February 5, 2010

In This Issue:

• Wine & Food Showcase: March 5
• Opera 101: The James Collier Apprentice Artist Program
• Getting To Know You: Robin McGee, Costume Designer for Susannah

Talk about the AAP and its history, scope and some of the activities and programs involved.
Beginning in 1975, two years after the founding of the Company, the Apprentice Artist Program for young singers was established. This program is integral to the operation of the Company and is central to its founding mission statement. Often referred to by Robert Larsen as "the lifeblood of the Company," the program offers an exceptional training program designed to bridge the gap between academic training and a professional career in opera for 40 promising young vocal talents each season. These 40 singers are selected from a national audition process that annually attracts well over 1,000 applicants. During the Festival Season, they work intensely with a staff of 12 musical coaches, conductors and stage directors whose main focus at the Festival is to work with the members of the program. Daily work alternates between performance preparation for the AAP Scenes Program Series and particpation in seminars, workshop sessions and masterclasses, on subjects such as Stage Combat, Vocal Wellness, Life in the Business, Movement for Singers, Audition Techniques and Diction (singing in a foreign language). Of course, Apprentice Artists are also heavily involved in the mainstage operas, singing comprimario roles, covering principal artists and serving as the chorus for each production.

What other programs are available? How does DMMO's compare? What sets it apart?
Most young singers spend the academic year immersed in vocal music degree programs at universities and colleges throughout the United States. The summer months seem to be overflowing with opportunities to hone their craft in a variety of experiences. Programs known in the industry as "pay-to-sings" (where the singer actually pays an organization for the opportunity to sing a role with an orchestra) are increasingly popular. Some singers opt to spend the summer abroad in intense language study in foreign countries. Most popular, and perhaps most sought after, is acceptance into one of the many Young Artist Programs (called YAPS) sponsored by a major summer opera company. Major programs in the US (in addition to the DMMO program) include those at Santa Fe Opera; Glimmerglass Opera (Cooperstown, NY); Central City Opera (Denver, CO); Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Wolf Trap Opera (Virginia); and Lake George Opera (New York).

DMMO's program is one of the oldest and largest, with 40 singers and also employs one of the largest music/directing staffs. The schedule is intense but the performance opportunities are significant - from a myriad of scene assignments, orchestral performances, one-act operas and special performances, the artists are kept very busy, learning their craft by doing and focusing the better part of each day on individual development.

What do programs like the AAP offer the opera industry?
Companies that sponsor these sorts of programs are investing in their greatest future resource – talented singing actors! Programs like these offer a type of "entré" into the profession that is hard for a singer to achieve otherwise. It affords them a chance to make an impression on an opera company that might one day lead to an engagement as a principal artist. It offers the company a chance to follow and observe the development of young artists and, in most cases, also creates very fine opera choruses in mainstage productions. These programs also create opportunities for working relationships to develop between opera professionals and the rising generation of performers.

Des Moines Metro Opera’s program was created with the specific idea of helping young singers to bridge the gap between academic studies in music and a professional career in opera.

So much of the work of the AAP is directed to the scenes. Talk about the AAP Scenes Program Series.
The AAP Scenes Program Series does represent the bulk of the work that these singers engage in. Each season, ten scenes programs are presented for public performance at no charge to the public to attend (usually they in Lekberg Hall in the Music Building on the Simpson College campus). On average, 45 scene assignments are cast, rehearsed, coached, staged and performed featuring members of the program in repertory drawn from all periods of opera, from Monteverdi to Mark Adamo and every composer, language and style period in between, as well as occasional American musical theatre selections.

Scenes are performed in ‘workshop style,’ that is with minimal costuming and scenery and with piano accompaniment. The idea is to keep the focus on the performers themselves. Those who have attended any of these scenes programs know the tremendous amount of creativity that goes into these presentations both from the directing staff and from the singers themselves. If you haven’t been to Lekberg Hall during the course of the festival season, I would encourage you to take in the series and enjoy an afternoon of opera excerpts as performed by the future stars of the art form. The scenes programs are typically held on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.

What will be special about the 2010 AAP season?
We’re always finding ways to supplement the offerings of the apprentice program and we work hard to create opportunities beyond the scenes program series. In recent seasons, we have added a masterclass with a major international opera artist to the curriculum. Recent presenters have included Carol Vaness (2008) and Sherrill Milnes (2009). In 2010, we will welcome Catherine Malfitano to DMMO for a class on July 17, 2010, at Lekberg Hall. She will work one on one with six singers on aria repertory in a public setting. Gaining the perspective of a singer who has had an important career is a rare and valuable experience for members of the program.

In keeping with our recent pattern, members of the program will present two one-act operas that were written by a composer of one of our mainstage operas, offered as a chance to see and hear other, shorter works that may give further insight into the works presented on the mainstage. This season, members of the program will present two one-act operas by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who will be in attendance at the performance. Pieces selected include Markheim and The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair and will be performed on July 10. Apprentice Artists will benefit from the experience of being able to create an entire role from beginning to end and to work with one of America’s greatest living composers. These one-act operas will be presented at Hoyt Sherman Place Theatre.

The photos above shows the AAP in action (from top): the members of the AAP with the program's namesake, James Collier; a scene from Blitzstein's one-act opera, The Cradle Will Rock; a scene from Weill's one-act opera, Mahagonny; a scene from Don Giovanni, performed for the Scenes Program Series; world-renowned soprano, Carol Vaness, works with a young singer during her masterclass.