“Black mustard” is what people call the thick oil that is often visible — particularly at sunset — on the surface of Newtown Creek, which borders Queens and Brooklyn in New York City. The estimated 30 million gallons of oil is one of many toxins in the creek, an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. This would seem an unlikely place to not only inspire, but to also be the venue, for an opera, but it is. The opera "Newtown Odyssey," by UC Davis professor Kurt Rohde, visual artist Marie Lorenz and writer Dana Spiotta, is being premiered this weekend.
When he was a college student, Pierpaolo Polzonetti was hired by an opera-loving cookbook author to research composer Giuseppe Verdi’s favorite recipes. There weren’t any, but it led Polzonetti to a fascination with what he dubs “gastronomic signs” in opera. Many years later, the result is the recently published book Feasting and Fasting in Opera: From Renaissance Banquets to the Callas Diet by Polzonetti, the Jan and Beta Popper Professor of Music at UC Davis.
Mark Ferrando (B.A., dramatic arts, ’11) has a résumé that illustrates his versatility: stunt performer, acrobat, actor, circus artist. Ferrando has channeled his passion for physicality and theater into a career that calls for both. As a student at UC Davis, he studied dramatic arts and was a part of the gymnastics club.
Todd Calvin (B.A., political science, ’86) was recently elected vice president of the Opera League of Los Angeles board of directors. He has served on the board for nine years. Calvin has been vice president for business and legal affairs for Viacom Media Networks (Nickelodeon and TV Land) for nearly eight years. He worked for the Walt Disney Company in business and legal affairs for seven years and also held jobs at the San Francisco Opera and Showtime.
