If you’re a WTO donor or frequent patron, you should soon receive a copy of this year’s Roster Magazine in the mail. The digital version is now available here! Today at the Trap, it’s PSM Mike’s birthday, which is always cause for celebration. (And in this case, a perfect excuse for root beer floats in the middle of a Friday
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Interlude: Evening, Day 11
Tonight, a diversion between days 11 and 12 of our summer season. (I’m committed to posting every day this summer. Wish me luck…) If you haven’t been following this discussion on Fred Plotkin’s Operavore blog, take a moment to surf on over here: Should Vocal Recitalists Stop Providing Printed Translations of Songs? In short, Stephanie Blythe and Warren Jones recently did
Read MoreDay 11: Party Talk
Last night we kicked off our 2015 professional development series with a wonderful discussion led by two members of the Wolf Trap Foundation’s Development team – Anne Tilson Coppola and Jackie Sims. They gave our singers some wonderful tips on how to survive and thrive in cocktail party and reception chatter with opera lovers! (Tips I
Read MoreDay 10: The Return of Lunch Music
Every Wednesday afternoon during the summer season, WTO singers bring live music to our colleagues at the Wolf Trap Foundation. Our beautiful atrium – the Earle C. Williams Learning Center at the Center for Education – is the site of these short lunchtime concerts. The 2015 series was kicked off in great style with this program
Read MoreDay 9: Stumble-through!
What happens when you string together the efforts of the first ~40 hours of staging rehearsals for the first time? Some might call it a run-through, but we think that “stumble-through” is more accurate. This morning, the cast of Figaro put together Acts 1 and 2, and they lived to tell the tale. Director David Paul reminded us
Read MoreDay 8: In Memory
On this Memorial Day, our hearts are bound with those of all our friends and families whose loved ones have died in service of this beautiful country. I am reminded today of the Opera Philadelphia production of Silent Night that Lee Anne and I saw a few years ago. The opera’s characters aren’t American soldiers, but its themes are
Read MoreDay 7: Mezzo-soprano Abigail Levis in the Artist Spotlight
During the 2015 season, the blog will feature interviews with our Filene Young Artists. Today, we hear from mezzo-soprano Abigail Levis, Cherubino in both Figaro and Ghosts of Versailles. Abi will also perform with Steven Blier in our August Rodgers Family concert. Which experience(s) most influenced your decision to become a professional singer? What’s the earliest point in your life that
Read MoreDay 6: Soprano Amy Owens in the Artist Spotlight
During the 2015 season, the blog will feature interviews with our Filene Young Artists. Today, we hear from soprano Amy Owens, our Barbarina in Figaro and Florestine in Ghosts of Versailles. Amy is familiar to WTO audiences because of her appearances on our stages in the summers of 2011 and 2012 as a Studio Artist. She’ll also be featured
Read MoreDay 5: Lessons from the Uninitiated
Last summer we ran a small pilot project called Opera Newbies, during which we invited several dozen brand new opera-goers to our 2014 performances. They participated in several rounds of surveys before and after their first opera performances, and WTO Volunteer Sandra Saydah recently helped us collate and interpret the data. Sandra visited our offices today to present her findings.
Read MoreDay 4: Still Innocent, But Not for Long
It’s still early days in the education of dear naive Figaro. Still the same sweet, enterprising, enthusiastic guy we knew from The Barber of Seville, he is over the moon about the fact that he and his adored Susanna will soon share a bedroom. But his excitement blinds him. Susanna is the realist in the relationship.
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