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National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2009 NEA Opera Honors
In 2008, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) established the NEA Opera Honors to celebrate outstanding achievement and individual excellence. The awards are the highest honor the government bestows in opera, and this year they will be presented on Saturday, November 14 at the Harman Center for the Arts in Washington, DC. OPERA America, the national nonprofit service organization, is the NEA partner in the Opera Honors program.
The 2009 awards are being given in five categories: singer, composer, advocate, conductor and director. Combining power, flexibility and musicianship, Marilyn Horne expanded the repertoire for generations of mezzo-sopranos, and through the Marilyn Horne Foundation she has helped innumerable young singers as well as the future of the vocal recital. John Adams has rewoven the fabric of opera with works such as Nixon in China and Doctor Atomic. In his unique musical language, he confronts the moral complexities of our time, and dares audiences to do the same. Lotfi Mansouri was the innovative director of two major companies, the Canadian Opera and the San Francisco Opera, and revolutionized the art form through pioneering use of supertitles. Though he conducts throughout the world, Julius Rudel will be best remembered for taking a young company, the New York City Opera, and making it into a unique and international force. Since his first venture into opera—directing Susannah at the New York City Opera in 1958—Frank Corsaro has used his keen dramatic sensibilities to revivify the core repertoire and to create exciting productions of new and lesser-known works.
For more information, visit www.arts.gov/honors/opera and www.operaamerica.org
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"The Met Live in HD" Broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HD" series begins later this month and Iowa Public Radio is going to be the local media sponsor for the 2009/2010 broadcasts at movie theaters around the state. DMMO will once again partner with IPR to host the Central Iowa broadcasts at Movies 12 in Ames and Century Theater at Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines.
This month's broadcast:
Tosca – Puccini
Live: Saturday, October 10, at 12:00 pm
Encore: Wednesday, October 28 at 6:30 pm
Running time: 3 hours, 27 minutes (2 intermissions)
"Tosca combines Puccini's glorious musical inspiration with the melodramatic vitality of one of the great Hitchcock films," says Met Music Director James Levine, who conducts this new production. The opera tells the story of three people—a famous opera singer, a free-thinking painter, and a sadistic chief of police—caught in a net of love and politics. Conductor: James Levine; Production: Luc Bondy; Karita Mattila, Marcelo Álvarez, Juha Uusitalo, Paul Plishka
Note: Discounted vouchers for live performances for Cedar Falls, Dubuque, Ames and Iowa City are sold out. Vouchers for encore performances still available for these locations. You can still purchase regular priced tickets at the local theater.
Visit Iowa Public Radio's website to learn more about purchasing discounted ticket vouchers.
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Getting To Know You: R. Keith Brumley
Keith Brumley is a scenic designer who has been working with DMMO for over 10 years. He has designed 17 sets for our stage. He will be creating the scenic elements for our new production of Susannah next summer. When he's not creating magic for DMMO audiences to enjoy, he is the Director of Design and Technical Production at Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
Tell us about yourself.
I’m based in Kansas City. I have a BA and MA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in tech theatre. I’ve always been interested in design, but have been willing to do any job that keeps me in contact with theatre. Building sets or props, running light boards of follow spots, ushering, and painting anything that needs a fresh coat of color (including a few performers) are all things that have kept me in the business. As long as you’re in the business, you have the opportunity to learn from your surroundings, and that is important.
How did you get into Scenic Design? What does the Scenic Designer do?
I got into Scenic design by being there and willing when the need/opportunity was made available, like I said. One of my first really demanding jobs was as the set designer at the Creede Repertory Theatre. We did 6 shows in rotation with a 10-week build and a budget of $1,800…yes, that is $300 per show! It was a great education about time, money, imagination and how to use and reuse available stock from the warehouse…well, in Creede it was more of an attic than a warehouse…but you get the point…
The job of a set designer is all about the physical environment of the production. There are an endless number of ways to approach a show. Your main responsibility is to assist the stage director in telling the “story’’ in a concise and compelling way. Your job as designer is to support and frame the performers in a way that feels logical and inevitable to the needs of the story being told.
The practical result of that collaboration is a large body of sketches, plans, shop drawings, and paint elevations prepared by the set designer for the purpose of constructing the scenery. The more time a designer can spend visiting with the craftspeople in the shops, the better the experience and product will be.
You’ve worked on numerous kinds of productions with companies all over the country. What are some of the differences you’ve encountered in different theatrical formats? Does the medium of opera present special challenges?
I’ve reached a point in my career where I really prefer musical productions. If there isn’t some sort of orchestra or band I really miss them. That said, I’m always grateful for work. I suppose dinner theatre has presented some of the most unique challenges, particularly where the art of cooking meets the world of stagecraft…what is the best floor finish for a set that holds up to gravy and deep fried fritters?
Opera has its own special issues. It is usually bigger in every way…emotionally, physically, and numerically.
What considerations do you have to make when designing for a company that performs in repertory, the way DMMO does?
It becomes an exercise in logistics. How does the scenery break down for change over? Where will you park the pieces? How will the flying scenery be arranged on the fly rail? Don’t forget that the loading door in the Blank Performing Arts Center is only 10’-6” tall! Can we really afford any of this?
What excites you most about the upcoming season?
