Opera typically brings to mind a serious, dramatic work aset to music, with the story's words sung by powerful avoices, the singers accompanied by an orchestra. Indeed, that is one definition of the genre. Yet, defined literally, opera is simply the plural of opus, a musical composition. Both definitions are useful this spring for the premiere of Emperor Norton of the U.S.A. composed by UC Davis music professor emeritus Jerome Rosen, to be performed June 1 (preview), 3, 5, 6 (matinee), 9 and 11 in Main Theatre. For while Emperor Norton tends toward the traditional, it still offers the audience something more experimental and less predictable. In doing so, the opera fits into what some describe as a current trend in opera writing. "Operas being written today don't really follow any particular patterns," says Stephanie Friedman, a Berkeley-based vocal coach who has toured nationally and internationally in John Adams' Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer. Some newer operas follow a fairly traditional story line, like Andre Prévin's A Streetcar Named Desire, Friedman says, while others like Nixon in China have a theme but no absolute story line. What opera composers and writers tend to do, Friedman says, is to want to make the opera socially relevant, to have something to say. Emperor Norton follows a clear story line--yet veers slightly away from traditional opera in that parts of the production will be spoken and it is relatively short, less than two hours. A world premiere The opera is new, has never been performed in its current form, and is something of an experiment for those on stage and behind the scenes, Rosen says. "The singers usually know something about a production. But this is the first time for them to do this work from rock bottom. There's no record to go to. It's exciting, challenging and risky," he says. Emperor Norton is the second Rosen opera to have a UC Davis premiere--the first time was 20 years ago to the month when his Calisto and Melibea (with a libretto by Edwin Honig) was performed on campus. A kingly eccentric The story of Rosen's new opera--for which Bay Area poet and playwright James Schevill wrote the libretto--is the biography of Joshua Norton, a British merchant living in San Francisco who attempted to corner the rice market in the mid-1800s. Norton failed, went bankrupt and re-emerged as the self-proclaimed "Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico"--in actuality, what we could now call a street person. Along the way, the eccentric Norton printed his own money and issued proclamations, and supported Chinese laborers and the spirit of Mexico. When he died in 1880, 10,000 people attended his funeral. Vision of racial harmony "Norton's vision of universal brotherhood was genuine," says Schevill. "His compassionate view of the individual and the need for racial harmony seem all the more apt today." Emperor Norton began in 1961 as Schevill's play. In 1979, Rosen, a UC Davis music professor emeritus, added songs to the work, and it was performed at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Some years later, Rosen and Schevill decided to turn the play into an opera, with a libretto by Schevill and score by Rosen. The work is being presented on campus by the music and the theatre and dance departments, supported by a campus grant, and features both students and professional opera singers, with music by the UCD Symphony Orchestra. Professor Emeritus Harry Johnson will direct the production. A professional cast The cast will be composed of professional singers including bass William O. Beeman in the title role of Emperor Norton; soprano Kathleen McCoy, a UC Davis alumna, as Salvation Sal; and mezzo-soprano Lenore Turner-Heinson, also a UC Davis alumna and well-known campus and regional performer, as Empress Norton. The audience will hear nuances of ragtime and Dixieland, says opera musical director and music professor Kern Holoman. "The music is bright, rhythmic, fast-moving in places, and romantic, lyrical and ballad-like in other places," he says. Yet, "the opera will feel like a serious work. It won't feel like you've been to a musical. More, it's like you've been to a troubling time in the history of San Francisco, with racial diversity and immigration" as the focus. Composer Rosen puts it another way, saying the music of Emperor Norton will be true to the spirit of the times. "I try to keep the music living in the world of the story, not to be too abstract. It'll sound like music that's appropriate to the story."