Wiemann Opera Scores Well in National Competition

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

June 28, 2007 Archives

Contact: Beth Wiemann, 581-1244; George Manlove, 581-3756

ORONO — A two-act, contemporary opera composed by UMaine School of Performing Arts Professor of Music Beth Wiemann placed fourth out of five semi-finalists in the 2007 Opera Vista Competition in Houston.

Excerpts from the five selected works were presented to a live audience on June 22 and June 23.

“I’m actually OK with my being a semi-finalist, because of lot of people got to hear my work. I’m especially pleased that the singers of the company enjoyed the piece,” Wiemann says. “The voting was all done by audience vote, which was very close. It turned out that there was a tie between the top two selections.”

The title of Wiemann’s opera, originally composed in 2003 for the UMaine ensemble Opera Workshop conducted by UMaine music professor and soprano Nancy Ogle, is “Deeds,” an operatic comedy in English about the owners of a lobster shack on the Maine coast, struggling to prevent outsiders from buying the property on which the shack sits.

Wiemann composed and scored the opera, to be performed in two 30-minute acts, and the libretto, or text, was written by New York librettist Ron Singer. Wiemann and Singer were originally introduced by the late Connie Hunting, a former UMaine English professor and poet.

Wiemann is a nationally know clarinetist and composer who has recorded her work and the works of other contemporary composers on five CDs and various sampler CDs.

The 2007 Vista Competition is an annual event that receives dozens of entries. Only a few are selected for the prestigious competition each year.

The Vista Opera Competition hired professional musicians and vocalists to perform the opera excerpts for the competition.

Wiemann, who was in the audience for the performances, says that the singers involved in the production came from throughout the western United States, and “were really committed to presenting the excerpts as complete musical and dramatic showpieces.”