February 2017

MID-CAREER MAGIC: Piotr Beczala

Two Sides to Anne- Carolyn Bird's Story

Love Story: A Chronicle of Winning the Amore Opera Universe's Lottery: Ana Maria Ugarte and Brian Landry

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Faculty Dr. Todd Queen: Executive Director Dennis Jesse: General & Artistic Director Nyela Basney: Conductor Michael Borowitz & Laura Friesen: Vocal Coaches For more information please visit our site at: operafest.wixsite.com/operafest CS VOCAL COMPETITION $2,000,000 in Scholarships $20,000 Cash Prizes Competition Classical & Musical Theatre $4,000 First Place Prize and No Age Limits! High School, University, and Emerging Professional Divisions First Round - Online or Live Locations, January-May Finals - CS Convention in Chicago, May 26-28, 2017 Convention Classes Four days of masterclasses and presentations by universities, conservatories, summer programs, industry experts, and more. Free for Competition Participants

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Mid-Career Magic: Piotr Beczala 22 BY LISA HOUSTON Tenor Piotr Beczala is having a meaning- ful career, built over decades of consis- tent excellence that keeps him in high demand at the world’s most illustrious houses, as he continues to benefit greatly from the support of his wife, Katarzyna, who gave up her own successful career as a singer two decades ago to support and travel with him. But his career also stands on a foundation of respect and serious attention paid to the lineage of COLUMNS singers that preceded him. Perhaps it's that awe for both the past and present The Music Major Minute: Interns, that has helped Beczala find a remark- 10 Volunteers, and Apprentices—Oh My! able sense of balance in his personal and BY CHRISTI AMONSON professional life, all of which he discusses Even if you know your long-term goal is a in this exclusive interview. career on the stage, taking a look at some other Piotr Beczala jobs in the music industry is never a bad idea, and an internship can be a great place to start.

FEATURES Musings on Mechanics: Why Can’t 14 We All Get a Song? The Perils and Two Sides to Anne-Carolyn 18 Bird’s Story Paradoxes of Auditions BY CLAUDIA FRIEDLANDER BY GREG WAXBERG Auditions can sometimes bring out the worst One year after featuring Anne-Carolyn Bird on in singers, even though every singer goes in the cover, we catch up with the singer to find hoping to show their best. Claudia Friedlander out how her family’s changing needs led to an takes a look at this and other contradictions of unexpected but perfect career change. the audition scene. Love Story: A Chronicle of 32 Amore Opera The Singer’s Library: 44 Matters of the Heart BY RACHEL A. ANTMAN BY BRIAN MANTERNACH Sit down with a hot cocoa on a February day Singer and voice teacher Agatha Carubia and read this true story of how a dedicated melds yogic philosophies and classical singing group of musicians saved the opera company technique in her recent book. they loved. Winning the Universe’s Lottery: IN EVERY ISSUE 38 Ana Maria Ugarte and Brian Landry BY MICHELLE LATOUR 8 Bulletin Board Two singers with two small children share 9 From the Editor how they manage singing careers, disabilities, 48 Audition Listings parenting, and much more. 53 Competition Listings

www.classicalsinger.com 7 BulletinNEWS, TIDBITS, MUSINGS, AND MOREBoard — BY MARIA NOCKIN

Hvorostovsky Puts recordings,” the singer wrote. Grammy Awards Opera on Hold “Singing is my life, and I want to Nominate Santa Fe On December 8, 2016, Dmitri continue bringing joy to people Opera’s ‘Cold Mountain’ Hvorostovsky wrote his fans and worldwide.” Santa Fe Opera’s CD of said that he was withdrawing from Hvorostovsky also said that Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain opera performances with this pause in his operatic has been nominated for Best for the foreseeable career and longer rest in between Contemporary Classical future. He said engagements, he hopes to have Composition and Best Opera that he has been more time to focus on his health Recording. Higdon will be experiencing and treatment. He thanks everyone competing against Mason Bates, Hvorostovsky balance issues who has sent messages wishing whose brand new opera, The because of a brain tumor, which him a speedy recovery and notes (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, will makes it extremely difficult for him that the support of his colleagues make its world premiere in Santa to perform in staged productions. and fans means the world to him. Fe this summer. “I will continue to give concerts General Director Charles and recitals as well as make hvorostovsky.com MacKay told the Albuquerque Journal, "I think it's pretty much a home run for the Santa ‘Musical America’ Awards Go to Thirty Innovators Fe Opera." This isn't the first Last December, Musical America presented awards to innovators. Recipients time Cold Mountain has been included women composers who mentor teenage girls, opera company general honored, however. Last year the managers who bring in International Opera Award gave new audiences, a cellist its prize to Cold Mountain as who plays in neonatal the year’s best world premiere. units, a conductor “We're very much sought after who leads choirs of by composers who know that the homeless, a pianist the Santa Fe Opera is one of the who is bringing back few companies that regularly the pedal piano, and a performs new works," MacKay publicist who creates said. origami press kits to promote a show called bit.ly/2hWSeEe Wings. One of the opera Pacific Opera Project's company managers production of Mozart's who received the award Abduction from the Seraglio was Pacific Opera Project’s Artistic Director Josh Shaw who, together with Music Director Stephen Karr, presents opera as modern entertainment. Their Star Trek version of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio sold out the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Southern California last September and has since been traveling around the country.

bit.ly/189ndXy www.pacificoperaproject.com

Kevin Burdette as Stobrod and Nathan Gunn as Inman in the Santa Fe Opera's production of photo by Ken Howard Cold Mountain, 2015

8 Classical Singer / February 2017 FROM THE EDITOR

LOVE AND SACRIFICE

At last year’s Classical Singer Convention in Boston in May, I was assigned to work at the registration desk, checking singers and presenters in, giving them their convention packets and nametags, and answering questions. I loved this assignment for the same reason I love these yearly conventions. It gave me the opportunity to put faces with names of magazine subscribers, writers, presenters, and more. Two such singers came to the registration desk in Boston that first day. They were local Boston singers, husband and wife, attending the convention together. Brian Landry introduced himself first—and as he shook my hand, he told me how much he enjoyed reading my “From the Editor” column each month. Then he introduced me to his wife, Ana Maria Ugarte. She was the first of four sight-impaired singers I would meet at that convention. As I continued to cross paths with Landry and Ugarte over the remaining days of the convention—attending classes and singing in the competition—I was struck by the same thing that overwhelmed me when reading this month’s feature article on the two (p. 38). These two love each other. They love their family. And they love singing. Loving all of those things has required Landry and Ugarte to make difficult choices. They have had to sacrifice some of what they love (being away from home too often or too long for singing gigs) to better serve those they love (each other and their two boys). And the result? Ugarte happily declares that she has “won the universe’s lottery.” Piotr Beczala, featured in this month’s cover story (p. 22), and his wife, Katarzyna, have also made sacrifices for their family and careers. The two have been traveling together for over two decades because his wife decided to give up a very promising singing career to be with her husband. The two have found a work/life balance and personal stability that many only dream of. Beczala credits that balance and stability for much of his singing success. The February 2016 issue of CS featured soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird and her husband Matthew Burns. The two were traveling the country with their two young children pursuing their operatic careers. This past year, after their oldest son expressed the need for the same home to always return to, the couple realized it was time for a change. Find out how they intentionally changed career paths to accommodate the evolving needs of their family (p. 18). This issue also includes another kind of love story—love that saved an opera company (p. 32). When the beloved Amato Opera announced it was closing, singers rallied, worked, and sacrificed to keep the company alive. And, thus, Amore Opera was born. With a new name but the same passion and zeal for the art form, Amore Opera continues to give singers and audience members tremendous opportunities to revel in opera. Be sure to also check out Claudia Friedlander’s musings on the paradoxes of the audition scene (p. 14)—including how the perils of auditioning can make us forget about our love of singing and say and do foolish things. And then read up on a recent book that discusses how yoga and singing technique go together in “The Singer’s Library: Matters of the Heart” (p. 44)—the perfect title for a February read. Love and sacrifice so often go hand in hand. And as Beczala, Bird, Ugarte, and Landry attest, sacrificing for love of family and art can bring real joy and balance to our lives.

Kevin Burdette as Stobrod and Nathan Gunn as Inman in the Santa Fe Opera's production of Cold Mountain, 2015

www.classicalsinger.com 9 The Music Major Minute

Interns, Volunteers, and Apprentices—Oh My!

BY CHRISTI AMONSON

Even if you know your long-term goal is a career on the stage, taking a look at some other jobs in the music industry is never a bad idea, and an intern- ship can be a great place to start.

hen music majors are close to graduation, Business school seniors and they must make the transition from graduates are encouraged to W student to professional. Some students apply for unpaid internships to choose to go straight on to graduate school, pave the way for future jobs. continuing musical training and making connections Similar opportunities exist for their professional future. Some students will begin within the music industry, auditioning with hopes of getting more training and and more are developing with stage opportunities with Young Artist Programs, diminished budgets and in while others will be overwhelmed at the endless smaller venues. Students possibilities that “adulting” presents. considering a career in opera Christi Amonson have time on their side as the voice continues to mature. So, an internship for a season is an opportunity to make connections by working on the other side of the audition table. Every small opera company needs help and every established company has entry-level jobs. Whether you are monitoring auditions or assisting in the office, an internship provides interesting work in the field you dream of succeeding in. By interning for an artistic director of an opera company or assisting an agent, you can display more skills on a day-to-day basis than they would ever see from you in a short audition. For example, if you sing an audition for a company that knows you have reliably showed up on time

10 Classical Singer / February 2017 Pros and Cons for a Music Internship Pros Cons • Meet professional artists • Must get dressed every day • Hear other singers audition • Must develop a poker face • Impress your future agent • Must learn to make good coffee • Attend performances • Have less time for social media rants • Navigate a new city • Must add a new location to your FB info • Master your computer skills • Goodbye Snapchat, hello spreadsheets • Schmooze the opera elite • Schmooze, not snooze • Be part of the “team” • Earn little to no money on the job • Get out of the classroom • Reality bites every day for three months and reorganized their to the talented singer that has already proven their computer files, the relationship of trust has been dependability? established and they are ready to be wowed by your The university where I teach offers a music industry talent. You will feel more comfortable taking artistic major, which is a music performance track with a chances and revealing your artistic merits when you required minor, music business/industry courses, have already established a working relationship. and a semester-long internship. Students are guided Who wouldn’t want to offer a performance contract in putting together their résumé and portfolios, but

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www.classicalsinger.com 11 The Music Major Minute: Interns, Volunteers, and Apprentices—Oh My! they must apply for internships on their own, which "I interned full-time for a allows them to look for a desired location and the small, but established opera type of company where they would like professional company that develops, experience. As students complete various produces, and premieres internships at places including Nashville, Universal new operas. I was interested Studios, and various companies in New York City, in meeting composers and I have seen them “get it together” and focus on seeing the work that went career choices. Most of these interns walk down their into new productions. I Carol Anne Osborne graduation aisle with job offers or graduate school interviewed and was offered scholarships. the internship with a modest stipend and an unlimited metro card. Because the Advice from the Interns company is so small, I was able to get a taste of Some students that dream of opera careers have everything from daily receptionist duties, budget chosen to go to New York for their internships, and building, contract writing, video editing, marketing, I asked them to share some of their hard-earned and data entry. The company gave me my first intern wisdom, including the housing challenge professional opera credit by hiring me to sing a (Airbnb, Gypsy Housing, and short-term sublets performance in the second month of my internship. I kept a roof over the heads of these interns), finances worked with the entire board of the company as well (modest stipends and metro cards are typical), and as the singers, conductors, composers, managers, what their work load included. Soprano Carol Anne and the staff at several venues including the National Osborne has recently completed an internship with Opera Center of OPERA America. My company would American Opera Projects in Brooklyn. I asked her like me to stay on as an intern and they’ve also about the type of internship she chose, moving to spoken about the possibility of another performance NYC, finances, etc., and she shared the following: gig. Because I am planning to audition for graduate schools, the people I’ve met have offered sincere

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12 Classical Singer / February 2017 interest in 'what’s next' for me and they would like me "I told my internship to keep them informed. supervisor up front that artist "I definitely recommend interning for an opera management was ultimately company. Look for companies that are growing what I wanted to do, so they and who are active. Don’t shy away from a smaller were willing to help me network company, because that company may be the next and meet the right people. big thing. Look at the current employers and see I orchestrated a round of if they are diverse knowledgeably and personally, Hannah Damron auditions, corresponded with because that is how you will learn the most. There is all the management agencies a huge need for interns because there are so many invited, and executed the auditions personally so I facets of the company and all the employees wear could meet all the managers face to face. I went up multiple hats. They are looking for people to share to each one, introduced myself, told them I was in responsibilities, and the training is invaluable. Even if the city to be an artist manager, and asked if I could a company doesn’t advertise internships, get in touch send them my résumé. No one told me no and four with someone from the company and send in your companies offered me interviews. materials. Show them they’re getting a steal by hiring "I landed the job of my dreams on the last day of my you." internship as an artist manager with Musica Grande Artists, owned by Samuele Liadi. If I hadn’t attended Another student, soprano Connor Murphy-White, those auditions and met all of these people in a interned at Carnegie Hall and is now in her second year professional atmosphere, I’d still be looking for a job of a master’s degree. I asked her how her opportunities from the outside in, so to speak. It’s much easier to as an intern prepared her for graduate school. get face time when you’re on the inside circuit, and an internship can do that for you." "I was a full-time intern for Distinguished Concerts Interns Get Results International New York. My Whether a professional internship helps you qualify duties included receptionist for an assistantship in graduate school or gets your work with a split focus foot in the door for a career-building job, you can working as a secretary improve your skills and readiness for the opera world dealing with the [cloud-based by working in the industry. You might stumble upon an Connor Murphy-White software] Salesforce and aspect of the music business where you can make an concerts projects. During impact and a buck. Or you might meet the conductor production weeks, I acted as the assistant production who gives you your first big break. There are not manager, where I oversaw concert logistics, photos, enough opera contracts for all of the graduating voice and archival files and I served as the artist liaison majors in the world, so I hope the experiences of the to VIPs. I met conductors, singers, and composers, interns shared above will give you pause for thought including Sir Karl Jenkins. As an intern, I was able to about some industry intern options as you work your build professional contacts and watch how the 'pros' way to your personal success. handle themselves in rehearsals without having the added pressure of performing. I developed a great Soprano Christi Amonson is an assistant professor working relationship with the Carnegie Hall manager. of voice and director of opera workshop at Troy He told me to contact him if I ever needed work in the University. She earned her DMA in voice and theatre city. at the University of Arizona, her MM in voice at the "Currently, I am the opera assistant at UNM where Manhattan School of Music, and her BM in music I handle rehearsals and VIPs. Recently, I had to iron a education at the University of Idaho. Amonson is guest recital artist’s dress minutes before a program. an active singer, writer, and NATS member and she Due to the skills I learned while at DCINY, I keep guests serves on the advisory board for the Vann Vocal as calm as possible while 'fixing' the issues. I think it’s Institute with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra. important to be versatile as a singer . . . not just in the She lives in Troy, Alabama, with her husband and three singing aspects or vocal repertoire. Knowing aspects daughters. such as production, orchestra, logistics, etc., builds appreciation and makes you more marketable."

