A night at the opera: WCU composer debuts performance based on the work of Ron Rash
The libretto for Shelton Laurel sits in the foreground as performers rehearse.
Donated photo
Ron Rash has never been to an opera. But later this month, he’ll sit down to enjoy an opus based on stories and poems he wrote about the Southern Appalachian mountains he calls home.
“Shelton Laurel: An Appalachian Opera” takes place over a few years around the Civil War. The opera, which will see its world premiere later this month, tells the tale of farmers in Madison County’s Shelton Laurel, not far from Western Carolina University’s Bardo Arts Center in Cullowhee where the work will be performed.
The farmers, in desperate need after having their salt — necessary for curing meat — confiscated, and a group of men and boys, went to retrieve what was theirs, the minerals so crucial to their survival during the harsh Appalachian winter. Things got out of hand, and with both the farmers and the soldiers feeling backed into a desperate corner, violence ensued.
“Shelton Laurel gives voice to an important and difficult reality of Appalachian Civil War history,” a press release promoting the opera reads. “Shelton Laurel is a haunting meditation on loyalty, survival and the brutal consequences of civil conflict.”
This tale, ripe with drama and deeply human themes, is a creation of WCU School of Music Professor Damon Sink. But before it was Sink’s opera, these stories were borne of the mind of Rash, one of Appalachia’s greatest modern writers.
Sink, originally from Pennsylvania, is a full-time professor in the School of Music and has been there since 2012. He’s also a classically trained composer and singer, having studied at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music under teachers who have written operas of their own. He has also written a good deal of chamber music and has had pieces performed regionally, nationally and even internationally.
Related Items
WCU students march miles to vote after on-campus polling site closure
WCU Fine Art Museum marks 20 years
Drum Tao comes to WCU
A deep dive into the world of art
Cast and crew for Shelton Laurel have been hard at work rehearsing for months now. Donated photo
But this is the first opera Sink has ever written, an epic task for an epic story. Some of the greatest composers, names most people in the United States would recognize, never wrote an opera. And when it comes to opera, the logistical effort required to bring an idea to life is about as elaborate as it gets outside of the likes of Hollywood and New York screen and stage productions.
“It’s a huge project,” Sink said. “It’s bigger than a symphony, certainly bigger than a sonata or a piece of chamber music.”
Sink, who has also written musicals, said Shelton Laurel will “straddle” American opera and contemporary music theatre, but where musicals typically have spoken dialogue, his work will be sung throughout. Like in other operas, some parts will be more subdued, and the aria solos will allow for crescendos that really highlight the most dramatic moments of the story.
“It’s really opera in the sense that there’s sort of an ebb and flow to the way the music works,” Sink said. “It seemed to me and still seems like this is the best way to deliver the emotional impact of the central stories that I’m adapting from Ron’s work.”
Every year, the Bardo Arts Center hosts a new production developed by one of its faculty. Sink has been involved in some of these as a performer or composer. Over a year and a half ago, university asked him if he had any ideas that he’d like to bring to life. At that point, he’d already chewed over the bones of an Appalachian opera for quite some time. He discussed the idea with Rash, who gave Sink some of his books to begin digging in, specifically recommending that Sink look at the story of the Shelton Laurel Massacre.
Sink got to work.
The composer ultimately drew from several of Rash’s stories and pieces of poetry to create a full narrative worthy of the stage, taking a few liberties along the way to maintain continuity in the story telling — liberties he discussed with Rash, who agreed that the two worked well together to create something that is both unique and honors the source material.
Sink said he was taken aback by Rash’s generosity with his own work as Sink embarked on his serious creative quest.
“Ron was just so generous,” Sink said. “I mean, as soon as we started talking about it, he started pulling books off the shelf, and he just said, ‘Yeah, use whatever you want.’”
Rash told The Smoky Mountain News that because he spent so much time researching the written works that Sink used, he was able to help him understand the time and place at the center of the opera on a deeper level.
“There were some suggestions, like small things. ‘That wouldn’t be a Western North Carolina name,’ and very little things like that, and he was always interested,” Rash told SMN.
Damon Sink’s opera is based on a true Appalachian Tragedy, the Shelton Laurel Massacre. Donated photo
When Rash was starting out, he was thrilled just to see a poem get published in a magazine or journal. But now that he’s a solidified literary success, he’s seen his plenty work adapted for other mediums. Most famously he’s had the novels “The World Made Straight” and “Serena” brought to life on the big screen, with “Serena” drawing Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence to play the lead roles. He’s had songs written based on his stories and even graphic novels created from his work.
Just a few months ago, some of his stories were adapted for stage at the Z Space Theatre in San Francisco . The theatre is small, but that’s no matter. Rash said the show sold out for several weeks, and he thought it was “fantastic.”
But while Rash said it’s exciting to see his work adapted by others who feel drawn to it, he admits he hasn’t always loved every adaptation. There’s usually a key distinction between faithful adaptations and ones that feel hollow.
“Some people are just after some money, but when you get somebody is not really motivated by money, it feels good to see that somebody found something in your work,” Rash said.
