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‘The Best of All Possible Worlds’: Showcasing the Artistic Vision Behind FSU Opera

Dr. Arianne Johnson Quinn, Head of College Archives, College of Music 
Rachel Shapiro, Archival Assistant and PhD Student in Musicology  

The College of Music Archives has curated and mounted a case exhibition in Ruby Diamond that showcases the creative history of the Opera program in the College of Music. Entitled “The Best of All Possible Worlds”: Celebrating the Creative History of Opera at the Florida State University” (a reference to Leonard Bernstein’s opera Candide (1956)), the exhibit showcases the often-neglected aspects of opera, including the designs and designers who create multiple worlds that bring opera to life onstage. This behind-the-scenes celebration of the collaborative spirit of opera centers aspects of creative design, including costume design, dramaturgy, and creative direction. It features the work of costumer Lucy Ho and the many other creative professionals who bring opera to life for our students, faculty, and staff, and our musical community. Items included in the exhibit show the wide range of creative effort that goes into a single production, ranging from costume renderings to designs, ephemera, and programs.  

Central to the exhibit are costume renderings by Lucy Ho, whose reputation as costumer in the College of Music is well known for her 45 years of service and inspired creative work.  In recognition of her contributions to furthering Japanese and American cultural relations, Ho was recently honored by the Consul General of Japan in Miami, Kazuhiro Nakai, and presented the Emperor’s Decoration of “The Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays.” 

According to Archival Assistant Rachel Shapiro, one of the initial decisions needed to make in the curation process was the specific narrative that would illustrate the rich history of the opera program, along with the types of materials the Archives Team could locate. This is Shapiro’s first exhibit, which she researched and co-curated with Quinn. She states “We hoped to share the vibrant and varied history of FSU’s opera productions and the many people who have brought this music to life. Given the large range of repertoire performed throughout the years, we aimed to include a variety of artifact types from operas that span from Baroque to Modern.” 

The curation of this exhibit was both challenging and rewarding. One of the greatest challenges was the need to organize the vast quantity of assorted materials that have recently been acquired by the Archives, along with administrative collections in the Opera program. Many of these documents in the Archives are yet to be cataloged, and the artifacts themselves were often unlabeled or only featured some identifying characteristics. Illustrated costume renderings, for example, included the name of the character, it often did not include other pertinent information such as the title or year of the opera production, requiring investigative work to uncover these details to effectively organize the materials in the exhibit.  

Throughout the curation process, Shapiro and Quinn chose to highlight several archival strands. Among the many treasures featured are renderings and photographs of Lucy Ho, along with a rendering for a costume worn by distinguished alum Ryan Speedo Green (MM ’10). Another challenge that we faced were archival gaps in the types and scope of the materials available to us. In addition, the exhibit features items from different opera productions, from George Frederick Handel’s Julius Caesar (1724) to Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree (2000). Most of the materials in the exhibit are from productions performed between 1987-2013. Eye-catching, colorful costume renderings illuminate the creative process behind-the-scenes, and photographs of productions help bring these costumes to life. Other materials, such as correspondence and programs, demonstrate the collaborative effort behind an opera production.  

Much like the nature of opera itself, this exhibit required collaboration between several key offices whose help was instrumental in the curation process. Christina Marullo and Julia Matteson Bradley provided resources and insight into the many costume related materials. The exhibit also drew extensively on the complete repertoire history for opera at FSU, compiled by Professor Emeritus Douglas Fisher. The artifacts selected for this exhibit represent only a glimpse into FSU’s opera history, and this list helps to demonstrate a richer, more complete scope of FSU’s productions. 

The Archives Team is grateful to the wonderful staff who assisted with both the case restoration and with items for display, including Matt Cooksey, James Meade, Julia Matteson Bradley, Christina Marullo, Kim Shively, and the production staff of Ruby Diamond Concert Hall. Special thanks to Dean Todd Queen for his generous support of the Archives. 

The College of Music Archives was established in 2023 to meet the need for long-term stewardship of the archival history and university records held in the College of Music. Led by Dr. Arianne Johnson Quinn, the archives staff consists of several graduate student assistants who are interested in careers in the field of archives and performing arts. Holdings include the archival collections of the Marching Chiefs, faculty and alumni collections, and newly acquired costumes, ephemera and historical artifacts from the opera program.  


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