Soprano Hannah Damron entered her internship at Carnegie Hall with a goal, and she succeeded.

www.classicalsinger.com 13 MUSINGS ON MECHANICS Why Can’t We All Get a Song? The Perils and Paradoxes of Auditions

BY CLAUDIA FRIEDLANDER Nary a singer loves to audition. And a Twitter account highlighting things “overheard” at auditions shows how they often bring out the worst in singers, even though every singer goes in hoping to show their best. Claudia Friedlander takes a look at this and other contradictions of the audition scene.

hat do you most love about singing or about Any singer who has attended being a singer? What experiences got you even a single audition at Nola, Whooked on singing? Shetler, or any similar collection I asked friends and students to answer these of rehearsal studios in NYC, questions. They all responded with passion and has overheard many such enthusiasm. comments. If we’re honest, Some cited the power with which they can we’ll admit to having similar communicate emotional intensity to complete thoughts from time to time, strangers, transcending barriers of language and even if we possess the decency culture to create a unifying experience with an not to utter them ourselves. Claudia Friedlander immediacy and depth that only music can facilitate. I have to believe that for the Some valued the way ongoing creative engagement most part, any singer who attains a high enough level keeps them grounded and provides them with context of skill and artistry to be invited to such auditions when life feels highly chaotic and society superficial. must hold in their heart the kind of noble, impassioned Others, like me, love the way in which embodying a sentiments articulated by those I surveyed. So how fascinating character or interpreting a compelling does a singer begin with a commitment to facilitating text can unlock new worlds of feeling and experience transcendent and unifying experiences and then find within us. themselves saying such alienating things? Singing connects us to one another as well as to I have never met a singer who loves auditions. our own imaginations. It enables us to inhabit epic They’re an unpleasant means to a glorious end, stories. It expands our ability to experience life and to much like the soggy beans your parents insisted you share ourselves and our feelings with our audiences. It swallow as a condition of receiving some ice cream empowers us to know our own hearts and minds and for dessert. to speak what is in them. Auditions, like performances, can induce anxiety Auditions, not so much. in many of us, and we would benefit from strategies A Twitter muse with the handle “Overheard at to contend with it. I feel that there is something Nola” debuted in 2015 and has been reporting on inherent in audition situations, however, that can the somewhat less elevated utterances that singers inspire otherwise passionate, grounded, ethical sometimes emit when faced with the prospect of singers to respond by behaving in ways that are baring their souls in suboptimal circumstances. (Read uncharacteristically catty and traumatizing. excerpts in the sidebar on the next page.)

14 Classical Singer / February 2017 You were motivated to become a singer by the power of music to communicate emotion, elevate and unify performers and audience, engage in an impactful discipline, and empower you to remain grounded in the values you believe in while everyone around you seems to be losing their minds. By contrast, auditions can tap into a desire to “get it right,” receive validation, and land a money-making gig. Of the many people I approached about what they most love about singing, not one mentioned a desire for accuracy, validation, or affluence. None of us puts in the hours of soul-searching and technical woodshedding required to perform an aria beautifully simply for the satisfaction of delivering an accurate rendition of the notes, rhythms, phonemes, and dynamics. While we understand that rave reviews and the adulation of producing organizations and audiences are important for our careers, they are the mere happy byproducts of our performances and not the goal. And while we aspire to earn a living doing what we love, none of us decides to pursue a singing career with the hope of attaining great affluence. Nevertheless, when we perform an audition, concerns relating to accuracy, validation, and gainful

We turn to song when words alone are not enough.

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www.classicalsinger.com 15 Musings on Mechanics: Why Can't We All Get a Song? employment can unfortunately supplant our desire for of emotion and expressive vulnerability essential for connection, expression, and artistic transcendence. impactful singing. Perhaps your breathing instinctively As a result, we can become disconnected from our shuts down, necessitating a kick start at the beginning inspiration, creativity, and the sheer pleasure of making of each phrase. Or the ecstatic release that motivates music at the very moment when our ability to remain your most beautiful high notes eludes you, and you grounded in these things has the potential to connect end up muscling them out. Some singers may still be us to the producing organizations and audiences that able to produce an impressive sound and deliver artful stand to gain the most from our gifts. musicianship under such conditions, but their ability I would argue that you cannot simultaneously be to connect deeply with their own feelings and their motivated by both the desire for unfettered expression listeners is greatly compromised. and the desire for validation. The former depends Many singers grapple with performance anxiety, not solely on your own creative impulses and meticulous only2016 in auditions Redwoods but also in performance, at some preparation; the latter is entirely beyond your control. It point in their training and career. Marvelous resources is within your ability to offer up the best of your artistry, and techniques are available for ameliorating “stage but futile and disempowering to try to second guess fright,” but it is not the point of this column to address what it would mean to be “good enough” for someone this phenomenon or offer methods for dealing with it. else. My desire is to raise awareness of the essential conflict Auditions can thus create an intense, anxiety- that is all but hard wired into audition dynamics and producing inner conflict. Your love of singing and invite all members of our community to consider how earnest desire to share what is in the depths of your to improve them. soul is at war with a fear of being judged, objectified, If we reduce this dilemma to an issue of performance and found lacking. This conflict can manifest on a anxiety, we place the burden of solving this problem physical level as the body tenses and defensively entirely on the singers. We’re essentially saying that armors itself, preempting the pain of potential failure they are supposed to be capable of making themselves and criticism. Such a response limits the free flow completely vulnerable and pour their hearts out in a

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16 Classical Singer / February 2017

Redwoods Opera Workshop 2017 Classical Singer Quarter page situation where any sane person would instead run panels behave more respectfully. But this problem screaming from the room. We can hardly blame them will never be addressed until we as a community for reacting by discharging some snark in the hallways. acknowledge the ways in which the audition process is Just as we cannot place the burden of solving this inherently fraught for those on both sides of the table. problem solely on singers, we also cannot hold audition We must honor the extraordinary skill and panels responsible for creating an ideal performance vulnerability required for impactful singing and, to the environment. These panels are by and large composed best of our abilities, create conditions that facilitate of music lovers who are just as passionate and rather than inhibit courageous expression. If we fail committed to the creation of transcendent art as the to do that, we are asking singers to be okay with the singers who audition for them. They want you to feel idea of exposing their souls only to be rewarded with free to sing your heart out and to be moved by the best humiliation. We are signaling to audition panels that it of your artistry. But it is exhausting to have to assess is somehow par for the course to respond to a singer many singers in brief windows under conditions that who has toiled for years at great personal sacrifice do not allow them to register the depth of emotional for the privilege of singing for them by tossing their response they would be capable of in a performance. résumé in the trash. We are treating something We hear horror stories each audition season about surpassingly intimate as though it is worthless. the reprehensible behavior singers sometimes If this is how our community treats our own art form encounter at the hands of audition panels, and we and those who strive to excel at it, how are we ever should continue to expect producing organizations to to communicate its inestimable value to prospective demonstrate respect for our time and effort. But let us audiences? also respect the challenges inherent in their job. Singing is risky by definition. No one can create a safe Claudia Friedlander, DMus, is a voice teacher and space for auditions. certified personal trainer with a studio in New York. We can admonish singers to deal with their Find her on the web at www.claudiafriedlander.com. performance anxiety issues. We can demand audition

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www.classicalsinger.com 17 President and CEO Russell Allen and Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Adam Turner decided that they needed someone with an even deeper artistic background, particularly an expertise in opera production, to combine the responsibilities of both positions. “It’s nice to have somebody who, for example, is aware of operatic characters,” Allen explains, “who can proofread artist bios and spot any errors in opera titles . . . there’s a myriad list of ‘little things’ that would be second nature to somebody who has the artistic background that we were seeking.” So, the company reorganized the two jobs into one, that of executive/artistic coordinator. Meanwhile, Bird was at a crossroads in her life. She and her husband, bass-baritone Matthew Burns, were constantly traveling with their two children and ultimately realized that the family needed stability. “Our Anne-Carolyn Bird with Robert six-year-old son wanted to be in a house,” Bird relates. Cinnante, director of Virginia “He was on the road with us, but wanted to come home Opera's Education & Outreach, at opening night of the 2016 season to ‘his’ room. When he expressed that, it became obvious that we needed to slow down.” Though not necessarily a voice teacher—she considers herself more of a mentor who loves working with younger singers—Bird applied for TWO SIDES teaching positions at colleges and universities because she believed that she needed to “cast a to Anne-Carolyn wide net.” Then she read an advertisement for the new executive/artistic coordinator position Bird’s Story at Virginia Opera, where she and her husband had performed five times between them. Requirements included a general knowledge of BY GREG WAXBERG the opera industry, computer skills such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, the ability to interact with donors and board members, organizational skills, and the One year ago this month, CS’s cover handling of basic financial matters such as payroll and story featured Anne-Carolyn Bird and ordering music. Administration had not crossed her mind up to that her husband, Matthew Burns, two point, but “I read it and thought, ‘Let me put together singers on the road with their young a résumé.’ Knowing the company made it much easier to consider taking a job like that because I knew a little bit family. This year, we catch up again about the company, and we know the city.” What was with Bird to find out how her family’s Bird able to put on her résumé? It turns out that she held secretarial jobs in college and changing needs led to an unexpected worked in as many areas of the performing arts center but perfect career change. at the University of Georgia as she could, whether that meant selling tickets and subscriptions for the box office or working in stage management or house management. iming worked well for soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird “I wanted to know as much as possible about how the and for Virginia Opera. Their paths had crossed art form works,” Bird recalls. “I always had an interest T before, and each was seeking something that the in the ‘big picture’ of opera, and any necessary training other was able to provide. was provided on the job. They knew they were hiring a Until 2016, Virginia Opera had an artistic coordinator sophomore who had never done these things.” and an executive assistant. Even though one of those This background makes it easier to appreciate why, people had somewhat of an artistic background, aside from the stability aspect, she applied to Virginia

18 Classical Singer / February 2017 Columbus State University Opera. “All of it appealed to the parts of me that weren’t really tapped into as a performer. I love the business/ organizational side. I love making a spreadsheet. I love Schwob making lists and getting things accomplished. What appealed to me most was the opportunity to dive head- School of Music first into another side of the business and to learn it from the inside out. This was what I wanted to do, what I Voice Studies wanted to spend the next many years learning about.” As executive/artistic coordinator, Bird has three Alumni primary areas of responsibility. First, she serves as an Maureen McKay, soprano artistic coordinator for the Artistic Department, which Metropolitan Opera, Komische Oper Berlin essentially means that she is the liaison between that Michael Sumuel, baritone department and the cast and chorus, including working Finalist, 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council with stage management on schedules and contracting Auditions; San Francisco Opera; Houston Grand Opera; supers and chorus members. She is also a liaison with the Glyndebourne Festival (England) Virginia Opera Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists Program. Second, Bird provides support for Allen and Paula Sides, soprano Turner, such as by keeping track of their schedules, English Opera Company acting as a sounding board for ideas and artistic Gwendolyn Reid, mezzo soprano decisions, and ordering orchestra parts. Universität der Künste, Berlin, Germany Third, she is general assistant to the boards of Virginia Opera—a big responsibility. The company has three Kimberli Render, soprano separate markets (Norfolk, Richmond, and Fairfax) with First Place Winner, Denver Lyric Opera Guild Competition distinct audience bases, distinct marketing needs, and distinct fundraising needs, so there are three separate boards of governors. With that in mind, Bird is a liaison between Allen and all of those board members, Faculty necessitating her attendance at many board meetings. Earl Coleman Then there are special projects. “We occasionally do William and Isabelle Curry Eminent Scholar Chair in Voice non-mainstage events that are still community events,” Kimberly Cone Allen says, citing as an example last season’s “La Bohème Michelle Murphy DeBruyn Unplugged,” which offered attendees “everything they need to know about the opera in one hour.” These Dian Lawler-Johnson performances by emerging artists are held in various Constantina Tsolainou locations so that the company can reach broader Paul S. and Jean R. Amos Distinguished Chair in Music audiences. “There will be future projects like that, which Anne-Carolyn can help coordinate and get up and running. The Production Department is involved, too, chora l | s t udio | o per a but she can make sure the artistic needs are met.” D Interestingly, while Bird is overseeing artistic and BA in Music | BM in Music Performance | MM in Music Performance executive issues, she acknowledges that she’s not sure BM in Music Education where the executive side of her personality comes A from—possibly from her parents. “My father was an Over $800,000 in music scholarships annually officer in the Air Force, and my mother is well put- A For entering undergraduate students. Winners together,” Bird says. “Neither of them was in business, receive full tuition, room and board, plus a $5,000 stipend. Video but I had great models for leadership. I feel confident applications due March 1 interacting with board members, but I had a very steep A Tuition plus stipend for qualifying graduates learning curve in the financial area—I knew nothing For audition and scholarship information, please visit our website about it. I’ve sat in on financial meetings and learned to make sense of reports and the artistic budget. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but my colleagues are helping me learn the ropes.” And therein lies the key that makes this whole arrangement work. Allen and Turner were not concerned ColumbusState.edu/music

www.classicalsinger.com 19 Two Sides to Anne-Carolyn Bird's Story

Bird and Matthew Burns as Susanna and Figaro in Virginia Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro, 2013 photo by David A. Beloff that Bird did not have experience or knowledge in certain areas because some things can be taught. “Administrative and functional tasks are easy to learn,” nautilus Allen says. “Having an artistic background was the music-theater driving factor for the reorganization.” This means that, just like she did in college, Bird The 2017 Wesley Balk is learning on the job—and excited about doing so. Opera/Music-Theater “This business is so multifaceted. I would love to run An innovative and intensive a company someday, so the more that I can learn, the three-week session featuring Institute better,” she says. “I don’t have time to go back to school, an outstanding staff of directors, coaches, and instructors working in a wonderfully stimulating, so the only way I can learn is on the fly.” noncompetitive developmental environment! Now that she is settled into her new role, Bird can For performers, directors, and coaches afford to be reflective. “My philosophy is that the next “I've been stretched body, mind, and soul • I'm ready step always presents itself when it’s time,” she says of to embrace new challenges and situations full of her decision to reduce her singing commitments and imagination, creativity, sensitivity and an acceptance of myself I've never had before • It truly changed find stability. “In January 2016, I had a conversation with my entire way of thinking!” my manager and said that I didn’t want to be away from my family unless I was really interested in a project. I’m not saying ‘yes’ to everything anymore—it’s not worth it to be away from my family for so long just to be able to say that I’m working. I’m going to be more selective, June 25 to July 15, 2017 and there will be substantially less singing now that I at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN have a full-time job that’s perfect for me. I had a day of www.wesleybalk.org • 651–298–9913 mourning because my performing career would never be [email protected] the same, but I was fine after a day because I knew I was TUITION: Special early-bird rate: $1,600 making the right decision.” After March 31: $1,800 Other singers might wonder, “Could this kind of Registration due April 29, 2017 decision be in my future?” Allen says that Virginia Opera’s new position could represent a trend among opera companies to merge the two areas, creating

20 Classical Singer / February 2017 opportunities for those with talent, intelligence, “The feedback I’ve received from friends and experience, and ability. “Anne-Carolyn is great with colleagues has been overwhelmingly positive,” Bird says. patrons, donors, and board members,” he says, “and “Colleagues checked with me during our first rehearsals can readily relate to singers, choristers, and orchestra of the season to see how I’m doing. If I took this job members. Somebody like that is desirable.” but really wanted to still be singing, then I would have For singers who are interested in gaining problems interacting with, managing, or being around administrative experience and other insights into the other singers. But it didn’t bother me a bit. opera industry, Bird highlights donor events as prime “This job was the ‘aha!’ moment for me, as I realized opportunities. “When you are asked to attend a donor that all my past experience was leading me to this path,” dinner or donor cocktail party, don’t hang out with the Bird continues. “I never even considered administration singers. Ask the contact person at the event who you until I started here, and now it feels like everything has should talk to. Learn how to interact with donors and been guiding me to this point. I know that I am where I learn about the development person’s work.” She also need to be. I love being close to the business in this way.” emphasizes organizational and computer skills, as well as volunteering at local theaters. “Keep your eyes open Greg Waxberg, a writer and magazine editor for The Pingry for opportunities that are not just about being onstage. School, is also an award-winning freelance writer. He can be Recognize all the other facets that go into your business contacted at [email protected]. and expose yourself to as many of them as possible.” Ironically, while Bird was looking for opportunities to teach, her husband was pursuing administrative jobs, but now he is an adjunct professor in the Voice Department at Virginia Commonwealth University, and she is an administrator.

