Hot Springs Music Club to present ‘Opera in the Springs’ this weekend
Hot Springs Music Club will present “Opera in the Springs” at 3 p.m. Sunday at Grand Avenue United Methodist Church, 841 Quapaw Ave.
The program will consist of various operatic arias, duets, and ensemble works by vocal students from Ouachita Baptist University.
The students are under the codirection of Hot Springs native John Alec Briggs and Arnold Rawls of OBU Opera Theatre. Rawls will also perform at the event. The program is free and open to the public.
OBU Opera Theatre is a performance group intended to develop and apply the basic skills of acting (deportment, expression, diction, character development), stagecraft, makeup, and musical style in opera productions. OBU Opera Theatre productions are fully staged and costumed shows, with orchestral accompaniment. Faculty, staff, and students involved in this production work diligently to prepare performances of the highest caliber with a full range of technical capabilities at their disposal.
Rawls was named associate professor of music and artist-in-residence at OBU in 2017. He holds degrees from Oklahoma Baptist University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the University of Oklahoma. He is a former professor and artist-in-residence at Moody Bible Institute and has been a professional opera singer for more than 20 years, including roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Frankfurt Opera and Opera Australia.
Briggs holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Ouachita Baptist University. He attended graduate school at Louisiana State University and he is currently completing graduate studies in Voice Pedagogy at Westminster Choir College. Briggs also holds a Master of Architecture from Tulane University. His architectural thesis, “The Theatre and the City,” was completed in residence in Venice, Italy, and explored building a modern addition to that city’s historic La Fenice opera house.
Since 2011, Briggs has served on the faculty at OBU, where he is a lecturer in music, teaching applied voice, codirecting OBU Opera, and directing OBU Handbells. He is also choirmaster and organist
at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Little Rock.