Hunter Grad Student Gives Voice to 'Lulu' at the MET
Hunter student Jennifer Roderer is a mezzo-soprano, pursuing an MA in Voice with Professor Susan Gonzalez of the Music Department. She recently took part in William Kentridge's production of Alban Berg's opera "Lulu," at the Met. According to an article in the New Yorker ("The Scream," by Rebecca Mead, December 7, 2015), http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/07/the-scream-the-musical-life-re while famed soprano Marlis Petersen has her last run in the title role, Ms. Roderer will be "serving as the operatic equivalent of Petersen's stunt-double: when, at the opera's conclusion, Lulu is killed, offstage, by Jack the Ripper, it is Roderer, not Petersen, who delivers the final, bloodcurdling scream." Roderer stands close with Petersen "backstage for the moment of Lulu's death; when Roderer screams, Petersen clutches her arm, before falling to the ground. 'We are very connected,' Petersen said. 'I feel her very much.'" For her last performance, however, Petersen will deliver Lulu's final scream, alone.