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www.classicalsinger.com 21 Piotr Beczala at home in Vienna studying Lohengrin.

22 Classical Singer / February 2017 Mid-Career Magic: Piotr Beczala

BY LISA HOUSTON Tenor Piotr Beczala is having a meaningful career, built over decades of consistent excellence that keeps him in high demand at the world’s most illustrious houses, as he continues to benefit greatly from the support of his wife, Katarzyna, who gave up her own successful career as a singer two decades ago to support and travel with him. But his career also stands on a foundation of respect and serious attention paid to the lineage of singers that preceded him. Perhaps it’s that awe for both the past and present that has helped Beczala find a remarkable sense of balance in his personal and professional life, all of which he discusses in this exclusive interview.

iotr Beczala was born in the relatively Switzerland, and major houses across the small city of Czechowice-Dziedzice, U.S. Pjust southwest of Krakow, Poland, and I caught up with Beczala via Skype just began his training not far from there at the before Christmas in Berlin, where he spent Academy of Music in Katowice. Much like his holidays rehearsing and performing his countryman Jan Kiepura, whose charisma Rodolfo in La bohème at the Deutsche Oper and good looks found him at home in the Berlin. Later this season, he will reprise that Hollywood movies of the 1930s, Beczala can role just down the street at the Staatsoper often be found appearing in productions im Schiller Theater. We spoke just a few days with a high glamour factor, such as the 2012 after the terrorist attack on a Christmas Salzburg Festival’s La bohème opposite Anna market in Berlin, so our conversation Netrebko’s Mimì or as the Duke in the Met’s naturally began by my asking him what the recent “Rat Pack” production of Rigoletto atmosphere had been like at the Deutsche set in 1960s’ Vegas. With several acclaimed Oper since then. albums under his belt, including one of Slavic arias, Beczala’s live performances are Tell me about the day of the market also well captured on video. attack. His career began in Linz, after which he We had rehearsals on the day it happened spent several seasons in Zurich. This season and I was on the way home to the hotel. finds him returning to Zurich as well as Everybody is sad about it. The place it singing at the Met, the Wiener Staatsoper, happened is maybe 700 yards from my and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. hotel. Today I was walking around the He endured a bit of a rift with Teatro alla area. Everybody is not scared, because it Scala in 2013—a Regietheater production has happened already—but the Christmas was badly booed, and Beczala publicly market is OK, and everybody was walking commented after that he would not sing at around putting some lights and flowers. It the house in the future. (But that difficulty was a shock for everybody, of course. seems to show signs of healing, after Beczala performed there in recital this past June.) Let’s talk about technique. At first, The tenor is booked many years in advance, you didn’t have the high notes a tenor and though clearly a house favorite at the needs, topping out at an A or maybe a Metropolitan, his schedule often includes B, and your work with your teacher Dale performances in Spain, Germany, Austria, Fundling helped you to get those notes

www.classicalsinger.com 23 Mid-Career Magic: Piotr Beczala

Beczala in Paris. And then, the strictly technical way to solve the problem was to reduce the sound, because at that time I sang very wide, so we had to reduce the sound to a little bit slimmer sound to allow me to sing Mozart and move my tessitura in the upper register. But it was a process, it doesn’t happen in a week or two. We started to work in 1992 and the first result was maybe one year later.

One thing I’ve enjoyed as I’ve gotten to know you in my research is how much you seem to really appreciate and pay attention to history and the old school of singers. Was Jan Kiepura a role into your voice. So, what did the something. What I did with Dale was model for you? And also I’d like two of you do to get those notes? actually to make the right diagnosis you to talk about your lineage and It’s like being an alcoholic. First you of my problem, which was not only perhaps your studies with Sena have to realize you have a problem. technical, it was the mental part of Jurinac and Pavel Lisitsian. I was already under contract in the work. I had to relax and open my I’m from Poland, born in Poland, Linz and it was necessary to do mind for this upper register. and my first contact with singing was

24 Classical Singer / February 2017 with Jan Kiepura because he was the on this repertoire. A year later I met When I changed to Zurich, it’s much most popular singer in Poland when Pavel Lisitsian in Weimar, also in a higher than Linz, which is a very small someone would talk about classical masterclass. opera house. Zurich at that time was singing. We didn’t have too many They’re very important people in my very popular, and all the big stars recordings in the ’80s, but there were life. They changed my point of view of were singing there. When I started a couple of movies with Jan Kiepura my future, what it means to be a singer. there, the opportunity to sing onstage and the Polish recordings of his arias You need an idea of what to do in the with such great performers—Edita and songs. That was the first time I future. Not very many young students Gruberová, Leo Nucci, José Carreras— discovered him. He was a brilliant realize what it means to be an opera it was very special. singer—a very good technical singer as singer. And that was very important to I was always a singer who looked up well. me, to talk with somebody who had a to those personalities and I could sit We couldn’t find biographies of fantastic career behind them and could and talk with them in performances many other singers, but the biography explain to me how it would be. and rehearsals. Then you can build of Caruso was one of a couple I could up your own personality, technique, find, and I found it very interesting to It seems like your relationship and point of view of how to manage read all the stories. But later, when I with Zurich is almost that of a this strange occupation to be an was a student studying at Katowice, home company. What’s important opera singer. Now, when I’m traveling I got the opportunity to go to a in a relationship with an opera between so many opera houses, to masterclass in Linz where I met Sena house, or how does a good be a part of an opera house is not so Jurinac for the first time. It was a relationship work? important. Of course, the same feeling very important step for me because I was already in Linz for five years is there a little bit at the Metropolitan she was the first one who told me I and I realized that being a part of an Opera, but that is a huge company and should sing Mozart and not Puccini opera company is very important at that is not the same kind of intimacy. at that age, and we worked really hard the beginning of a career for a singer.

www.classicalsinger.com 25 Mid-Career Magic: Piotr Beczala Beczala as Vaudémont in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, 2015

You heard all the great tenors in Prague, and going back and in Zurich. Pavarotti and, I think, forth between the two cities. How Alfredo Kraus was there when you are those two roles different in were there . . . . your voice, and what do you do to Yeah, it was really fantastic. My change gears for each character? second season in Zurich, I think it That’s a good description, changing was, Monday Pavarotti sang a recital, gears. Prague and Berlin are not that Tuesday Domingo sang Pagliacci, on far apart. You can drive it in three Wednesday was Kraus with Lucia, and hours. But the most difficult part is to then Carreras was Sly [by Ermanno change the repertoire. Between Bohème Wolf-Ferrari] on Thursday, and I think and Rusalka is not a huge gap, but it it was also Faust with Paco (Francisco) is still a different style and different Araiza, and Shicoff was also there. It language and attitude. But fortunately was a fantastic combination of great I’ve sung both of these roles for so singers. many years, and they’re not too close. I would never do this when I have I’ve heard you say that these days one day between performances. I people are very specialized—you have a couple of days to change gears, don’t have to go back and forth as you describe it. I’ve done more quickly, like back when a tenor difficult things in my career. In one would sing Siegfried and then week at the Metropolitan I sang two days later sing Rodolfo. But Lucia, Onegin, and Rigoletto. That was a in February, you will be doing challenge. Rodolfo in Berlin and the Prince

26 Classical Singer / February 2017 Beczala and Albina Shagimuratova as Edgardo and the title role in Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Lucia di Lammermoor, 2016 photo by Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

You have six recitals in March in various cities. Do you have any health tips for singers, especially what to avoid to stay healthy? You have to take care when you travel a lot, not to get dry on the airplane. When you have a heavy schedule in front of you, you have to

take care of what you eat, what you photo by Andrew Cioffi drink. Of course, I’m a normal human being. I like to have dinner maybe that’s a very good quota. The thing is words to music, and the result is with one or two glasses of red wine— the responsibility. If you cancel the the opera. It is the Partitur [score], but everything has to make sense, performance, people are disappointed. and you have to understand as a to be under control. I have doctors You are responsible to your public. It singer why he wrote this line and everywhere, friends of mine. When breaks my heart, but it has to be. You not another line. Why this kind of something happens I can always get to can’t do anything besides that. I just situation is prescribed this sort of them. saw some Facebook postings about orchestration and not another kind. Of course everybody gets sick, gets that. Oh well, you get better and sing All these things help to find the colds, and then you have to be very some other performances. That’s life. right interpretation and the right careful in that condition what you sing. style, because each composer uses I try to reduce my activity when I have I’m going to quote you: “This is different ways to describe what is a cold. There are always a couple of my rule when I’m doing opera: happening onstage. There’s a reason days when it is not possible to use your I try to relate to a character this person is sung by tenor, another voice, and you have to accept it. according to the music.” Can you by baritone, another by bass, talk about Rodolfo? What does soprano, etc. Have you had an experience you’d his music say about him as a My job is to realize what he like to share, about when you’ve character? thought and sing as close as possible had to cancel? I really believe the composers are to the Partitur. The person who said I’m pretty stable. I cancel maybe the most important people in the this best was [Herbert Von] Karajan, one or two performances a year, and art of opera because they put the who said to sing exactly what was in

www.classicalsinger.com 27 Mid-Career Magic: Piotr Beczala

I know a story of Enrico Caruso, "I’m trying to enjoy myself when I’m playing a that he sang a couple of performances character on the stage. When you do this not of Lohengrin at the Metropolitan Opera in Italian, and they tried to as you, as a private person, it’s much easier— push him to do this in German, and when you play Rodolfo, Faust, Werther, Duca, he said, “No, this language will ruin whoever—from this point of view, it makes my my voice.” And there is something to that. You have to make right choices, job a lot easier." to use the language in the right way. I speak German very well and I’ve the Partitur plus a healthy portion of Really? sung a lot of Mozart and I know how musicality. That describes how I try Yes. Because it is exceptional. I to manage this—but, still, when I to sing my roles. think Wagner should be sung by a started to prepare Lohengrin, I found specialist tenor. Not only tenors, but a coach who could train me to go over You just had a very successful the tenor is a special voice, and the the vocal problems that could happen Lohengrin. What might be the whole Wagner style is not really [such] in this repertoire. But when you find next Wagner role you do? And do that you can use your technique the key, actually, singing Lohengrin is you think there is such a thing as and musicality and style from the not more difficult than another opera. a Wagner singer versus an Italian French, Italian, or Slavic repertoire. singer, or is that not such an It was easy for me because Lohengrin People make a big deal out of the important distinction? is maybe the most Italian opera of fact that at the beginning of her Probably Lohengrin will be the only Wagner. It sounds like that, but it’s career Callas sang Isolde and Wagner role in my repertory. still Wagner and it’s still the German Kundry, but she did sing them in language. Italian.

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Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works now makes all his songs available. From the reverence of the sacred to the charm of the secular, they show the highly personal stylistic transition he forged from strophic works (such as the Gellert songs) to expressively through-composed cantatas such as Der Frühling and Die Grazien which anticipate the styles of later composers. These volumes in series Vi are beautifully case-bound at prices intended to make them widely available: Gellert songs ($20); cramer and sturm songs ($25); miscellaneous songs ($35), and a volume of facsimiles, The Polyhymnia Portfolio ($55) can be ordered online at www.cpebach.org, by e-mail to [email protected], or by phone at (800) 243-0193.

28 Classical Singer / February 2017 Basically, when singers start to think performance or with the concert, it’s like a team. I don’t know really a they are able to sing everything, it’s done. I’m very serious about that. good example of two singers who are very dangerous. [Laughs.] Because I’m always trying to do my best. married, are together, and are singing. nobody can do this. Sometimes it’s better, sometimes it’s That’s a very rare situation. We travel fantastic, sometimes it’s just good, together. She also studied with Dale You’ve said that “opera is for but the judgment is not on my side. Fundling. She knows my voice better sensitive people.” How do you [It’s for] the public and other people. than me probably, because she can protect yourself as a sensitive Also, I’m trying to enjoy myself when hear it all the time and I can’t. She’s in artist from critics, from the I’m playing a character on the stage. rehearsals, she’s at performances, and toughness of the business? When you do this not as you, as a we talk about many things. I’m already 24 years on the stage private person, it’s much easier—when She’s very sensitive and she knows and I’ve created some resistance to you play Rodolfo, Faust, Werther, a lot about style and customs and the things you mention. I’m trying Duca, whoever—from this point of acting, and actually we discuss the not to read all the reviews. I’ve gotten view, it makes my job a lot easier. process of developing the roles a great reviews and I’m very happy with lot. She’s really responsible for the that—but sometimes it’s too much, It seems as if you and your wife moment where I am now, because when you start to realize, “Oh what make decisions together, that you it’s really teamwork. Of course she did I do, what could I do differently?” really are a team for your career. has a huge influence on all decisions Of course I’ve had thoughts like that. Can you talk about the personal I make. I never sign any contract After every performance, after every side of things? without discussing all the plusses and concert, you could do something My wife was a singer also. She minuses with her. different—this phrase, this aria, started a big career 20 years ago, and To be together is really rare in this maybe better, maybe different. But after a while she stopped because profession because we’re traveling all for me, when I’m finished with the we decided to be together and work the time. And I know the frustrations

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www.classicalsinger.com 29 Mid-Career Magic: Piotr Beczala

of my colleagues. After a big Beczala as Vaudémont and performance, we are together—but Aleksei Markov as Robert in the Metropolitan Opera's they are going to the hotel alone, and production of Tchaikovsky's that’s a very unfortunate moment. Iolanta, 2015 You returned to La Scala this year for a concert. Do you think you will return to that house to sing roles again? Of course I could. It was a fantastic concert. The public was fantastic. We talk with Mr. Pereira [CEO and artistic director of Teatro alla Scala] all the time about possibilities. But you know, I’m a very busy man and they plan too late, to be honest. I’m also very serious when I sign a contract. I will not cancel one contract for another contract. When I’m booked for another five years, it’s difficult to find a time for another opera house—but we are in touch, and it always depends on the repertory, and that’s the most important factor of my decisions. When somebody asks me for Tristan—it doesn’t matter where—I’m not singing that because it’s not part of my repertory. I’m just doing what is good for my voice and my personality.

