COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Copyright Service. sydney.edu.au/copyright Tertiary Opera Training in Australia and UK: Ethnographic Perspective Maria Briggs (née Okunev) A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Sydney Conservatorium of Music University of Sydney 2015 Maria Briggs (née Okunev) Tertiary Opera Training in Australia & UK: Ethnographic Perspective Declaration I, Maria Briggs (née Okunev) hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that it contains no material previously published or written by another person except for the co-authored publication submitted and where acknowledged in the text. This thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of a higher degree. The University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee gave the ethical approval for this project on the 2nd of August, 2011 under protocol number 14028. The HREC was a fully constituted Ethics Committee in accordance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans-March 2007 under Section 5.1.29. Participants were required to read an information sheet and to sign a consent form. Informed consent was given individually prior to the collection of data. Signed: ______________________________________________Date: 30th October, 2014 ii Maria Briggs (née Okunev) Tertiary Opera Training in Australia & UK: Ethnographic Perspective Abstract Tertiary Opera Training in Australia and the UK: Ethnographic Perspective Current formal research into the way institutions and opera companies train their opera singers is virtually non-existent. Paul Atkinson’s (2006) Everyday Arias: An Operatic Ethnography, is an informative but lonely example of otherwise neglected area. Atkinson proposes that while popular culture receives extensive research attention, the “high” culture suffers from a so-called academic “inverse snobbery”. This thesis surveys some of the complex issues specific to operatic training and performance. The ethnographic survey draws on observations and comparisons of production rehearsals, private lessons and personal interviews of participants in a professional Australian opera company, an Australian tertiary institution and a UK tertiary institution. Two professional and two student productions are used as case studies to highlight the emergent themes. This research aims to better understand the unique nature of the operatic training and rehearsal process, as well as investigate the relationship between institutions and the contemporary opera industry. Keywords: opera, ethnography, tertiary opera training, opera rehearsal, Australian opera training, opera industry iii Maria Briggs (née Okunev) Tertiary Opera Training in Australia & UK: Ethnographic Perspective Acknowledgements This study would not have been possible without support and enthusiasm of the many participants who contributed so generously, but who unfortunately for privacy reasons could not be personally thanked here. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart and bravo! – This work is largely yours. I would like to offer deepest gratitude to my Doctoral supervisor Dr Michael Halliwell, whose patience and humour I could always count on and whose help and advice went above and beyond the call of duty. Likewise my UK supervisor – Professor Jane Ginsborg was the luckiest find and could not be thanked enough for her tireless efforts to help me even when it was totally unreasonable. I would also like to thank Dr Kathleen Nelson and Dr Helen Mitchell for helping with the final editing of the thesis. I thank all my voice teachers past and present. I particularly thank Amanda Thane (1953 – 2012) who was an outstanding voice teacher, a superb operatic soprano, a wonderful human being and who left us far too early! I especially miss her on my birthday, because we share the same date. I also thank Dr Rowena Cowley who was my associate supervisor and voice teacher in the first year of the candidature. I am eternally grateful to my current voice teachers: Barry Ryan OAM and Anke Hoepner – Ryan – what a duo! Your teaching and your work on the stage have been an inspiration, a blessing and a gift! I am also very grateful for your personal friendship and advice and for being responsible for the performance aspect of this candidature. I could not have been in better hands. I thank Phillip Shovk for his outstanding musicianship and wonderful accompaniment of all of my doctoral recitals, as well as all of the wonderful associate artists that joined me on the stage free of charge. Particularly my conductors: Dr Joanna Drimatis and Luke Spicer and my baritone – Dr Michael Halliwell. iv Maria Briggs (née Okunev) Tertiary Opera Training in Australia & UK: Ethnographic Perspective Thank you also to Professor Paul Atkinson for inspiring this work and for showing such a keen interest in its progress. Your warm encouragement was a much-needed source of confidence and will to persevere. Thank you to my dear family for being the best a musician could wish for. To my dearest parents – you are my guardian angels. To all my wonderful, talented siblings and especially to my sister Anna Savery and her husband Richard Savery – fellow musos and postgrad researchers. Your love, friendship, support and fair criticism have been a lifesaver. Thank you to my three brothers for enduring years of music practice and still coming to my gigs. I thank my gorgeous husband Matthew, whose love, patience and support make everything so easy. I love you more than you know. I thank the beautiful country of Australia for giving my family a safe new home when we desperately needed it, for kindness of its people and for giving me countless opportunities to practice my art. Finally I thank the Lord Almighty: may this imperfect effort still be in Your glory. Amen. v Maria Briggs (née Okunev) Tertiary Opera Training in Australia & UK: Ethnographic Perspective Table of Contents Declaration .............................................................................................................................. ii Abstract .................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. iv List of figures ...................................................................................................................... viii Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Why opera field research is rare ............................................................................................... 1 Ethnography as process of participant observation ........................................................... 4 Limitations of ethnography ........................................................................................................ 5 Lack of holistic approach to opera training research ........................................................ 7 Singer, tailor, dancer, spy ............................................................................................................ 8 Singers are late bloomers ............................................................................................................ 9 Teaching opera in the space-age ............................................................................................ 11 I’ve graduated, what now? ........................................................................................................ 12 Opera outreach programs ........................................................................................................ 15 What do we know so far? .......................................................................................................... 16 Access shapes the study ................................................................................................... 17 Investigation design .......................................................................................................... 20 Sampling ......................................................................................................................................... 20 Confidentiality .............................................................................................................................