VALDOSTA — Walking backstage of a Valdosta State University Opera production, one expects to hear the running of vocal scales from people wearing powdered wigs and layers of French petticoats.

For Aaron Copland’s “The Tender Land,” the singing sounds just as sweet but comes from performers wearing bib overalls and battered felt hats.

Costumes, as well as sets and projections of barn doors, wooden fences and silos, are reminiscent of the Depression-era Midwest rather than a European royal court. “The Tender Land” has a hoedown rather than a minuet.

Copland was an American composer rather than the usual German, French or Italian composers most often associated with opera.

“This year’s production is a truly American tale, with music by Aaron Copland,” said Tamara Hardesty, stage director of the opera production. “It’s set in the 1930s on an Iowa farm and we meet young Laurie.”

Laurie is the first in the Moss family to graduate high school. Ma and Grandpa are throwing a party to celebrate her accomplishment.

Meanwhile, rumors claim two drifters assaulted a neighbor girl, Hardesty said. Then, two drifters, Martin and Top, arrive at the family farm. Grandpa hires them. And Laurie falls in love with Martin, one of the drifters.

The opera follows what happens and what has happened, she said; whether Martin and Top are connected to the assault, will a relationship blossom, will Martin and Laurie marry and inherit the farm?

“This show is about growing up, seeing the world in a new way, or trying to resist change. It’s about mistrusting those we don’t know, and putting our trust in the wrong things,” Hardesty said. “There is so much family drama between the characters.”

The 2018 VSU Opera production features an all-student cast.

“The voices are so impressive, you’ll think you’re hearing professionals,” Hardesty said.

Voices one would expect from an opera but with a hoedown that Hardesty describes as a real “foot-stomper.”

“Did you ever hear of a hoedown in an opera?” she said. “Well, there is.”

THE CAST: Makinsey Rosser, Kimberly Milton, Bekah Ward, Issa Young, Royce Brown, Connor McMillan, Nathan Calvert, Isaiah Riggs, Kate Jackson, Josiah Walker, Katie George, Akila Dixon, Di’Laine Jones, Kimberly Kirkland, Andrea Leon-Moreno, Shelby Miller, Diana Motta, Phil Schredl.

DIRECTION, PRODUCTION: Kenneth Kirk, conductor; Tamara Hardesty, stage director; Carol Mikkelsen, assistant music director; Angela Duncan, rehearsal pianist; Joseph Muncy, technical director, scenic/lighting designer; Brant Pickard, sound & projection engineer; Genny Muncy, scenic artist; Clark Yang, assistant scenic artist; Noah Dalton, master carpenter/electrician; Esther Iverson, costume designer; Zachary Guillot, stage manager; Erika Moore, wigs.

ORCHESTRA: Deborah Stevens, concertmaster; Kayleigh Bagley, David LaBarre, Alexander Howard, Eddy Castellanos, Andrew Copeland, Syanne Potts, Brandy Lloyd, Keila Medina, Matthew Hernandez, Oana Potur, Dylan Peters, Lina Alejandra Aldana, Adam Myers, Jose De Leon, Melissa Wilcox, Terell Lopez, Tucker Prestridge, Eric Castro, Theodore Drakopoulos, Micah Lindsey, Breanna Hagy, Micah Lindsey, Gloria Lemus, Anna Grace Brown, Elicia Fricke, Terrance Brown, Jennifer Michaloski, Clayton Francis.

SHOWTIME

Valdosta State University Opera presents “The Tender Land.”

When: 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 19, youth performance; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, public performance; 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 21, public performance.

Where: Whitehead Auditorium, VSU Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood.

Tickets, reservations: (229) 333-2150.