One last question, I’ve interviewed so many opera

photo by Marty Sohl/The Metropolitan Opera stars who are into golf and I’m

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30 Classical Singer / February 2017 Beczala and his wife, Katarzyna, in the Polish mountains.

always curious: Has golf taught you anything about singing or does being a singer help you at golf in the concentration or the coordination? I’m still trying to find out why so many singers love golf. It’s what you said. It’s coordination, it’s imagination, it’s projection. All these things, they have something in common with golf and singing. But the most important thing for me, because we spend our whole lives [in theaters] without windows . . . , it’s so important to go out of the buildings and relax on the greens and the fresh air and have some fun. That’s very important to have a balance between work and fun—and feeling free. Since my wife plays also, we play together, and it’s really something special. This sport has a positive influence on singing. I think I’m a better singer since I’ve played golf. You can also get your frustrations out when you hit a golf ball, and it doesn’t hurt anybody.

Dramatic soprano Lisa Houston sings, writes, and teaches voice in the San Francisco Bay Area. She contributes frequently to Classical Singer magazine as well as to the website San Francisco Classical Voice. She is also the founder of SingerSpirit.com, a site with ideas, instruction, and inspiration for classical singers.

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www.classicalsinger.com 31

Love Story A Chronicle of Amore Opera

BY RACHEL A. ANTMAN Sit down with a hot cocoa on a February day and read this true story of how a dedicated group of musicians saved the opera company they loved.

n January 2009, when Tony Amato announced that Amato Opera would close in May of that year, New York City operagoers were stunned. The company, known Ifor its intimate house and lively productions, had inspired great affection from audiences for more than six decades. Meanwhile, singers and instrumentalists who performed regularly with the company were devastated. Was there a way they could preserve the company in some capacity? They decided to try.

From “Loved” to “Love” The effort began with a meeting of a committee of regulars “We knew it was never going to be exactly the Amato from both the stage and the pit, who held elections for the experience, but there were some things we wanted to administration of a new company that would continue the preserve, such as intimate opera,” Hull explains. “The Amato legacy. President-elect Nathan Hull advised Tony Connelly Theater, very near to where the Amato house was Amato of the committee’s plans and received Amato’s located in the East Village, was perfect because it seats only blessing. The name “Amore” was selected because it was a about 100 people. However, unlike the Amato house, there is variation on Amato and also because, as Tony Amato pointed room for a 24– to 28–piece orchestra.” out, “A” names appear first on lists. Amato was so impressed by the enthusiasm of the From the Launch to Today endeavor and the stature of the talent involved that he The official launch took place in December 2009, with offered to give his massive collection of costumes and sets to a three-week run of La bohème, which Tony Amato came the new company. The committee was stunned by the offer to see. In each season that followed, there was marked and quickly accepted. With the help of 70 volunteers, a few progress. “Having an orchestra and bringing in professional trucks, and support raised through a fundraiser, this fabled conductors attracted better and better singers,” says Hull. collection was safely moved to its new warehouse. “Our first productions were good, quality-wise, but not Then the committee began planning in earnest. It as good as they could have been. What happened is that purchased more costumes and established three objectives: every time first-rate singers performed with us, they told 1. To produce high-quality opera in Manhattan at their friends about the experience, and we’d see the friends affordable prices in an intimate setting. at the next round of auditions. Meanwhile, as City Opera 2. To be a place where singers can hone their craft. and other local companies closed, Amore became a focus 3. To preserve the art form for posterity by introducing of singers’ attention.” children to opera through “Operas-in-Brief,” geared to the Like Hull, producer and performer Iris Karlin has young audience, presenting productions starring all-children observed improvements season after season. “Amore casts, and including children in every production so that they Opera has become a stage and a home for many emerging can learn to work with professional singers. professionals who do not get the chance to perform

32 Classical Singer / February 2017 Robert Garner as Severo in Amore Opera's production of Donizetti's Poliuto, 2016

Amore Opera's production of La bohème, 2012

Ki-Taek Song as Arlecchino in Victoria Wefer and Nathan Amore Opera's production of Hull as Susanna and Figaro in I pagliacci Amore Opera's production of The Marriage of Figaro, 2011

in big opera houses due to the lack of good agents and connections,” Karlin says. “The company developed a lot during the years, and nowadays it is bringing to New York City very professional and high-quality productions.” Although Amore is not a paying company, neither is it a pay-to-sing. “We do need help from people, so we ask for assistance in moving sets and costumes in and out—but in general we treat singers like professionals, which they are,” says Hull. “People come to us because they want to learn roles or brush up an old role, or they have a hole in their singing schedule and want to use that time in a productive way.” He also observes that many singers get their big break because they’ve sung a role that is needed at the last- minute by an A-level house: “It’s one thing to work with a coach, but another thing to get onstage in costume with an orchestra—a completely different experience. You have to go through that personally before you’re ready. We provide that backbone.”

www.classicalsinger.com 33 Love Story: A Chronicle of Amore Opera

Soprano Jessica Sandidge, who tools while performing with the Cohen, who explains why she comes joined the Met roster this season and company. He emphasizes the benefits back to the orchestra year after year. who has sung principal roles in several of the supportive environment, “In an opera orchestra, not only Amore Opera productions, agrees. “where you can feel the love for the are there the instruments of the “All of these roles were debuts for me, music surround you.” He goes on to symphony orchestra, which can sound which means I had the opportunity describe Amore as “a magical place, gorgeous, but on top of them is the to put them in my voice quickly where with simple costumes and radiance of the singers, which turns (sometimes only with a few weeks’ scenery, marvelous things happen.” gorgeous into heavenly,” Cohen says. notice) and get them up on their feet, It’s not only principals who have “Who wouldn’t want to be in heaven staged, in costume, with an orchestra, opportunities to develop their skills. year after year?” and in an intimate setting with an Chorister Jim Longo loves concert attentive audience,” she says. “As singing but says that it’s not the same The Children’s Chorus a singer and performer I learn the as putting a character together, as he Children, too, play an important most from what happens onstage, in does when performing with Amore role in the Amore Opera experience, front of a live audience. I take voice Opera. He also appreciates the “sense as the company’s founding objectives, lessons regularly and coach with some of family.” “I enjoy being with these listed earlier, make clear. Children’s of the best coaches and conductors, people and enjoy making something productions were a tradition at but none of that can teach me how special with them production after Amato Opera, one that Hull and the to prepare for what happens in a live production,” he says. committee were eager to continue. performance—and for that I have Orchestra members have equally Amore’s children’s chorus includes Nathan Hull and Amore Opera to good things to say. Indeed, two of the approximately 30–35 kids, who do their thank.” founding members of the company own shows twice a year (a shortened Tenor Paolo Buffagni is another came from the pit. One was oboist version of an opera and a Gilbert & regular who has honed his skills and and orchestra manager Barbara Sullivan operetta) and also join the

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34 Classical Singer / February 2017 adult productions. “Music education in this country is in dire straits,” says Hull. “So I try to get kids onstage surrounded and inspired by these amazing voices. Maybe not all of the children become singers, but I think all of them become opera fans and supporters of classical music in general.” Some do become singers. Indeed, several have gone on to sing in the Met children’s chorus. The frequency of these “graduations” prompts Hull to suggest, “Perhaps we’ve become the unofficial Met’s farm team.” James Owen is one of these children. His father David Owen, an Amore Opera chorister and brother of conductor Richard Owen, Jr. (a regular at Amore), says that James’ introduction to opera performing Hull backstage with the children's began with the father and son’s chorus from Amore Opera's production of von Winter's participation in a production of Das Labyrinth Carmen that Richard Owen, Jr. was conducting. “By the time he was 10,

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www.classicalsinger.com 35 Love Story: A Chronicle of Amore Opera

James was already a bona fide opera fan, but the Nathan Hull, president of Amore Opera, 2016 Carmen experience was transformative for him,” David Owen recalls. “He gained confidence by leaps and bounds, both onstage and in his voice.” That confidence served James well when he auditioned for the Met children’s chorus. “It’s probably fair to say that even for kids, nobody starts at the Met,” his father observes. “I am very sure that had it not been for Amore, James never would have made it past the first audition—much less the extended series of auditions that it takes for the kids to get on the Met stage today.” James will soon sing in his 100th performance at the Met. Meanwhile, Owen is hoping that his younger son Thomas, who is six, will be a new addition to the Amore children’s chorus.

The Future The spring season will feature a kids’ production of Iolanthe, a new location (the Theater at St. Jean’s on the Upper East Side), and a pairing of Carmen with the American debut of a Donizetti opera called La zingara (The Gypsy Girl). Such thematic pairings of a standard and a lesser-known opera have become a tradition of Amore because they provide audiences with something novel yet tuneful. “The operas I choose from the classical and Bel Canto eras are absolutely dead center of my audiences’ taste and give people something new and interesting to talk about,” Hull explains. Amore’s founders are proud of the company’s progress over the past eight years, but there are still challenges to overcome. Funding is the primary one. “We skate by all the time,” says Hull. “It’s a bloody miracle we survived this long and that we can produce at the level we do on a limited budget. We’re trying to build up tomorrow’s audiences but, hey, we need help now.” Such challenges fade into the background when the curtain goes up, which Hull describes as a “thrill.” There are labors, to be sure, but they are labors of love—literally. “Amore, as its name, is full of love,” says Karlin. “Love to the music, love to its musicians, and love to the audience and its future potential audience.”

Rachel A. Antman is a communications professional and mezzo-soprano based in New York City. photo by B.A. Van Sise

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AnaLOTTERY Maria Ugarte and Brian Landry

BY MICHELLE LATOUR Two singers with two small children share how they manage singing careers, disabilities, parenting, and much more.

usband-and-wife team Brian Landry, tenor, and Ana Maria Ugarte, contralto, have found L to R: Ana Maria Ugarte and success as singers and parents despite the husband, Brian Landry with H Angela Ugarte (seated) and obstacles life has thrown their way. Ugarte has been sons Colm and Eamonn legally blind since the age of 15 after being diagnosed at 14 with a rare form of juvenile onset macular degeneration called Stargardt disease. Landry and Ugarte, who live and work in the Boston area, share their successes and challenges as parents and singers.

Love for Singing Ugarte discovered her passion for singing early on. “My birthday was my singing debut,” Ugarte jokes. “I pretty much came out of the womb singing. I was always bellowing something and I thought I was singing beautifully. My brothers often told me I was just screaming. However, by the time I was in junior high, I knew I was a singer.” Ugarte’s love for the stage deepened when her parents took her to her first opera,Carmen , at age 5. “At the time, I didn’t know I wanted to be an opera singer, but I did know I wanted to be onstage,” Ugarte says. “During my freshman year of high school, I knew Ugarte and Landry in their opera was my calling. This amazing and beautiful performance of Messiah at the journey, albeit heartbreaking at times, started for me Vermont Philharmonic, 2016 then. That wonderful feeling and knowledge about myself I experience every time I step onstage is what has propelled me forward. It has always been like a truth

38 Classical Singer / February 2017 Brian Landry serum for me. I love what I am able to express and share of my gifts is the ability to leave it at that. I know who with the audience.” I am, and other people’s perception of me is just that— Ugarte went on to complete a bachelor of arts in music their perception. I’m so grateful my parents recognized from Portland State University, followed by a graduate my potential and instilled in me the notion that I diploma in voice performance from the New England could do anything I wanted. It never occurred to them Conservatory. otherwise. They pushed me and never let me use my Has being sight impaired held Ugarte back in blindness as an excuse to not participate in life. I believe her performance career? Has she ever experienced that the onus is on me to make blindness a non-issue. I discrimination because of her blindness? “If such have a wonderful gift and I don’t let my disability dictate discrimination has happened to me, and I’m sure it the character I am portraying.” has, I don’t pay attention to it,” she says. “Being legally Her husband Brian Landry’s journey to a career in blind is a part of who I am, but it is not the primary way music followed a very different path. “There was always I define myself. It’s something I can’t change, and one music on in the house growing up—Motown, doo-wop,

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www.classicalsinger.com 39 Winning the Universe's Lottery

“My love for my children and the desire to be with them completely outweighs the desire to have a nonstop career. I make choices based on how much time I would have to spend away from my family."

