO Chair, Casey Robards

SIO Editorial Board: Call for Submissions

Dave Brubeck: An Introduction

Beyond Jazz: Dave Brubeck's Sacred Works

Seymour Barab's Only a Miracle:  Can Comedy and Theology Co-exist?

Words of Welcome from SIO Chair

Casey Robards

Dear Opera Lovers, Performers, Teachers, Friends,

Welcome to the Winter 2022 edition of the Sacred in Opera Newsletter. We are excited to bring you news from the National Opera Association National Conference that recently took place in person in St. Augustine, Florida.  The SIO Initiative Committee was pleased to present a breakout session on the works of centenary composers Seymour Barab and Dave Brubeck. Two articles will further expand upon the January 7, 2022 SIO breakout session. Dr. Philip Seward (Columbia College Chicago) and Prof. Amy Pfrimmer (Tulane University), who toured extensively with Brubeck, invite us to discover jazz pianist Dave Brubeck’s large-scale sacred vocal compositions. Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller (Clayton State University) shares insight on the theology of Only a Miracle by Seymour Barab.

We will continue to honor centenary composers born in 2021 and 2022 in our summer 2022 newsletter, in addition to our recurring column on Jewish opera by Dr. Kathleen Roland-Silverstein (Syracuse University). Please reach out to Dr. Tammie Huntington (Indiana Wesleyan University), newly-appointed editor of the SIO Newsletter, with your ideas for future topics of reflection/discussion for our readership. We welcome your submissions!

As we look ahead to future conferences and gatherings, the Sacred in Opera Initiative is committed to an inclusive path that gives voice to a broad scope of performers, composers, scholars, educators, producers, and creatives who explore the intersection of faith and theater. What aspects of our beliefs and religions are performative? What rituals are present and faith communities are created in production? I recently conducted Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers and the line that stays with me is Madeline’s statement, “… I found on the stage what every person desires. Not escape, but connection.” We all know the power of sung and staged drama to connect us to our shared humanity, experiences, grief, and celebration. Emotions felt individually can be transported to a different level of meaning and new activity when acknowledged and processed collectively. Together we can help one another find hope, or at least persevere. Together, we can listen and learn from our past. We can choose to keep dreaming and working toward the future we want.

Before I close, I want to acknowledge that I am most humbled and honored to continue the work of the Sacred in Opera Initiative as your new Chair. Please join me in thanking Dr. Isaí Jess Muñoz (University of Delaware) for his seven years of dedicated service as the SIO Chair. His impact is immeasurable, and compassionate leadership palpable. Thank you so much, Jess, for your heart, passion for inclusivity, and endless appetite for doing good works.

Finally, I want to extend my personal thanks to the members of the SIO committee, each one bringing perspective, expertise, history, warmth, energy and cooperation:  Kurt, Michelle, Philip, Ryu-Kyung, Ruth, Susan, Tammie, thank you for your work!

Dr. Casey Robards
The Sacred in Opera Initiative of the NOA, Chair
Clinical Asst. Prof. in Keyboard/Vocal Coaching, University of Illinois
Conductor, Head of Collaborative Piano, Bay View Music Festival

From The Editorial Board

Article Submission and the Peer Review Process

Although traditional print journal and monograph publishing is still alive and well, non-traditional forms of publishing such as the Sacred in Opera Web and Blog based format can serve as wonderful supplements or alternatives to traditional scholarship. Web based publications such as ours can enable the broadest possible readership of your research outputs and become an important way to maximize the dissemination and impact of your findings. In order to better serve our community members, the SIO committee continues working diligently to refine its formalized peer review process for the vetting of article submissions and materials to our newsletter. We welcome you to visit our updated submission criteria found in the SIO pages of the NOA website. We are always interested in hearing from potential contributors and supporting the good work you are doing in the field of Sacred in Opera. Let us hear from you.

The current list of the SIO Committee and Editorial Board includes:

Dave Brubeck:  An Introduction

By Philip Seward



California native, Dave Brubeck, began his musical studies as a classical pianist, though later, while a music major at College of the Pacific in Stockton, California, he turned his attention to jazz. While there, he founded an experimental group with some other students called the Jazz Workshop Ensemble. During the Second World War, Brubeck enlisted and served in the army. His war experiences were to influence his later compositional work. After the war, he enrolled at Mills College to study composition with Darius Milhaud, who encouraged him to incorporate jazz into his compositions. In 1949, Brubeck founded the Dave Brubeck Trio with Cal Tjader and Ron Crott, whom he had met at Mills, and began recording. In 1951, Brubeck formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet with alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on drums.  Continue . . . 

Beyond Jazz: Dave Brubeck's Sacred Works

By Amy Pfrimmer



2020 was officially the centennial celebration of Dave Brubeck’s birth. I met Dave in his 83rd year while he was still touring and was privileged to sing with him many times. There was nothing like looking over at him during a concert and seeing his wide smile of approval and complete joy. 

A cutting-edge pioneer of improvisational jazz piano, Dave Brubeck became known for his use of complex rhythms and odd time signatures (think “Unsquare Dance” in 7/4, “Blue Rondo a la Turk” in 9/8, and “Take Five” in 5/4). Experiments with polyrhythm and polytonality were also innovative facets of Brubeck’s musical style. With a career spanning over six decades, Brubeck was a prolific, creative, and enduringly popular lifelong composer. Besides piano and jazz quartet pieces, he composed large-scale classical compositions that combined orchestras, choirs, and jazz combos, merging diverse styles that frequently contained messages of the importance of social justice and faith.
Continue. . . 

Seymour Barab’s Only a Miracle:  Can Comedy and Theology Co-exist?

By Kurt-Alexander Zeller



At the 2022 NOA Conference, the National Opera Association’s Sacred in Opera Initiative celebrated the centennials of two opera composers, Seymour Barab and Dave Brubeck, who both wrote a significant body of sacred music drama, but are better known to most audiences for their secular works. One of the works profiled was Only a Miracle, a 50-minute one-act opera by Seymour Barab, which presents a fanciful look at the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus Christ in which very few of the principal players actually appear. Barab’s libretto nevertheless manages to explore a number of the theological threads most significant to Christian believers and to weave them into a new comic work. The presentation in St. Augustine devoted most of its time to excerpts from the work performed by students enrolled in the Music Drama Workshop class at Clayton State University. In this companion article to that presentation, attention is directed to how Barab, in his libretto and dramatic construction, underscores theological points about Jesus’ birth that are important to Christians.  Continue . . .