Susannah is a fascinating work that still has important things to say to us. It’s not done all that frequently, so this is a great opportunity. Any season with a big Shakespearian Verdi on the roster is going to be interesting. Talk about a logistical nightmare…I hope the dry ice machines don’t leak!
What is your favorite opera and why?
Don Giovanni. It has great music and it needs to move like a Broadway musical. There are numerous scenes and if you can’t figure out a way to shift scenes and not add to the running time you will kill the show. It’s a wonderful challenge and responsibility.
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Opera 101: Auditions & Casting
We're starting a new feature in OPERAzzi this month: Opera 101. This series of articles is designed to give you insight and information about how operas are created here at DMMO. We'll follow the planning stages from casting the singers right through to opening night! Let us know if you have questions for future articles by emailing mmcmanus@dmmo.org.
Opera 101 begins right where each of our Festival Seasons begins: casting and auditions. Dr. Larsen and the board have decided on three great operas for the 2010 season...now what? Auditions and casting are one of the first orders of business and help to give shape to many other artistic considerations.
What factors do you consider when casting the roles for the season's productions?
Many factors must be weighed when assembling the cast for each of our Festival's productions. We work hard each year to create a balance between singers who have appeared with us before and new talent that our audiences haven't heard yet. Sometimes, an opera is chosen for the season because a singer that we know well is available and that pairing of opera and singer makes a great deal of sense. For example, both Todd Thomas and Brenda Harris, who have given DMMO audiences such a thrill in past performances are available for the summer of 2010 (as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth) and Dr. Larsen jumped at the chance to create a memorable production of Macbeth with them. Sometimes an opera is chosen as an opportunity for a talented singer to debut a new role with us. Such is the case with Craig Irvin's casting as Figaro. Craig has done great work here and with other opera companies and Dr. Larsen knew that the time would be right for him to debut a role that will be a cornerstone of his repertory as a bass-baritone. Sometimes we enter the audition season with none of the roles in a given opera pre-cast, as is the case with Susannah.
DMMO works with a number of artist managers whose job it is to suggest artists on their rosters for appropriate roles within our season. We contact these managers each year, as soon as we know what our repertory will be for the following season, to alert them to the opportunities available for their singers. At the same time, we are accepting applications for auditions from unmanaged singers for mainstage roles and from young artists for our apprentice program. When all is said and done, we will receive some 1000 applications for some 500 live auditions for mainstage roles and the apprentice program and about 300 recorded auditions for the apprentice program. From these, 16 mainstage roles will be cast and 40 young singers will be engaged as apprentices.
What do you listen for when evaluating a voice during an audition?
Singing is often compared to an athletic event. Evaluating a voice is not dissimilar to judging a performance by a gymnast, quarterback or ice skater. A spectator might comment on the difficulty of a routine, the ease of execution or the technical merit of the performance. These objective factors, together with more subjective factors, such as artistry or the spectator's personal taste, are used to compare one athlete with another and to decide winners in various competition-based events.
The same is true of a vocal audition, though there isn't really direct competition. Auditors (those who hear the auditions) cast a role based on factors such as the size, weight and timbre or "color" of the voice, as well as the ease of sound production and execution of appropriate musical style. Attention is paid to the vocal demands of a given role and whether or not those demands play to the strengths of the particular singers’ voice. The auditor must always keep in mind the qualities of the character that is being cast and does this voice fit that type? Qualities such as the size and weight of the voice are often used by composers in the music they write to give the audience important information about the character, such as her age, whether he is a hero or a villain. For instance, an older female character is typically sung by a mezzo-soprano, who has a heavier and darker voice. The hero of an opera is often portrayed by a tenor with a pure yet resonant voice. These qualities, as well as those of a more subjective nature, combine to give an overall picture of a singer's suitability for a certain role and in particular, how they might compare to others of a similar voice type. The auditor must consider whether the singer "looks the part." The trend in opera today is toward a greater emphasis on physical suitability for a role, that element must certainly be taken into consideration, but opera is first and foremost about the voice, and that is the most important factor.
Where is DMMO in its casting process for the 2010 season?
As we head into the audition season, primary emphasis will be on casting the two leading roles in Susannah. The audition schedule will be filled with singers who have been suggested for these roles by their managers and other opera companies, as well as unmanaged artists who have applied for an audition spot. Although the two leading roles in both The Marriage of Figaro and Macbeth have been cast, many important roles remain to be filled, for example the pivotal roles of the Count and Countess Almaviva and the trouser-role of Cherubino, will be important considerations. While we may have singers in mind, we will hear auditions for them in the hopes of finding just the right singer to balance those who have already been cast. In Macbeth, we will be searching for the perfect Banquo (a bass) and Macduff (a tenor). The singers engaged for these roles will likely also be singing roles in Susannah, making the task of finding the right artists all the more challenging. While most of the mainstage artists we engage appear in one role only, several principal artists are contracted to appear in two roles. Finding a singer appropriate for two roles adds another level of complexity to the casting puzzle.
DMMO hears auditions in four cities: Chicago, New York, Baton Rouge and Indianola. We'll complete the majority of live auditions during the last week of October and much of the casting will be done during November. Stay tuned for a casting update in the December issue of OPERAzzi!
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