Elvis, Roy Orbison, and opera,” he says. “I was always Landry also started devouring everything he could find singing and mimicking what I heard on the radio and on vocal technique and listened endlessly to recordings. my dad’s records. I loved singing out loud and often and “I was always trying to figure out how they did what sang anything that caught my fancy.” they did. How did these great singers make those Landry had started singing locally with classic rock sounds?” cover bands in his early 20s when two major life events When Landry felt he had developed his voice enough occurred. He became a single dad and the opera bug and that the need to sing was too much to bear, he finally bit him, making him a rabid fan. “In 1995, the started performing publicly—not in a typical classical rock band U2 formed a side band called the Passengers. venue, but at open mic nights. He did this for eight They wrote a song called ‘Miss Sarajevo.’ Toward the end years, rarely missing any local open mic night at pubs or of the song, Pavarotti sings an amazing operatic solo. coffee houses. I was hooked. I ran to my dad’s record collection and “It was a great way to develop and use this voice of started listening feverishly to everything and anything mine,” he says. “These platforms were typically stocked opera.” with acoustic folk acts, with much of the audience hearing opera for the first time. Despite that, I was

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40 Classical Singer / February 2017 always warmly received. Eventually I started performing Without the “typical” training most singers receive, as the opening act for a successful local rock band, however, how has Landry managed his career? “Most singing a couple of arias before their shows. The people who decide on an opera career and follow overwhelming positive reactions to my voice made me the traditional path of college, graduate school, and realize I needed to pursue this further.” apprentice programs, finish that path in their mid- When a friend overheard Landry singing, she told twenties,” Landry says. “My opera path started at the him, “Wow, you should go take lessons. That’s quite a age of 26. My journey has been unintentionally rogue. voice you have there!” His friend went on to explain I didn’t have the traditional track, so I have had to that her sister had recently graduated from NEC and improvise along the way. If I couldn’t get somewhere was teaching voice. Landry called his friend’s sister and the traditional way, I went around it. I didn’t ask for started taking weekly lessons. permission. I just sang, wherever and whenever I could, Once Landry started taking lessons and found success wherever I was accepted. I’m still like that today, singing performing in nontraditional venues, a chance encounter and sharing my gift, still hoping to move and inspire finalized his decision to pursue classical voice as a career. people!” “I was at a convention for youth affected by alcoholism,” he says. “During a break between workshops, I sang ‘Ave Love for Each Other Maria’ and ‘Danny Boy.’ Shortly after, a woman came up How did Landry and Ugarte meet? Fittingly, while to me and said that her son had died the year before, performing together in 2005 at the Crittenden Opera and when I sang ‘Danny Boy,’ she knew it was his way Summer Workshop in Boston. They were cast in the of saying hello. His name was Danny! From that day on, act 1 terzetto of Aida. Ugarte performed Amneris and I have pursued a career in voice. I was shown in that Landry sang the role of Radamès. “It is a long-standing moment that what singers do affects people and heals joke between us that at the time, Brian said, ‘Aida who?’” them.” Ugarte jokes. “Even now we refer to our two children as Aida babies.”

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www.classicalsinger.com 41 Winning the Universe's Lottery

“I was cast opposite a very attractive contralto,” Landry shares. “We started hanging out, fell in love, and the next thing we knew, we were getting married and moving to Italy. While in Italy, we auditioned for the great tenor Carlo Bergonzi, who had retired from Tuition Free Apply now online singing but was teaching at his famous Accademia & Verdiana in Busseto. My wife and I were both accepted STIPENDS! into the Accademia, which was a three-month course. The course concluded with a concert that was televised on the Italian television program, Loggione. “Riding high off the success of the concert in Italy, we returned to America. I got a job at Whole Foods Market, where I am still employed today,” Landry continues. “Within five months, Ana was pregnant with our first child, and I started auditioning for agents and conductors. I sang my first opera, Puccini’sTurandot , PREPARE AND PERFORM with an amateur company called Lowell House Opera, A COMPLETE ROLE which is a part of Harvard University.” in New York City This was followed by an engagement with Union May 28 to July 11, 2017 Avenue Opera in St. Louis in the title role of Otello. STIPENDS “The conductor, Kostis Protopapas, had recently We are happy to offer stipends for our 2017 program! become the artistic director of Tulsa Opera,” Landry Stipends will be offered from $500 - $2,000 for remembers. “He invited me to Tulsa Opera to be a principals and covers. All will be determined by the Prelude to Performance Artistic Staff. studio artist for a year. When my year was up, I sang as a young artist at the Caramoor Summer Music Festival in COMPLETE OPERAS New York. After New York, our second child was born, Fully staged and costumed so I focused on singing locally.” with orchestra. With two children at home, do they have the Operas to be performed: opportunity to perform together? “As much as possible!” Bizet’s Landry says. “We’ve been fortunate to perform Otello Carmen together. We have also performed oratorio together and and we have a Judy Garland tribute duo recital, which is a lot Puccini’s of fun.” Suor Anglica/ “I love performing with my husband,” Ugarte shares. “To get to share what I love with whom I love is like Gianni Schicchi winning the universe’s lottery.” AUDITIONS New York City Love for Family Feb. 3, 4, 5,17, 18, Parenting two children can be challenging, but it 19, 2017 can be even more difficult when both parents are professional singers. How do Ugarte and Landry juggle raising a family with their singing careers? For Ugarte, she views her roles as mom and singer as a choice rather than a challenge. “Brian and I share two beautiful little boys, Eamonn Liam, age 8, and Colm Photos by Finn, age 6,” she says. “My love for my children and Jen Joyce Davis For more information please the desire to be with them completely outweighs the call 2123159190 desire to have a nonstop career. I make choices based or go to our website on how much time I would have to spend away from http://www.preludetoperformance.html my family. This means the bulk of my work comes from or email church work, concerts, recitals, and the occasional [email protected] local or regional show. The trick for me has always been Applications on YapTracker finding the joy and passion, regardless of how big or small the opportunity is.”

42 Classical Singer / February 2017 Does Ugarte face any additional challenges from being struggle. Sometimes, we barely make ends meet and, a sight-impaired parent? “Of course,” she says candidly. therefore, auditions, coachings, and lessons all go by the “I make sure homework doesn’t slip through the cracks wayside.” and that the activities we do are always dictated by Yet somehow Ugarte and Landry manage, juggling my sight. We can walk to the park and play at the careers and kids with determination and a positive playground, but I am sure that I look like a hovering attitude. “I have learned to be present in my own daily parent. I have to stay close so I can see where they are. life and I try to make thoughtful choices that I won’t Since I cannot drive, arranging play dates and attending regret,” Ugarte says. “I look forward to new and exciting birthday parties and other events make us come up with adventures that will come by continuing to be my very creative solutions.” unique self. I believe that more good things will come to Ugarte quickly points out, however, that her greatest my family through perseverance and dedication to what challenge as a parent has nothing to do with her lack of we love most.” vision. Rather, it is trying to see the world through her eldest son’s eyes, who has autism. Being a singer adds Michelle Latour holds a DMA from the University of another layer of complexity. “Trying to sing and practice Southern California and is active as a teacher, singer, writer, when Eamonn is not around can be tough,” she says. and adjudicator. She lives in Las Vegas and has been on the “He doesn’t like loud noises and, let’s face it, singing gets full-time faculty at several universities. She is currently a loud. His favorite phrase is ‘Too loud, Mommy!’” voice faculty member for the Italian-based summer program When asked about his biggest parenting challenge, the International Opera Performing Experience and owns a Landry says, “Money, money, money. Being able to put private studio, the LATOUR Voice Studios. You can visit her at food on the table and clothes on their backs. Finding a www.thelatourvoicestudios.com and on Facebook, Twitter, and job that allows the flexibility of leaving for two to three Instagram. times a year for gigs can be difficult. It can be a constant

www.classicalsinger.com 43 The Singer’s Library: Matters of the Heart BY BRIAN MANTERNACH

Singer and voice teacher Agatha Carubia melds yogic philosophies and classical singing technique in her recent book. Carubia has found that her methods for opening the body and freeing the voice can help singers of all genres, including her student Katy Perry. Read more about her unique technique and how she is sharing it with students and voice teachers.

oice teachers often use questions to help energetic overlay for your singing. students self-assess their singing, such as Each level of your physical body is “Is your jaw released?” or “How well did you associated with a certain element Vengage the appoggio?” But some questions may in the yoga I learned. For instance, draw a blank stare, like “Are you open enough in the the root chakra, at your perineum, crown chakra for your high notes?” or “Are you using is connected to the earth. So, the firmer earth element where the air element each breath you take is as if should be?” Mother Earth is pulling a breath Brian Manternach Author Agatha Carubia addresses these very in from underneath you, through questions in her new book that outlines the your mouth (think hypodermic needle, pulling in the foundation of her Heart-Based Singing method. serum). It achieves the same breath as I was taught Connecting singing techniques to philosophies to use in Bel Canto. My diaphragm falls, my ribs open, discovered by practicing yoga, the book spells out the I feel the length of my air column along the front of principles she uses in her voice studio, in workshops, my spine. and in a Heart-Based Singing teacher training I joke with my singers that Mother Earth is so big program. that she will still be inhaling by the time their lesson is over! So, they connect to her pull, and the inhalation Can you give a brief overview of the Heart-Based happens and is felt even throughout the exhalation. Singing method? In this way, your breathing is always released, wide, The Heart-Based Singing method utilizes the and achieving the environment for the appoggio—the energetic structure of the chakra system as an “lean.”

44 Classical Singer / February 2017 "You do not have to be a yogi to practice Heart-Based Singing. However, opening your ribs on a regular basis, massaging your inner organs by twists, and gaining flexibility of your spine is great for singers." The second chakra has the element of water. It of a focus on the principles that both yoga and moves forward and becomes the river of energy in singing share? which we find the legato and our musical line. And so I have experimented with many yoga postures on. It is actually fun. (asanas) while singing and teaching singing. I have come to a place where I use only the postures that In the preface to the book you call yourself “a help me teach on a day-to-day basis. So, yes, there is classical vocal-technique teacher with a yogic always a yoga mat in my studio! bent.” To practice Heart-Based Singing, is it When I cannot unlock the knot at a singer’s necessary to practice yoga as well? diaphragm right under the heart by any other means, You do not have to be a yogi to practice Heart-Based the most helpful thing is to get them into a cobra pose Singing. However, opening your ribs on a regular basis, (Bhujangasana) on the floor. It pulls open the whole massaging your inner organs by twists, and gaining area of the epigastrium and makes space there. I have flexibility of your spine is great for singers. When the singers sing in that pose until they understand hatha yoga is done effectively, each movement in the where they were holding. When a singer experiences flow is on the breath and fueled by the breath. I am a freedom, it is not hard for them to remember the believer in this, and not just for singers. sensations. And they always have that pose to go back to on their own. How does the “yogic bent” play out in the studio? Do you do actual yoga exercises in lessons (I You write about how yoga helped you develop an envision yoga mats next to the piano!) or is it more awareness of the energy centers in your body, which

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tie into the areas of awareness we use as singers. Book Review Is it difficult for singers who don’t practice yoga to develop an awareness of these energy centers? Vocal pedagogy books It is not difficult for singers to develop awareness that advocate a specific of the energy in their bodies once they are told about methodology have a tendency it. At first, when working with energy, it can feel as to display certain tiresome though you are “making believe” or really stretching characteristics. Lengthy the imagination. But then it becomes the most natural accounts of individual success thing in the world. stories that tout a program’s Heart-Based Singing accomplishes this connection. efficacy, for instance, can It is the connection to this awareness. You know, the feel like program-length bottom line is that as soon as you center yourself commercials in book form. Equally bothersome is and stop your wild engagement with all of life’s an author who spends more time denigrating other distractions—talking, talking, talking—you begin to methods as inferior instead of demonstrating why feel your subtle body more readily. Your life gets into their method should be preferred. balance, then your singing gets into balance. Refreshingly, these tactics are absent in Heart- Based Singing published by StellaRose Publishing. You describe yourself as a teacher of classical vocal Instead of the hard sell, author Agatha Carubia fills technique who believes that classical technique is the pages of her book with inspiring thoughts and the best background for all styles of singing. Do the techniques she has developed to help make singing Heart-Based Singing techniques apply equally well a more enjoyable, full-body experience. to other styles of singing? The “heart of the matter” of her technique is This is the beauty of Heart-Based Singing and why to identify personal sensations, vibrations, and I know it will help everyone, especially new voice awarenesses and to use them as reference points teachers . . . When I moved from New York to Santa for singing. She does this by incorporating the Barbara, I wanted to teach voice for a living. One day chakra system from Eastern yogic philosophy into a woman called me who had been referred to me for classical singing. lessons. She was a country singer. I told her that I Carubia calls the technique a hybrid of everything never had taught a country singer and that I really was she has learned in her life as a soprano, a musician, not sure what I would do with her. She insisted that if and a yogi. The chapters, then, cover the pertinent I studied opera, that I could give her a lesson and that vocal topics (including posture, breathing, she really needed one. So I agreed. connecting breath to sound, and resonance) while She came in and blew my mind. She was thirsty for interweaving information about energy centers scales, arpeggios, vowel progressions, and my ear. in the body. Considering the popularity of yoga She used what seemed to be the same kind of singing among singers, as well as among the population at technique that I was basically taught at Juilliard. I large, the principles and terminology she uses may was able to give this singer the balance she needed already be familiar to many. to get her back into her body. That was a huge gift Though the Juilliard-trained author demonstrates to me. This gave me the conviction that classical a solid understanding of vocal function, she vocal technique was for everyone. It is a foundational often chooses nontechnical language in order technique as ballet is for modern and other forms of to discourage the overly analytical thinking and dance. micromanagement that can limit freedom in I have never turned away anyone who has come to singing. me fearing that I could not help them. I always found While the book is not intended to be a way through Heart-Based Singing. comprehensive in its discussion of pedagogy, it is a One student of mine has achieved great fame. When beneficial companion to vocal study that provides Katy Hudson—who we all know as Katy Perry—came unique perspectives and valuable ideas. to me, she was having some difficulties in the middle As the title implies, Heart-Based Singing of her voice. I taught her how to open her ribs, find encourages a spirit of discovery and exploration. the spaciousness in her throat, and to allow the air Carubia’s techniques have the potential to empower to flow without locking up. I would vocalize her fully, singers to uncover deeper connections between and we learned “Caro mio ben” to work on her upper body and voice that would serve to increase passaggio. I gave her the same breathing as I gave to balance, effortlessness, and authentic expression. a contemporary of hers in the studio—my son, Evan —Brian Manternach Hughes, a bass-baritone who is having a beautiful career in opera.

46 Classical Singer / February 2017 On the Heart-Based Singing website with or confuse an already established technique. It (www.heartbasedsinging.com), you offer workshops enhances a good technique and corrects common and private lessons, both in person and over misunderstandings in faulty techniques. And it is for Skype. Do you feel everyone. this instruction is necessary to really Tenor Brian Manternach teaches voice at the understand the HBS University of Utah in the Musical Theatre Program. method and to put it He holds degrees in vocal performance from Saint into practice or is the John’s University in Minnesota (BA), the University of book sufficient for Wisconsin–Milwaukee (MM), and the Indiana University most singers? Jacobs School of Music (DM). He can be reached The book was meant at bmantern@gmail.com. to reach beyond my private teaching. I believe it will open up another way of looking at your voice. If you Agatha Carubia are well established in your singing and VALERIE KUINKA General Director free, it should enhance your experience and give it perspective. Hopefully, it will make singing easier RICHARD MARGISON and more fun. If you are struggling, my hope is that Artistic Director the book helps you. That is why I was sure to include “signs of improper approach and ways of alleviating these problems.” That being said, I am poised to extend my AUDITIONS JAN 20 – FEB 23 workshops to where there is demand. I frequent New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Portland. I am happy to help anyone who is interested in what I am offering. Skype is a good tool since traveling is very expensive. Currently and for the last 10 years, the workshops have been in Santa Barbara and on the Big Island of Hawaii. They are very informal and fun, although we work intensely. I am [also] excited about the mentoring program I SET IN THE BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS OF THE HALIBURTON have established for young teachers. Teaching them HIGHLANDS IN CENTRAL ONTARIO, CANADA, HIGHLANDS to recognize the quality of energy in the body gives OPERA STUDIO PROVIDES ADVANCED OPERATIC TRAINING, teachers a new way of diagnosing and understanding PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE, AND NETWORKING where any imbalance is happening. OPPORTUNITIES TO EMERGING PROFESSIONAL SINGERS.

