Letter to Students, 2008–09

Season Overview

Quick links:
New students
Interviews
Auditions
Feedback
Casting policy
Faculty & Staff
Classes

The outline of the 2008–09 opera season can be seen in the Season Calendar. It is similar to last year in terms of scale, with two major productions (The Adventures of Sharp-Ears the Vixen and La traviata), one chamber opera (Dora), two Opera Potpourri programs (including several complete shorter operas) and an outreach show of Hansel and Gretel. In addition, there will be some opportunities to work on staged scenes with the Conductors’ Orchestra in January.
 

Meetings for New Students

All incoming students who are interested in opera performances or classes should come to a meeting in the Opera Studio, 114 Leakin Hall, on Thursday August 28, at the following times: 9:45–10:45 for graduates, or 11:00–12:00 for freshmen and undergraduate transfers. If you can’t make one of these times, it is better to come to the meeting for the other group than to miss out altogether. People who have already been at Peabody in another program are not required to attend.

Opera in Friedberg Hall: The Turn of the Screw

Interviews

All students, whether new or returning, must sign up for an interview with Roger Brunyate between Thursday August 28 and Wednesday September 3. Sign-up sheets for these will be posted on the Opera Board outside the Opera Office (114 Leakin Hall); these will also say where Mr. Brunyate will be on any particular day. The purpose of these interviews is to get to know new students and to touch base with old ones, establishing preferences and priorities for the year ahead. Please schedule your interview before your diagnostic audition (see the following section). Please also bring the completed Personal Data Form with you to the interview; these forms can be picked up outside the Opera Office.

Rapt audience for a Peabody Outreach performance

Diagnostic and Call-back Auditions

Diagnostic auditions are required of everybody except Opera GPD majors who wish to participate in any aspect of the Opera program (including classes). These will take place in the later afternoons and evenings of Tuesday through Thursday, September 2–4. Audition times will be assigned by the department, so that singers from one studio can sing together and be heard by their teacher; times will be posted on the Opera Board. Freshmen, however, will be heard together in the evening of Tuesday September 4, since it is less likely that they will be considered for roles in major productions.

For the diagnostic auditions, singers should be prepared to offer two arias. One of these must be in English. One or both of the arias should be simply staged, so that we can see how the performer creates a character in a dramatic context; do not use any but the simplest of props. [These requirements will be interpreted liberally for underclassmen, who may audition with one or more songs rather than arias if they wish, and/or perform a musical-theater excerpt, whether staged or not.] Graduate students who wish to be considered for the Dramatic Text class are also asked to prepare a one-minute spoken monologue. Singers may sign up to rehearse briefly with the staff accompanist in advance of the auditions; they are also welcome to bring their own accompanist.

Callbacks for major productions will be held in the afternoon and evening of Friday September 5. These will be held on a sign-up basis for those invited; names will be posted after auditions on the previous evening. Given the relatively short rehearsal time for our productions, preference will be given to singers who can show that they have already made substantial progress in learning the role for which they are applying. Roles in the productions of the Opera Workshop and Opera Outreach will be assigned from the diagnostic auditions without further callback. Singers interested in participating in the baroque portion of the February Opera Potpourri may be asked to audition additionally for the Early Music Department at a later fate. [See Production Organizations for more information on these categories.]

Please note, however, that since most roles for the year will be cast in early September, singers who do not make themselves available for the diagnostic auditions and callbacks may not get cast unless they have obtained a special dispensation in advance. Also note that singers may not sign a binding contract with a professional chorus affecting their second-semester availability until the casting has been completed.

Dido and Aeneas at Grace and St. Peters’

Feedbacks

After the auditions, on Monday September 8 through Wednesday September 10, the faculty of the department will hold feedback sessions, in which students may ask for more information about how they came across in their auditions. These are entirely voluntary, and will be held on a sign-up basis. You should know that while the faculty always aim to be objective in support of the singer’s longer-term development, we would not be any use to you if we were not honest, and some students in the past have found our comments uncomfortable to hear. If you are new to us, of course, we say what we do on the basis of having heard you once or possibly twice, and there is certainly much more to you than we could ever know. Nevertheless, most of the jobs that singers get are secured on precisely this basis — as the result of singing for somebody who hears you only that one time — so it is important to know how you actually come over in such circumstances, as opposed to how you think you do.

Producing an opera: The Yellow Wallpaper

Casting Policy

We work carefully to distribute performance opportunities among the students in the department, with an ear for potential as much as for talent. So far as possible, we try to give a varied diet over a student’s career, in terms of scale, genre, and period. Inevitably, more opportunities tend to go to the more advanced performers, although we try to program works suitable for younger singers also. Where several singers are suitable for a role, preference is given to full-time students in good academic standing. We have always tried to give every singer a role in an Opera Theatre or Chamber Opera production before they graduate, but must emphasize that this depends on numbers and the balance of voice-types and so cannot be guaranteed. Furthermore we generally do not give singers more than one sizeable role per year, except where this is unavoidable due to numbers; the main exception are Opera GPD majors, who are required to perform each semester.

