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Local Composer to Stage Original Opera in Astoria

By Jeanmarie Evelly | September 17, 2013 9:01am
 Susan Stoderl, a composer, conductor and classically trained musician from Astoria, will stage an original opera at Trinity Lutheran Church next month — the first time she's brought her work to her own neighborhood.
Susan Stoderl, a composer, conductor and classically trained musician from Astoria, will stage an original opera at Trinity Lutheran Church next month — the first time she's brought her work to her own neighborhood.
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Courtesy of Susan Stoderl

ASTORIA — The opera is coming to Queens.

Susan Stoderl, a composer, conductor and classically trained musician from Astoria, will stage an original opera at Trinity Lutheran Church next month — the first time she's brought her work to her own neighborhood.

"This is the first time I've ever come to my home base," she said.

The opera, "One Summer Day," was written and composed by Stoderl and focuses on a string of dramatic events that take place on a single afternoon in a small, conservative town in Western Kansas in 1969.

It is loosely based on Stoderl's own time in Kansas, where she was raised, and its story focuses on everyday people, making it accessible to viewers, she said — even those who might be skeptical about opera.

"It's a good introduction," she said. "For one thing, it's short so you're not sitting there forever, you don't have to have a huge attention span. It's also a very compelling story — there's love duets and there [are] big fights."

The show will feature six opera singers, accompanied by music from the Chamber16 ensemble. It is being produced with the support of a grant from the Queens Council on the Arts.

Though she hasn't produced a work in her home borough previously, Stoderl said she was inspired to after seeing how much Astoria's cultural scene has grown in recent years — a big difference from when she first moved to the neighborhood in 1991.

"It was always Manhattan-centric," she said.

The neighborhood's increased diversity in recent years also provides her with a potential audience, Stoderl said, as new residents have moved to Astoria from places like Poland, Russia, Spain — parts of the world where opera is popular.

"Astoria is now ripe for trying to establish a base in it, and to grow as a community," she said.

One Summer Day" will show on Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 5 at 3 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 31-18 37th St. in Astoria. Tickets are $25, or $15 for students and seniors.