Do some of the concepts discussed in the book— Highlands Opera Studio was established in 2007 by internationally like chakras, the third eye, universal energy, etc.— acclaimed Canadian tenor, Richard Margison, and former ever meet with resistance as being too esoteric or Metropolitan Opera stage director, Valerie Kuinka, as a intangible for “serious” vocal study? professional training program and performing arts organization Not when they work! I think a huge portion of our to help young, highly qualifi ed singers make the transition from population is now interested in one form of yoga or University-level training to the professional world of opera. another. Our awareness is growing. These ideas are Operating north of Toronto, HOS 2017 is a 5-week intensive almost commonplace, at least in California. program running July 31 to August 31, providing advanced professional training, highly specialized coaching, and international Do you feel the HBS method is a logical “next step” networking opportunities through visiting opera professionals for singers, offering perspectives that connect including vocal teachers/coaches, conductors, directors, and to previous vocal study, or do you feel the book agents, along with performance experience through several provides new information that is significantly concerts, public masterclasses, and two fully-staged operas. outside the mainstream of vocal instruction? I actually feel that it is both. HBS is a very logical and TO BOOK AN AUDITION VISIT HIGHLANDSOPERASTUDIO.COM fun new look at singing. However, it does not interfere

www.classicalsinger.com 47 Auditions...... 48 OPPORTUNITIES Competitions...... 53 The audition and competition listings in Classical Singer magazine come from our online audition management tool Auditions Plus. With Audi- tions Plus you can find, save, manage, and track all types of singing opportunities. More than 1,400 job postings, training program opportunities, volunteer positions and educational listings are available on AuditionsPlus.com, including more than 400 audition and competition listings. Auditions Plus is free for all Classical Singer subscribers. Find and post opportunities today!

Auds for upc prods: La forza del Contact Info: studio@ AUDITIONS destino, Pagliacci, L’amico Fritz, Tales of houstongrandopera.org Hoffmann. Appl Deadline: Feb 26, ‘17 Coordinator: Kimberlee Talbot Website: www.csopera.org Email: auditions Contact Info: [email protected] Oper Frankfurt - Frankfurt, Germany (A, @classicalsinger.com Appl Deadline: Ongoing Paid, EmgPro) Now accepting appls for ‘17/18 Opera Website: www.auditionsplus.com Opera for the Young - Madison, WI (U, Studio. Paid, EmgPro) Website: www.oper-frankfurt.de/en/ Audition listings published in Classical Touring co auds Apr 7-8, ‘17 in Chicago, ensemble-guest-artists-opera-team/ Singer must either be no pay/no fee or paid engagements. If you have an experience IL and Apr 9, ‘17 in Madison, WI. Rep: opera-studio/ with a listed company that does not meet Rusalka (adaption). Appl Deadline: Feb 28, ‘17 this qualification, or if you have any other Website: www.operafortheyoung.org problems with a published audition notice, Contact Info: dge@ NEW Teatro Alla Scala - Milan, Italy (A, please contact Kimberlee Talbot immediately operafortheyoung.org Paid, EmgPro) at [email protected]. We do Appl Deadline: N/A Academy of Lyric Opera now accepting not publish notices from companies with appls for ‘17/19 prog. unresolved complaints. Concert Solo Website: www.accademialascala.it/ en/music/courses/cantanti-lirici.html New Trinity Baroque - Atlanta, GA (Paid, Pro) Appl Deadline: Mar 2, ‘17 Opera Solo Accepting mats from all voice types for upc concert seas as soloists or singers NEW PORTopera - Portland, ME (D, Paid, Asheville Lyric Opera - Asheville, NC (D, in chamber choir. EmgPro) Paid, Pro) Website: newtrinitybaroque.org Now accepting appls for Studio Artist Prog. Now accepting appls for ‘17 spring auds. Contact Info: info@ Website: www.portopera.org/young- Website: http://ashevillelyric.org/ newtrinitybaroque.org artists/ about-us/auditions/ Appl Deadline: N/A Appl Deadline: Feb 15, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Apr 2, ‘17 Church/Temple Carmel Bach Festival - Carmel, CA (U, NEW Livermore Valley Opera - Paid, EmgPro) Livermore, CA (D, Paid, EmgPro) NEW The Reformed Church of Now accepting appls for Virginia Best ‘17/18 seas auds Feb 16, ‘17 in San Bronxville - Bronxville, NY (Paid, Pro) Adams Vocal Master Class series. Francisco and Feb 18, ‘17 in Livermore, Seeking tenor section leader/soloist. Website: www.bachfestival.org/ CA. Rep: Don Pasquale, Un Ballo in Contact Info: sszabo@ virginia-best-adams-fellows.htm Maschera. reformedchurch.org Contact Info: (831) 624-1521 Website: www. Appl Deadline: N/A Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 LivermoreValleyOpera.com NEW Saint Cecilia Catholic Community iSING! International Young Artist Contact Info: [email protected] - Palm Springs, CA (Volunteer, N/A) Festival - Suzhou, China (U, Volunteer, Appl Deadline: N/A Seeking singers of all ages, voice types, EmgPro) Adobe Theatre - Corrales, NM (U, and proficiency levels for wkly mass. Auds Mar 7, ‘17 in New York, NY; Mar 9, ‘17 Volunteer, EmgPro) Website: www. Auds Feb 11-12, ‘17 for The Mikado. saintceciliacatholiccommunity.org BUDGET CATEGORIES Contact Info: davidjustinlynch@ Website: www.adobetheater.org/ Where available, budget categories are gmail.com auditions listed for performing companies. Budget Appl Deadline: N/A Appl Deadline: N/A categories conform to Opera America annual budget levels as reported in Amici Opera - Philadelphia, PA (U, Young Artist Programs Musical America. Volunteer, EmgPro) Seeking all voice types for ‘16/17 seas. NEW Houston Grand Opera (YAVA) - Level A=$10,000,000 and above Houston, TX (A, Volunteer, Student-Univ) Contact Info: (215) 224-0257 Level B=$3,000,000-$9,999,999 Appl Deadline: Ongoing Now accepting online appls for ‘17 Young Artists Vocal Academy. Level C=$1,000,000-$2,999,999 Center Stage Opera - New Cumberland, Website: www.houstongrandopera. Level D=less than $1,000,000 PA (U, Volunteer, EmgPro) org/studio/young-artist-vocal-academy Level U=Unknown

48 Classical Singer / February 2017 For new and complete listings, go to www.AuditionsPlus.com

Respond only to auditions for your level, and area of the country, CAREFULLY noting all restrictions. The following are Artist Level guideline definitions Student: Currently enrolled in a university or Level level C or D or equivalent. Artists in this for Classical Singer audition listings. Definitions, conservatory music program. level are considered full-time professionals and as such, do not perfectly describe all singers but the majority of their time spent and income should be helpful for artists to determine their Emerging Professional: Graduate of a college level are singing-related. Many of these artists have vocal program or conservatory. Or in the last year qualifications for a given audition notice. management. has been in a Young Artist Program, Apprentice It is still important for artists to observe these Program or performed in Workshop productions or Established Professional: In the last year has guidelines as performing companies continue to No-Pay productions. Or equivalent. These artists performed a principal role in a company with express their frustration with those singers who rarely have management. an Opera America level A or B company or send materials for audition listings for which they equivalent. Artists in this category are employed are not yet qualified. Professional: In the last year has performed a full-time singing principal roles with companies principal role in a company with Opera America of any category in multiple venues domestic and Budget international. These artists have management. in San Francisco, CA; Mar 28, ‘17 in Bologna, Italy; and Mar 30, NEW Busch Gardens Tampa Bay - Tampa Bay, FL (Paid, Pro) ‘17 Berlin, Germany. Auds Feb 7, ‘17 for vocalists and other performers. Website: www.isingfestival.org/ Website: https://buschgardensauditions.com/en/ Appl Deadline: Feb 28, ‘17 upcoming-auditions?from=Top_Nav Appl Deadline: N/A Martina Arroyo Foundation - New York, NY (U, Paid, EmgPro) Now accepting appls for ‘17 Prelude to Performance program. NEW Chance Theatre - Anaheim, CA (Paid, EmgPro) Website: www.martinaarroyofdn.org/prelude/apply.html Auds Feb 27, ’17 for Fancy Nancy, The Musical. Appl Deadline: Feb 5, ‘17 Website: https://chancetheater.com/auditions-2/#01 Appl Deadline: N/A Ticino Musica International Classic - Lugano, Switzerland (U, Volunteer, EmgPro) NEW Encore Musical Theatre Company - Dexter, MI (Paid, Opera Studio programme auds Apr 2-4, ‘17. Rep: Così fan tutte. EmgPro) Website: www.ticinomusica.com/en/opera-studio-2/ Auds Feb 12-13, ’17 for 9 to 5 and Camelot. terms-conditions/ Website: www.theencoretheatre.org/auditions/ Appl Deadline: Feb 20, ‘17 Appl Deadline: N/A

Musical Theatre NEW Equinox Theatre Company - Denver, CO (Paid, EmgPro) Auds Feb 26, ‘17 for The Rocky Horror Show. Alton Little Theatre - Alton, IL (Volunteer, EmgPro) Website: http://equinoxtheatredenver.dreamhosters.com/ Auds Feb 25-26, ‘17 for Man of La Mancha. auditions/ Website: www.altonlittletheater.org/page/auditions/ Appl Deadline: N/A Appl Deadline: N/A NEW Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival - Auburn, NY NEW Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre - Arrow Rock, MO (Paid, Pro) (Paid, Pro) Local ‘17 seas auds Feb 25, ‘17. Rep includes Beauty and the ‘17 seas auds Jan 27-29, ‘17 in Auburn, NY. Equity auds Feb 13, Beast and A Christmas Carol. ‘17 in New York, NY. Website: http://lyceumtheatre.org/about/auditions/ Website: http://fingerlakesmtf.com/ Contact Info: [email protected] employment/#auditions Appl Deadline: N/A Appl Deadline: N/A

Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre - Carmel, IN (Volunteer, EmgPro) Greenville Little Theatre - Greenville, SC (Volunteer, EmgPro) Auds Feb 6-7, ‘17 for The Music Man. Auds Feb 5, ‘17 for Hairspray. Website: http://civictheatre.org/auditions/music-man- Website: www.greenvillelittletheatre.org/audition auditions/ Appl Deadline: N/A Appl Deadline: N/A

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www.classicalsinger.com 49 Auditions HART Theatre - Waynesville, NC (Paid, Website: www.webster.edu/fine- NEW Parkway Playhouse - Burnsville, EmgPro) arts/midwest-theatre-auditions/ NC (Paid, EmgPro) ‘17 seas auds Feb 19-20, ‘17. Appl Deadline: N/A ‘17 seas auds Feb 18-19, ‘17. Rep includes Website: www.harttheatre.org/ Bonnie & Clyde and Footloose. Appl Deadline: N/A Mill Mountain Theatre - Roanoke, VA Website: www.parkwayplayhouse. (Paid, Pro) com/get-involved/audition-information NEW Leavenworth Summer Theater - ‘17 seas auds Jan 27-28, ‘17 in Roanoke, Appl Deadline: N/A Leavenworth, WA (Paid, EmgPro) VA and Feb 13-14, ‘17 in New York, NY. ‘17 seas auds Mar 1-4, ‘17. Rep: The Sound Website: http://millmountain.org/ NEW Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera - of Music, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie. about/opportunities/ Pittsburgh, PA (Paid, Pro/EmgPro) Website: www. Contact Info: auditions@ ’17 seas auds for principal and chorus leavenworthsummertheater.org/ millmountain.org Feb 2-4, ’17. Rep: In the Heights, Newsies, auditions/ Appl Deadline: N/A Million Dollar Quartet, Mama Mia. Contact Info: 509-548-7324 Website: www.pittsburghclo.org/ Appl Deadline: N/A NEW Moonlight Stage Productions - about/clo-auditions Vista, CA (Paid, EmgPro) Appl Deadline: N/A NEW Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma - ‘17 seas auds Feb 13-15, ’17. Rep: The Oklahoma City, OK (Paid, Pro) Little Mermaid, Aida, Sunset Boulevard, NEW The Playhouse - San Antonio, TX ‘17 seas auds Feb 26 & Mar 1-4, ‘17. Rep In the Heights. (Paid, EmgPro) includes Million Dollar Quartet, When You Website: www.moonlightstage.com/ Auds Mar 6-7, ‘17 for Urinetown. Wish, West Side Story, Rock of Ages. about-us/auditions Website: www.theplayhousesanews. Website: http://lyrictheatreokc.com/ Appl Deadline: N/A org/playhouse-news/audition- auditions/ announcement-urinetown Appl Deadline: N/A Music Theatre Wichita - Wichita, KS Appl Deadline: N/A (Paid, Pro) NEW Maine State Music Theatre - ‘17 seas auds Feb 21-23, ‘17 (Ann Arbor, MI); NEW Rocky Mountain Repertory Brunswick, ME (Paid, Pro) Feb 25-26, ‘17 (Chicago, IL); Mar 3-5, ‘17 Theatre - Grand Lake, CO (Paid, Pro) Local principal auds Feb 25, ‘17 in (Wichita, KS); Mar 10-12, ‘17 (Oklahoma City, Auds Jan 30, ‘17 in Denver, CO and Feb Brunswick, ME; Equity principal auds Mar OK); Mar 15-20, ‘17 (New York City, NY). 10-12, ‘17 in Chicago, IL. 14-16, ‘17 and Agent appt auds Mar 20-21, Website: http://mtwichita.org/ Website: www.rockymountainrep. ‘17 in New York, NY; and Equity chorus opportunities/audition_information/ com/about-rmrt/audition-for-us/ auds Mar 17, ‘17 in New York, NY. Rep: general_information Appl Deadline: N/A Guys and Dolls, Grease, Newsies. Appl Deadline: N/A Website: http://msmt.org/auditions- NEW Slow Burn Theatre - Boca Raton, aea/ NEW New England Theatre Conference FL (Paid, EmgPro) Contact Info: BCCsubmissionsonly@ (NETC) - Hamden, CT (Paid, EmgPro) ‘17/18 seas auds Mar 20-21, ’17. Rep: gmail.com Annual theatre auds Mar 11-13, ‘17 in Tarzan, Secret Garden, Memphis, Appl Deadline: N/A Natick, MA. Disaster! The Musical. Website: www.netconline.org/ Website: http://slowburntheatre. NEW MainStreet Theatre Company - Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 org/2017-2018-season-auditions/ Rancho Cucamonga, CA (Paid, Pro) Contact Info: slowburnauditions@ Auds Feb 15-16, ’17 for Goldilocks and the NEW North Shore Music Theatre - gmail.com Three Bears. Beverly, MA (Paid, Pro) Appl Deadline: Mar 13, ‘17 Website: www.lewisfamilyplayhouse. Local auds Feb 28, ’17 for The Music Man; com/mainstreet/opencalls.php Mar 31, ’17 for Beauty and the Beast.’17 Stages St. Louis - St. Louis, MO (Paid, Appl Deadline: N/A seas EPA auds Feb 9-10 & Mar 2-3, ’17 in Pro) New York, NY. ‘17 seas auds Jan 25-28, ‘17 in MidWest Theatre Auditions - St. Louis, Website: www.nsmt.org/auditions. Chesterfield, MO; and Jan 6, ‘17 and Feb MO (Paid, Pro) html 13-16, ‘17 in New York, NY. Auds Feb 17-19, ‘17. Appl Deadline: N/A