While Rash admitted he’s never seen an opera live, he recognizes that because Sink has creative control, unlike with Hollywood films that have too many inputs from too many money-minded producers and can be focus-grouped to death, he thinks it’s a truer adaptation. While the opera may not follow the source material to a T, it can more importantly dive into key themes and hit the right emotional notes Rash wrote into his stories and poetry.
Rash has a copy of the libretto and has seen some samples of performances, and he’s genuinely impressed.
“In a way, this is kind of like writing literary fiction,” Rash said. “Now, you know you’re not going to make a lot of money, but way kind of gives you more freedom.”
This isn’t the first time a Smoky Mountain tale has been adapted into an opera. Charles Frasier’s bestseller “Cold Mountain” was adapted by Pulitzer-winning composer Jennifer Higdon into a 142-minute opera in 2015. Like with Sink’s Shelton Laurel, that was Higdon’s first opera, and it received rave reviews from the likes of The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
What’s compelling about Rash’s work to Sink, and what he hopes is compelling about his opera, is the uniquely American nature of the story. It’s a history that local folks are likely familiar with, and it highlights the fact that the Civil War wasn’t necessarily just two monolithic political groups fighting. Sink said he thinks there are themes in Rash’s work — themes he’s tried to nail down — that can allow viewers to relate the material to the tumultuous times the country is enduring right now.
“We’ve gone through a lot of water as a country in the last year and a half, and it has been really surprising and gratifying to me that Ron’s stories and this story in particular are kind of enmeshed in issues that we’re talking about every day now, like the divisiveness of politics and things like that,” Sink said.
Sink said it’s been gratifying to enjoy the support he has from WCU, from the administration to his colleagues in the School of Music. Along with all the hours of work he’s put into writing the opera, dozens upon dozens of others have committed thousands of man hours to making sure their part in making the opus come to life is executed without a hitch.
“I couldn’t be more grateful,” he said.
Sink mentioned several people specifically but had special praise for his colleague at WCU, Isaiah Feken, who he said was “invaluable” in helping to pull the project together.
“He’s an opera guy,” Sink said of Feken. “He sang with Center City Opera in Denver and a lot of different places.”
Feken told SMN that he thinks Sink’s opera is “a very powerful work,” and that even people who aren’t sure whether opera is for them can still enjoy it. The performance is in English, and there will be supertitles provided so people can read the lyrics and follow along with the performance.
“People think of ladies in horned hats and those kinds of things,” he said. “While the work is in the style of modern American opera in terms of compositional style and treatment of orchestra, it’s also definitively Appalachian in the subject matter and sensitivity in the subject matter.”
Along with playing a key role in the opera — as chief antagonist — Feken is also the artistic administrator and stage director, meaning he’s worked closely with set designers, the costumer and the stage manager to make sure all the logistics are nailed down when its showtime.
Feken also provided invaluable assistance when casting, as he was able to leverage his connections in the industry to put Sink’s show on the radar for some heavy hitters. Although there is plenty of local and regional talent in Shelton Laurel, including WCU students and faculty, the school put forward some money to bring in out-of-town talent — professionals from Pittsburgh, Detroit and Columbia, South Carolina.
About 60 people from all over the country auditioned for those three key roles, many of whom were former colleagues of Feken.
A former director of Drake University’s Opera Theatre, Feken said he’s been involved in several world premieres as a conductor or performer but that this is the biggest, most involved premier he’s worked on. He chuckled as he pondered how much work Sink must have put into the project but, like Sink, he also wanted to recognize how the university made the whole thing possible.
“The fact that we’re able to put this together in large part because of support of Bardo Center is truly a feat,” he said. “It’s a giant undertaking.”
Once performers for key roles were secured, Sink sent everyone the score so they could rehearse wherever they were with whatever piano accompaniment they preferred. In mid-November, the performers came together for a stage reading and full rehearsal. Sink said he was amazed how well-prepared and professional the performers were.
13 men and boys were killed in the Shelton Massacre during the Civil War in Madison County. Donated photo
There will be about two weeks of in-person rehearsals before the show to tie everything together ahead of the performance.
“Shelton Laurel” will hit the stage for a single performance on Saturday, Jan. 24. Some of Sink’s colleagues from the university’s communications department will do a multi-camera shoot and professional audio recording, and Sink said the video should be available on YouTube at some point after the performance. In addition, he’s invited opera colleagues from around the country to come and see Shelton Laurel, and he plans on sending the production and score to opera companies around the country that may be interested in staging the performance at their venue.
As Sink makes his final preparations for the big night, Rash said he thinks it will be well-received.
“I think this is his work now, but he’s really tried to honor and be as true to my work as he can while still making it his own,” Rash said. “When I heard the music, it fits the mood of the story, the sense of tragedy and, at times, hope.”
“It’s going to be interesting to see how it works,” Rash added. “I’m just curious.”
Want to go?
“Shelton Laurel: An Appalachian Opera” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, in the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.
At 6:30 p.m., before the start of the show, the BAC will host Ron Rash for a book signing in collaboration with Sylva’s City Lights Bookstore. Concessions and the fine arts museum will also be open.
The box office is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Patrons can purchase tickets at arts.wcu.edu/tickets.