All roles in the present season are open to audition; none have been pre-cast. While casting decisions are made by the faculty of the department, all performance assignments are checked with the student’s voice teacher before being posted, and the teachers have the final say. Very occasionally, we may have to withdraw a singer from a role during rehearsal if the teacher feels it is becoming harmful. Teachers do not nominate their students for roles, however, and casting is made without regard to studio. We also discuss our choice of repertoire with the Voice faculty each year before it is announced.

Generally, at least one production each year involves a chorus; this year, however, both of them do. There are two choruses in Vixen: a small female semi-chorus who have two featured scenes, and a larger mixed chorus whose stage appearance (and rehearsal time) will be more limited. All the singers in the chorus for La traviata will be significantly involved. Both shows offer an excellent opportunity for gaining stage experience. Choral slots will be filled by assignment, using volunteers wherever possible. However, all students who accept solo roles in any departmental production may be assigned to sing in the chorus of one show for each two years of residence; accepting a role implies acceptance of this commitment, and conversely successful participation in a chorus triggers a priority on our part to find the singer a suitable role in the future.

Backstage at The Magic Flute

Faculty and Artistic Staff

While not all details have been confirmed as yet, we expect the following people to work with the department during the course of the year:

• Carol Bartlett, the Chair of the Peabody Preparatory Dance Department, will teach Movement for the Stage in the first semester, as well as assisting with the production of Sharp-Ears the Vixen.
• Jennifer Blades, guest director, will direct the outreach production of Hansel and Gretel and teach a Cabaret course in the second semester. Depending on numbers, she may also teach a section of Acting for Opera.
• Garnett Bruce will direct La traviata and work with the singers in the Conductors’ Orchestra project, as well as offering sessions on staging audition arias.
• Roger Brunyate, Chair and Artistic Director of the Opera Department, teaches Acting for Opera and Dramatic Text. He will direct The Adventures of Sharp-Ears the Vixen and Dora, and share in both the staging and the musical preparation of the October Potpourri. He will also offer a Seminar in Opera Directing and take part in the POCP (Professional Opera Coaching) program.
• Eileen Cornett, who also runs the Accompanying program at Peabody, will coach La traviata and Hansel and Gretel. She will be one of the coaches in the POCP program throughout the year.
• Franca Gorraz, our visiting language coach, will offer diction coaching for La traviata.
• Karin Hendrickson, a Graduate Assistant in Conducting, will coach and conduct the production of Dora.
• JoAnn Kulesza, the Music Director of the Opera Program, will coach The Adventures of Sharp-Ears the Vixen. In the fall semester, she will teach Opera Styles & Traditions and coach in the POCP program, as well as supervising the Conductors’ Orchestra project. She will be on sabbatical leave during the spring semester.
• Hajime Teri Murai, Music Director of the Peabody Orchestras, will conduct both Opera Theatre shows.
• Adam Pearl, the music director of the baroque portion of the February Opera Potpourri, teaches harpsichord in the Early Music Department at Peabody, and is music director of the American Opera Theatre.
• Dana Scott, a Peabody alumna, will take charge of the musical preparation of A Game of Chance in the October Potpourri.
• Simeone Tartaglione, a Graduate Assistant in Conducting, will coach in both Potpourris, conducting the performance of Riders to the Sea in October, and coaching standard-repertoire Italian scenes in February.

Further information on all these people may be found by passing your cursor over “People” in the menu box at the top left of this page.

In addition, we welcome back Judy Diann Bennett, our departmental manager, after spending the summer with the Wolf Trap Opera. Her arrival last year as the first full-time staff appointment in this position, coming to us with long experience of handling scheduling and similar administrative tasks with the Washington National Opera, made an immense difference to the running of the office. She is in charge of all the scheduling and administrative business of department. She is assisted this year by Elizabeth Cooper, who holds a half-assistantship in charge of outreach, and by other student workers yet to be appointed.

Our accompanying assistants for the year will be Jerfi Aji, Bu-kyung Shin, and Ka Nyung Yoo. Other pianists will also take on specific classes and projects during the course of the year.

The final product: penultimate scene of The Magic Flute

Classes

Click here for a list of the Opera Department’s regular classes. The following additional points should be noted:

• The Fall Opera Styles and Traditions is being taught by JoAnn Kulesza, who will be offering her Aria Survey class. This performance-based class examines the concept of Fach and its applicability to developing voices, and studies the literature appropriate for various types.
• The Winter/Spring Opera Styles and Traditions course will be taught by Jennifer Blades who will offer a course on Cabaret, a unique performance art. Singers will learn the techniques involved in developing their own cabaret show including using a microphone, finding songs and making them their own, writing patter, and ultimately performing in one or two showcases in Baltimore at the end of the semester.
• Roger Brunyate will offer a Seminar in Opera Stage Directing in the first semester. Students accepted into the course will get to direct operas or scenes in either the October or the February Potpourris.
• Garnett Bruce will also offer a series of sessions on Aria Staging. Intended primarily for singers who wish to study the dramatic aspects of arias they are preparing for professional audition, this non-credit sessions in September and November will include some individual coaching and some masterclasses, on a schedule to be announced.

Photo credits: Jesse Hellmann (Peabody Outreach); Peter Wen-Chih Lee (Dido and Aeneas and backstage); Corey Weaver (The Turn of the Screw, The Yellow Wallpaper, and The Magic Flute).