50 Classical Singer / February 2017 For new and complete listings, go to www.AuditionsPlus.com Website: www.stagesstlouis.org/ Contact Info: [email protected] NEW Marin Baroque - San Anselmo, CA About-Us/Work-With-Us/Auditions/ Appl Deadline: N/A (U, Volunteer, EmgPro) Contact Info: 314-604-6127 Auds for Mar ‘17 concert. Appl Deadline: N/A Opera Vlaanderen - Antwerp, Belgium Website: www.marinbaroque.org/ (U, Paid, Pro) Contact Info: marinbaroque@gmail. NEW Theater Works - Peoria, AZ (Paid, Auds Mar 14, ‘17 for chorus mezzo or alto. com EmgPro) Website: https://operaballet.be/en/ Appl Deadline: Feb 14, ‘17 Auds Mar 11, ‘17 for Once Upon a the-house/hiring/vacancies/chorus- Mattress. audition-mezzo-or-alto Musaic - San Rafael, CA (U, Volunteer, Website: http://theaterworks.org/ Appl Deadline: Feb 14, ‘17 EmgPro) about/audition/ Men’s a cappella ensemble auds for all Appl Deadline: N/A Other Chorus parts. Website: www.musaicsf.net/ NEW Theatre by the Sea - Wakefield, RI Pacifica Singers - Vancouver, BC, Contact Info: [email protected] (Paid, Pro) Canada (A, Volunteer, EmgPro) Appl Deadline: Ongoing Local ‘17 seas auds Jan 28-29, ‘17 in Auds throughout/yr for emg prof’l Kingston, RI. Auds Feb 13, 14 & 16, ‘17 in singers. New Trinity Baroque - Atlanta, GA (U, New York, NY. Website: www. Paid, Pro) Website: www.theatrebythesea. vancouverchamberchoir.com Accepting mats from all voice types for com/auditions.html Contact Info: info@ upc concert seas as soloists or singers in Appl Deadline: N/A vancouverchamberchoir.com chamber choir. Appl Deadline: Ongoing Website: newtrinitybaroque.org NEW Tuacahn Center for the Arts - Contact Info: info@ Ivins, UT (Paid, Pro) NEW Santa Fe Desert Chorale - Santa newtrinitybaroque.org Auds Feb 7, ‘17 in Los Angeles, CA. Fe, NM (A, Paid, Pro) Appl Deadline: Ongoing Website: www.tuacahn.org/online/ Aud mats for all voice parts welcome on default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadA a rolling basis. The Princeton Singers - Princeton, NJ rticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loa Website: www.desertchorale.org/ (U, Paid, Pro) dArticle::article_id=97D3AED3-DAAC- auditions.html Seeking vocalists of all voice parts for 4B2D-9B0D-061F34886ECF&sessionlan Appl Deadline: Ongoing avail vacancies. guage=&SessionSecurity::linkName=&b Website: www.princetonsingers.org/ randingName=TCA Vancouver Chamber Choir - Vancouver, get-involved/auditions/ Appl Deadline: N/A BC, Canada (A, Paid, Pro) Contact Info: info@princetonsingers. Ongoing auds for prof’l chorus members. org Opera Chorus Website: www. Appl Deadline: N/A vancouverchamberchoir.com NEW Asheville Lyric Opera - Asheville, Contact Info: info@ NEW Revels - Watertown, MA (U, NC (D, Paid, EmgPro) vancouverchamberchoir.com Volunteer, EmgPro) Now accepting appls for upc seas. Rep: Appl Deadline: N/A ‘17 Christmas Revels chorus auds Mar Cavalleria Rusticana, Fiddler on the Roof, 5-6, ‘17. Carmen. San Francisco Choral Artists - San Website: www.revels.org/get- Website: http://ashevillelyric.org/ Francisco, CA (E, Paid, EmgPro) involved/audition/ about-us/auditions/ Interested in hearing talented singers of Appl Deadline: N/A Appl Deadline: Apr 2, ‘17 all voice parts, esp basses. Website: www.sfca.org/about- United States Air Force Band of Mid- NEW New Jersey Association of auditions.php America - Scott AFB, IL (U, Paid, Pro) Verismo Opera - Fort Lee, NJ (D, Contact Info: [email protected] Vocalist auds Mar 27, ‘17. Volunteer, EmgPro) Appl Deadline: Ongoing Website: www.bands.af.mil/careers Chorus auds Feb 1, 8, 15 & 22, ‘17. Website: http://verismopera.org/

Your Playbook for success!

www.classicalsinger.com 51 Auditions Contact Info: [email protected] Contact Info: [email protected] Appl Deadline: Feb 10, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Feb 10, ‘17 NEW United States Air Force Band of the West - JBSA Other Lackland, TX (U, Paid, Pro) Vocalist auds Mar 23-24, ‘17. Seattle Opera - Seattle, WA (A, Volunteer, Student-Univ) Website: www.bands.af.mil/careers/ Currently accepting appls for various internships. Appl Deadline: Feb 6, ‘17 Website: http://seattleopera.org/about/careers/ Contact Info: [email protected] Teaching Positions Appl Deadline: Ongoing

City College of San Francisco - San Francisco, CA NEW Austin Opera - Austin, TX (B, Paid, Pro) Seeking Music Voice Instructor. Seeking Chorus Master/Asst Conductor. Website: https://jobs.ccsf.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/ Website: http://austinopera.org/about/employment- frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1471659427989 opportunities/ Appl Deadline: Mar 3, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Mar 15, ‘17

DePauw University - Greencastle, IN Amici Opera - Philadelphia, PA (U, Paid, EmgPro) Seeking to fill position in applied voice (baritone, bass- Seeking accomp for remaining ‘16/17 seas. baritone, bass). Contact Info: 215-224-0257 Website: www.depauw.edu/offices/academic-affairs/ Appl Deadline: Ongoing open-faculty-positions/ Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 NEW Gilded Angel Opera - Lansdowne, PA (U, Paid, EmgPro) Seeking pianist and opera mngmt intern for spr ‘17 opera NEW Mississippi University for Women - Columbus, MS (U, concert. Paid, Pro) Contact Info: [email protected] Seeking asst prof of voice. Appl Deadline: N/A Website: https://muw.peopleadmin.com/postings/2034 Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 NEW Lorelei Ensemble - Boston, MA (U, Paid, Pro) Auds for sopranos, mezzos, and contraltos Mar 8, ‘17 in NEW Missouri University of Science and Technology - Rolla, MO Minneapolis, MN. Seeking dir of music (asst prof). Contact Info: [email protected] Website: https://myhr.umsystem.edu/psp/tamext/ Appl Deadline: Feb 15, ‘17 ROLLA/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL?SiteId=10 Appl Deadline: Feb 10, ‘17 Opera for the Young - Madison, WI (U, Paid, EmgPro) Touring co seeks coach/accomps. Rep: Rusalka (adaptation). Santa Monica College - Santa Monica, CA Website: www.operafortheyoung.org Asst/assoc prof of music (choral/voice). Contact Info: [email protected] Website: jobs.smc.edu/applicants/ Appl Deadline: N/A Central?quickFind=50763 Appl Deadline: Feb 28, ‘17 NEW Singing for Seniors - New York, NY (Volunteer, EmgPro) Seeking singers for collective volunteer perf’ng organization. NEW University of Florida - Gainesville, FL Contact Info: [email protected] Seeking lecturer in musical theatre-voice. Appl Deadline: Ongoing Website: http://explore.jobs.ufl.edu/cw/en-us/job/500815/ lecturer-in-musical-theatre-voice

52 Classical Singer / February 2017 For new and complete listings, go to www.AuditionsPlus.com Competition Date: Mar 11 & 25, ‘17 information/apply/scholarship- Age Limit: 24 opportunity-jack-kent-cooke-young- COMPETITIONS Website: www.marinmusicchest.org/ artist-award/ Coordinator: Kimberlee Talbot application.html Appl Deadline: Mar 1, ‘17 Email: [email protected] Appl Deadline: Feb 25, ‘17 Martha Marcks Mack Junior Vocal Website: www.auditionsplus.com Artist Development Grant 2017 - Award - San Francisco, CA If you have any problems with a Montpelier, VT Sponsored By: National Federation published competition notice, please Sponsored By: Vermont Arts Council Music Club contact Kimberlee Talbot immediately at Age Limit: N/A Age Limit: 19 [email protected]. We Website: www.vermontartscouncil. Website: www.nfmc-music.org/index. do not publish notices from companies org/grants-and-services/artists/artist- php?src=directory&view=awards&categ with unresolved complaints. development ory=Junior Division Appl Deadline: Aug 31, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Mar 1, ‘17

Grants, Awards & Misc. Bassi Brugnatelli Symposium Martha Marcks Mack Senior Vocal Funding Scholarship Auditions - Tuscaloosa, AL Performance Award - Chesapeake, VA Sponsored By: Bassi Brugnatelli Sponsored By: National Federation of NEW 41st Annual Glenn Miller International Conducting and Singing Music Clubs Scholarship Competition - Clarinda, IA Symposium Competition Date: Mar 15, ‘17 Sponsored By: Glenn Miller Birthplace Age Limit: N/A Age Limit: N/A Society Website: www. Website: www.nfmc-music.org/ Age Limit: N/A bassibrugnatellisymposium.com Appl Deadline: Mar 15, ‘17 Website: http://glennmiller.org/ Appl Deadline: Ongoing scholarship/scholarship-information/ No Age Limit/Unknown Jack Kent Goode Young Artist Award - Appl Deadline: Mar 1, ‘17 Boston, MA 1st Annual Scholarship Competition - NEW 2017 Scholarship Competition - Sponsored By: From the Top Age Limit: 18 Lilburn, GA Ross, CA Sponsored By: Opera Guild for Atlanta Sponsored By: Marin Music Chest Website: www.fromthetop.org/

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www.classicalsinger.com 53 Competitions Competition Date: Apr 23, ‘17 Harold Haugh Light Opera Vocal Website: www.verdioperatheatre. Website: www.operaguildatl.org Competition - Ann Arbor, MI com/verdi_opera_theatre_of_michigan_ Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 Sponsored By: Comic Opera Guild competition.htm Website: www.comicoperaguild.org/ Appl Deadline: Feb 18, ‘17 2017 CS Vocal Competition - Chicago, IL PAGES/VOCAL-COMPETITION.html Sponsored By: Classical Singer and Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 NEW 2017 Annual Competition - San the CS Music Community Francisco, CA Competition Date: May 26-28, ‘17 Age 18 and Under Sponsored By: Pacific Musical Website: www.classicalsinger.com/ Society vocalcompetition Competition Date: Apr 2, ‘17 Appl Deadline: May 25, ‘17 NEW 2017 Young Voice Competition - Age Limit: 25 Colorado Springs, CO Website: www.pacificmusical.com/ 2017 James Toland Vocal Arts Vocal Sponsored By: Pikes Peak Opera competition-entry-information Competition - Oakland, CA Competition Date: Feb 11 & Mar 12, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Feb 12, ‘17 Sponsored By: James Toland Vocal Age Limit: 18 Arts, Inc. Website: www.pikespeakoperaleague. 2017 Cooper-Bing International Vocal Competition Date: Jun 23-24, ‘17 org/ Competition - Columbus, OH Website: www.jamestolandvocalarts. Appl Deadline: Feb 4, ‘17 Sponsored By: Opera Columbus org/the-competition/#the-annual- Competition Date: May 20-21, ‘17 competition William E. Schmidt Youth Vocal Age Limit: 21 Appl Deadline: Feb 10, ‘17 Competition - Oxford, OH Website: www.operacolumbus. Sponsored By: Schmidt Vocal org/education/cooper-bing-vocal- 2017 Lyra New York International Vocal Competition competition Competition - New York, NY Competition Date: Jan 28, Feb 4, Mar Appl Deadline: Apr 2, ‘17 Sponsored By: Lyra New York 11, Apr 15, May 20, Jun 4, 10 & 18, ‘17 Website: www.lyranewyork. Age Limit: 18 2017 Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - com/2017-vocal-competition Website: www.schmidtcompetition. Milwaukee, WI Appl Deadline: Feb 15, ‘17 org/index.html Sponsored By: Hal Leonard Appl Deadline: Jun 18, ‘17 Corporation NEW Discovery Art Song Competition - Age Limit: 23 Washington, DC NEW Young Vocalist Online Competition Website: www.halleonard.com/ Sponsored By: Vocal Arts DC - Walnut Creek, CA vocalcomp/2017requirements.jsp Website: www.vocalartsdc.org/ Sponsored By: Vocal Artists Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 youngartists.shtml Management Appl Deadline: Mar 30, ‘17 Age Limit: 18 NEW 2017 Sue Goetz Ross Student Website: www.vocalartistsmgmt.com/ Competition for Voice - Washington, DC NEW Filadelfia Festival 2017 Paolo young-vocalists-online-competition Sponsored By: Friday Morning Music Serrao Special Award Competition - Appl Deadline: Apr 1, ‘17 Club Filadelfia, Italy Competition Date: Mar 11, ‘17 Sponsored By: Associazione Age 25 and Under Age Limit: 22 Musicale Melody Website: www.fmmc.org/ Competition Date: May 3-7, ‘17 NEW 23rd Annual Italian Songs and competitions/local-student- Website: www.associazione- Arias Vocal Competition - Livonia, MI competitions/ melody.com/pages/competitions- Sponsored By: Verdi Opera Theatre of Appl Deadline: Mar 4, ‘17 filadelfia-2017.php Michigan Appl Deadline: Apr 3, ‘17 Krieger,Caroline-5248 (RemindAir-Color)) Age10/26/16 Limit: 19 9:53 AM P

