Letter to Students, 2010–11

Season Overview

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

The outline of the 2010–11 opera season can be seen in the Season Calendar. Although containing an unusual number of one-act operas, it is similar to previous years in terms of scale, with two major productions (Manon and a double-bill of Les mamelles de Tirésias and L'enfant et les sortilèges), a chamber opera double-bill of Trouble in Tahiti and This is the Rill Speaking, a collaboration with the American Opera Theatre, an Opera Potpourri program including Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and an evening of Handel. We also hope to offer an outreach adaptation of Hansel and Gretel in the second semester. In addition, several performance-intensive classes will be offered over the course of the year.
 

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 26, 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 26 and Wednesday September 1. 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 Monday August 30 through Wednesday September 1. 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 will be heard together on Monday August 30, 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, unless the singer is a native English speaker who has sung for us before. 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.] New 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 on the opera board 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 3. These will be held on a sign-up basis for those invited; names will be posted after auditions on the Wednesday 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. Specific required excerpts have been assigned for each major role; these will be posted on the Opera board. Roles in the productions of the Opera Workshop and Opera Outreach will be assigned from the diagnostic auditions without further callback. [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 Tuesday September 7 through Thursday September 9, 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 them 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 exceptions 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.

Chorus Participation

Generally, at least one production each year involves a chorus; this year, the main chorus opera is Manon, to be given in November. Some small chorus and walk-on parts may be available in the French double-bill and in the Puccini, but numbers will be limited. All of them, however, offer excellent opportunities 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.

Special conditions will apply to the March Opera Theatre production of Les mamelles de Tirésias and L'enfant et les sortilèges. Since both operas contain both ensemble singing and numerous small roles, it has been decided to cast the entire double-bill as a single chamber ensemble, with the majority of soloists coming out of the ensemble and virtually everybody appearing in both shows.

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 those productions requiring choreography.
• Jennifer Blades will stage the chamber opera double-bill at Theatre Project in February, and teach a course on Cabaret in the second semester.
• Brandon Keith Brown, a graduate assistant with the Peabody Conducting program, will conduct the “Remember the Fifties” double-bill of Trouble in Tahiti and This is the Rill Speaking at Theatre Project in February.
• Garnett Bruce will direct the Opera Potpourri production of Gianni Schicchi in the first semester and the French double-bill in March.
• Roger Brunyate, Chair and Artistic Director of the Opera Department, teaches Acting for Opera and Dramatic Text. He will direct Manon, and will probably also be involved in the Opera Potpourri and the Outreach productions. He will also offer a Seminar in Opera Stage Direction and take part in the POCP (Professional Opera Coaching) program.
• Eileen Cornett, who also runs the Accompanying program at Peabody, will coach the Puccini Potpourri and the French double-bill. She will also coach in the POCP program throughout the year.
• JoAnn Kulesza, the Music Director of the Opera Program, will coach Manon for the Peabody Opera Theatre and the Peabody Chamber Opera American double-bill at Theatre Project. She will teach a class in Opera Performance in the first semester, and coach in the POCP program.
• Ken Lam, an alumnus of Peabody from three years ago, will return as guest conductor for Manon. Ken is currently assistant conductor with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Opera, and an opera conductor at the Brevard Festival.
• Stephanie Miller, a graduate assistant in the Opera Department, will direct items in the October “Puccini Plus” Opera Potpourri program.
• Hajime Teri Murai, Music Director of the Peabody Orchestras, will conduct the Opera Theatre production of Les mamelles de Tirésias and L'enfant et les sortilèges.
• Adam Pearl, who teaches harpsichord in the Early Music Department at Peabody, will serve as music director for the Handel opera scenes in May.

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 three years ago 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 Stephanie Miller, who holds an assistantship in charge of outreach, by Bill Schaller, who will work with web projects, and by other student workers yet to be appointed.

Our accompanying assistants for the year will be Younggun Kim, Hye Jin Kwon, and John Wilson. 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 distinguished opera scholar Philp Gossett will offer a workshop on Ornamenting Rossini in the evening of Wednesday September 15.
• The Fall Opera Styles and Traditions class is being taught by JoAnn Kulesza. Entitled Recit Minus Wretched, this course will explore operatic recitative from its earliest stages to the most contemporary, and give basic instruction on its proper delivery.
• The Winter/Spring Opera Styles and Traditions class will be taught by Jennifer Blades and will be devoted to the art of cabaret, including performances at various locations in the city.
• Roger Brunyate will offer a two-semester Seminar in Opera Stage Directing. After theoretical work in the first semester, students will each take on a project in the Handel program on May 2.
• As early as possible in the first semester, the department faculty will host a workshop discussion on young artist programs and other summer opportunities for singers.
• At certain times in the year, Garnett Bruce will offer non-credit coaching for singers preparing arias for professional audition.

---

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). 

---

Return to top          Previous page          Opera at Peabody home