For Teachers and Students of Singing Aids in teaching rib cage expansion and breath management. www.theremindair.com

54 Classical Singer / February 2017 For new and complete listings, go to www.AuditionsPlus.com NEW Young Vocalists Competition- Age Limit: 28 Website: www. High School and College Divisions - Website: https://ferrierawards.org. fivetownsmusicandarts.org/index.html Kalamazoo, MI uk/competition-entry/ Appl Deadline: Apr 28, ‘17 Sponsored By: Kalamazoo Bach Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 Festival Society NEW Petersburg, FL Competition Date: Mar 8 & 11, ‘17 NEW 2017 Mélodies Françaises Sponsored By: St. Petersburg Opera Age Limit: 25 (French Art Song) - Albuquerque, NM Guild Website: www. Sponsored By: Vocal Artistry Art Competition Date: Mar 25, ‘17 kalamazoobachfestival.org/ Song Festival Age Limit: (M) 30; (F) 28 Appl Deadline: Feb 18, ‘17 Competition Date: Apr 28-30, ‘17 Website: www.stpeteoperaguild.org/ Age Limit: 30 college-and-young-professionals.html Age 30 and Under Website: www.vocalartistryartsong. Appl Deadline: Mar 10, ‘17 com/details Appl Deadline: Apr 1, ‘17 NEW Classical Music Fellowship - 16th Annual Young Artists Chicago, IL Competition - Burbank, CA NEW 2017 Solo Competition - Sponsored By: Luminarts Cultural Sponsored By: Burbank Llangollen, UK Foundation Philharmonic Orchestra Sponsored By: Llangollen Competition Date: Mar 20-21 & 23, Competition Date: Feb 22-23 & 25, International Musical Eisteddfod ‘17 ‘17 Age Limit: 27 Age Limit: 30 Age Limit: 30 Website: http:// Website: http://luminarts.org/ Website: www.burbankphilharmonic. eisteddfodcompetitions.co.uk/solo- classical-music-opportunities org/hennings-fischer-young-artists- competitions-2016/ Appl Deadline: Feb 17, ‘17 competiti Appl Deadline: N/A Appl Deadline: Feb 6, ‘17 NEW National Voice Competition - NEW 2017 Worldwide Competition - Miami, FL NEW 2017 Evanston Music Club Kazakhstan Sponsored By: Young Patronesses of and North Shore Musicians Club Sponsored By: Plácido Domingo’s the Opera/Florida Grand Opera Scholarship Competition - Operalia Competition Date: Apr 8, ‘17 Sponsored By: Evanston Music Club Competition Date: Jul 24-26 & 29, ‘17 Age Limit: 30 Competition Date: Apr 25, ‘17 Age Limit: 32 Website: www.ypo-miami.org/voice- Age Limit: 28 Website: www.operaliacompetition. competition/ Website: www.evanstonmusicclub. org/guidelines Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 org/page2.htm Appl Deadline: Feb 12, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Mar 31, ‘17 Age 35 and Under NEW 2017 Young Musician NEW 2017 Kathleen Ferrier Competition - Hewlett, NY Competition - London, UK Sponsored By: Five Towns Music and 5th Annual Opera Awards Competition Sponsored By: Kathleen Ferrier Arts Foundation - Washington, DC Awards Competition Date: May 27, ‘17 Sponsored By: Partners for the Arts, Competition Date: Apr 1-3, 26 & 28, ‘17 Age Limit: 28 Inc.

HARROWER SUMMER OPERA WORKSHOP JUNE 5 - 25, 2017 Discover the Summer Opera Workshop, a unique program with a relaxed yet professional atmosphere in the heart of Atlanta. The three-week workshop includes acting and movement classes, instruction in stage makeup, stage combat and foreign language diction, private coaching, seminars and master classes with international artists, The remarkable faculty at Harrower includes artist-in-residence Jennifer Larmore, fully staged and costumed productions of Carmen and internationally acclaimed opera singer. Ms. Larmore won a Grammy Award for Best Dialogues of the Carmelites. Opera Recording in 2007, Carroll Freeman, artistic director, Classical Singer magazines’ 2010 Stage Director of the Year and the Valerie Adams Distinguished Professor of Application deadline: February 6, 2017 Live Audition: February 11, 2017 Opera Studies at Georgia State University; W. Dwight Coleman, executive director, award winning stage director of the MusicAnatolia College in Thessaloniki, Greece, and Coordinator of External Relations at Georgia State University. communitymusic.gsu.edu•404.413.5902 For more information and a complete listing of programs, please visit our website.

www.classicalsinger.com 55 Competitions Competition Date: Apr 7-8, ‘17 45th Loren L. Zachary National Vocal NEW 2017 International Vocal Age Limit: 35 Competition - Beverly Hills, CA Competition - Czech Republic Website: http://partners4thearts.org/ Sponsored By: Loren L Zachary Sponsored By: Pustina Competition vocal-competition-2/ Society Competition Date: Mar 18, Apr 5, 8, 11, Appl Deadline: Feb 17, ‘17 Competition Date: Feb 27-Mar 3 & 21, 25 & 28; Oct 13-14, ‘17 26-28, May 21, ‘17 Age Limit: 35 NEW 19th Imrich Godin International Age Limit: 35 Website: www.pustinacompetition. Vocal Competition - Vráble, Slovakia Website: www.zacharysociety.org/ eu/content/conditions Sponsored By: Iuventus Canti competition.htm Appl Deadline: Mar 10, ‘17 Competition Date: Apr 24-28, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Feb 8, ‘17 Age Limit: 35 2017 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Website: www.iuventuscanti.com/ NEW 2017 European Community International Song Competition - Appl Deadline: Feb 28, ‘17 Competition for Young Opera Singers - London, UK Spoleto, Italy Sponsored By: Wigmore Hall/Kohn NEW 29th Annual Vocal Competition - Sponsored By: Teatro Lirico Foundation Annapolis, MD Sperimentale di Spoleto Competition Date: Sep 3-7, ‘17 Sponsored By: Annapolis Opera Age Limit: 34 Age Limit: 33 Competition Date: Apr 29-30, ‘17 Website: www.tls-belli.it/eng/news. Website: www.wigmore-hall. Age Limit: 35 php org.uk/song-competition/2017- Website: www.annapolisopera.org Appl Deadline: Feb 16, ‘17 songcompetition Appl Deadline: Feb 24, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Mar 24, ‘17 2017 International Vocal Competition - 39th Annual Vocal Competition - New York, NY Classical Idol Vocal Competition - Birmingham, AL Sponsored By: Gerda Lissner Rochester, NY Sponsored By: Opera Birmingham Foundation Sponsored By: Rochester Oratorio Competition Date: May 6-7, ‘17 Competition Date: Mar 20-23 & 25, ‘17 Society Age Limit: 35 Age Limit: 35 Competition Date: Apr 7-8, ‘17 Website: www.operabirmingham.org/ Website: www.gerdalissner.org/ Age Limit: 35 contestant-information/ competition/ Appl Deadline: Mar 1, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Feb 21, ‘17

John Blow and his opera Venus and Adonis LEYERLE PUBLICATIONS

International Workshop since 1977 VOCAL MUSIC AND TEXTBOOKS www.leyerlepublications.com in Early Music for singers Creator of the International Phonetic Alphabet Dates: July 21st-30th, 2017 (IPA) spelling of foreign language text and song Venue: The Castle of Spálené Poříčí, Czech Republic analogies of word-for-word major opera and Audition deadline: February 28th, 2017 composer translations.

For application forms and further information contact: For the Vocal Professional, Opera Director, email: [email protected] Singer, Conductor, Teacher, Coach, Recital, Soloist, http://marketamusic.ie/news-and-upcoming/ Diction Class, Voice Class, Pegagogy Class

An intensive course of study with semi-staged performances. Composed in • Opera Libretti • Song Texts 1683 (thus predating Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), Blow’s Venus and Adonis is • Song Anthologies • Song Groups regarded as the ‘first English opera’. Blow like Purcell, was a boy chorister in the Chapel Royal, both were organists at Westminster Abbey, and as composers, 585-216-7834 were the two shining lights of the English Restoration period. 585-216-9938 (fax) [email protected]

ENJOY YOUR VOICE 2017 Art Song Discovery Auditions For singers in the Greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Osceola Davis Pennsylvania, and Delaware

Lyric Coloratura Soprano Winner receives $7,000, and will be presented in a solo recital in a prestigious Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Opera venue; Second prize is $3,000, plus a Washington, D.C. recital opportunity Complete requirements can be downloaded from our website: www.VocalArtsDC.org/auditions voice instructor /operatic interpretation Deadline for filing applications and sending mp3 Private lessons / vocal consultation audio files is midnight on Thursday, March 30 Finals will be held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, May 13 (718) 796 7195 or [email protected] Vocal arts dc

56 Classical Singer / February 2017 For new and complete listings, go to www.AuditionsPlus.com Website: http://rossings.org/classical-idol/application- Competition Date: Jun 21-22, ‘17 details/ Age Limit: 36 Appl Deadline: Mar 1, ‘17 Website: www.nfmc-music.org/index.php?src=directory &view=awards&category=Young Artist Competition NEW Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition - New York, NY Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 Sponsored By: Jensen Foundation Competition Date: May 15-18 & 20, ‘17 NEW The Respighi Prize - New York, NY Age Limit: 35 Sponsored By: Chamber Orchestra of New York Website: http://www.jensenfoundation.org/ Age Limit: 40 Appl Deadline: Mar 19, ‘17 Website: https://chamberorchestraofnewyork.org/the- respighi-prize/ Age 40 and Under Appl Deadline: Jun 30, ‘17

2017 Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition - New Age 45 and Under York, NY Sponsored By: Oratorio Society of New York 2017 International Vocal Competition - Wagnerian Competition Date: Apr 8, ‘17 Division - New York, NY Age Limit: 40 Sponsored By: Gerda Lissner Foundation Website: www.oratoriosocietyofny.org/solo.html Competition Date: Mar 24-25, ‘17 Appl Deadline: Feb 1, ‘17 Age Limit: 45 Website: www.gerdalissner.org/competition/ 2017 National Vocal Competition - NYC, NY Appl Deadline: Feb 21, ‘17 Sponsored By: New York Lyric Opera Theatre Competition Date: Jan 29, Feb 12 & 19, Mar 5, 12 & 25, ‘17 Lauritz Melchior International Singing Competition - Age Limit: 40 Aalborg, Denmark Website: www.newyorklyricopera.org/auditions.html Sponsored By: Aalborg Symphony Orchestra Appl Deadline: N/A Competition Date: Nov 10-18, ‘17 Age Limit: 42 NFMC Young Artist Auditions - Greenwood, IN Website: www.lmisc.dk/eng Sponsored By: National Federation of Music Clubs Appl Deadline: May 1, ‘17

Vancouver Early Music Programme & Festival 2017 The Compleat Singer — advanced level baroque vocal programme — Sunday July 30 - Friday August 11, 2017 The application deadline for this Programme is April 15, 2017 Bringing movement, passion and projection to the interpretation of baroque vocal music Ellen Hargis course director and voice Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière gesture, stage movement & baroque dance with coach/accompanists Christopher Bagan Michael Jarvis Lucas Harris harpsichord harpsichord lute The setting is intimate, the attention is individual and the results inspirational

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

Apply at: For more information: earlymusic.bc.ca [email protected]

www.classicalsinger.com 57 CS MUSIC CONVENTION Chicago May 25-28, 2017

Join the singing community in Chicago this May for the CS Music Convention & Competition weekend.

Compete for cash and scholarships. Attend the career changing Audition Feedback Experience, Convention Classes, and the Expo with more than 90 vocal programs.

Get feedback to help you win competitions, nail your next audition, and know what you need to work on to for your ultimate succees. Register today at: www.ClassicalSinger.com/convention

Find us on Facebook: @csconvention Gerda.Classical.Singer Ad.qxp_Gerda.OperaAmerica Ad 12/5/16 9:37 AM Page 1

T H E GERDA LISSNER FOUNDATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE LIEDERKRANZ FOUNDATION

The Gerda lissner Foundation was created to provide young opera singers with the financial support they need to pursue their craft and excel in the world of opera. Winners are judged by a panel comprised of prestigious professionals in the music world.

INTERNATIONAL VOCAL COMPETITION 2017 A total of $175,000 will be awarded. NO FEE TO ENTER

The competition is divided into two parts:

ThE GENERAl DivisiON (Open to singers ages 21-35) March 20 through March 23; finals on March 25

ThE WAGNERiAN DivisiON (Open to singers ages 30-45) March 24; finals on March 25

TOP PRiZE iN BOTh DivisiONs: $15,000 sponsored by ThE liEDERKRANZ FOUNDATiON

First Prize: $10,000 second Prize: $5,000 Third Prize: $3,000 Grant $2,000 Encouragement $1,000

Email Applications must be received by February 21,2017, 5PM EsT

The competition will take place at the liederkranz Foundation 6 East 87th street, New York City

“One of the most benevolent sources of support for young artists is the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and also one of New York’s most prestigious voice competitions.” — OPERA NEWs

For information regarding application process, please visit web site: www.gerdalissner.org

The Gerda lissner Foundation, 15 East 65th street, NY, NY 10065 Tel: 212.826.6100 Fax: 212.826.0366 [email protected] celebrating 15 Shenandoah ConServatory’S years CCM voCal Pedagogy InStItute vocal Pedagogy for the 21st Century July 15 – 23, 2017

“I will recommend the CCM Institute to literally every vocal pedagogue I know! Shenandoah is offering the world exactly what has been needed for such a long time! I’m so grateful that I took

Dr. Matthew Edwards lifetime achievement the time to do it, and I will definitely be back.” artistic director award recipient Dr. Robert Sataloff, Luisa Rodriguez, Boulder, CO otolaryngologist and 2016 participant Keynote Speaker

sessIon 1: July 15–17 respIratIon and phonatIon For ccM sIngers Matt edwards with returning guests Wendy leborgne and Marci rosenberg, authors of “Building on the new format established last summer, we are proud “The Vocal athlete” to announce our first Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, world renowned otolaryngologist Dr. Robert Sataloff. Our team of experts sessIon 2: July 18–20 continues to bring exciting perspectives in voice training, fusing CCM resonance and styles and voice science in a systemized approach that is accessible to artIculatIon teachers of all backgrounds.We hope you will join us next summer!” For ccM sIngers Dr. Matthew Edwards Matt edwards with special guest Artistic Director robert sataloff, Otolaryngologist and Keynote speaker

sessIon 3: July 21–23 ccM styles and perForMance practIce Matt edwards with special guest Jeffr amsey, berklee school of Music r&b repertoire coach

All courses offer graduate credit and cost $390 until the May 15th deadline.

For More InForMatIon & to regIster: 540-664-0709 [email protected] www.ccMInstItute.coM