Above, clockwise from upper left: Brian Mulligan as Sweeney Todd, Elizabeth Futral as the Beggar Woman, Heidi Stober as Johanna, Stephanie Blythe as Mrs Lovett, and Matthew Grills as Toby. Photos courtesy San Francisco Opera. What a pleasure it was to see these 5 former WTO singers on stage at San Francisco Opera on Tuesday
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Above: In the LA Opera audition room with Stephanie Rhodes (guest panelist), Joshua Winograde (LA Opera) and Jeremy Frank (pianist) Opera is a Big Thing, but the opera industry is a surprisingly small network of interconnected families. We’re in Los Angeles this week, and every time we come here, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion feels more and
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There are many steps to putting on my audition ears. Spotify-surfing through my favorite recordings is only part of the process. I also have to remember how difficult it is to compare different voices in different acoustics. To wit, consider these extreme ends of the spectrum… 1. The Bathroom/Stairwell Singers initially love the fact that
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Having just packed a carry-on suitcase for the first 2.5 weeks of travel in 4 cities with 3 different climates, I am in a particularly empathetic place with you singers who are trying to decide what to wear for auditions. If you’re staring at your closet trying to figure out what to strut during your audition, I
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A guest post from Lee Anne Myslewski, Director of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio. This is the first year that we’ve asked for video files for the Studio applications. They’re not required, but I’m heartened to see that so many people have them, and that they’re largely quite good! I’m only about halfway through the
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OK, singers, this is the time of year when the blog turns the full force of its attention on you. Yes, my friends, it’s audition season. We’ve been reviewing audition applications for 3 weeks now, and we’re almost done. (Final deadline – for auditions in PA and VA – is tomorrow, September 18.) But for you,
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Want to apply for a Wolf Trap Opera audition in California? Better hurry; the deadline is next week (August 27)! We’ll be coming to Los Angeles on September 28 and San Francisco on October 2. The application process is free this year, and you can find everything you want to know here. OK, now go back to enjoying
Read MoreOur young artists have already departed for wherever their next adventures take them – places like Los Angeles, Zurich, New York, Houston, Phoenix, Berlin, Washington and more. Over 10,000 audience members enjoyed our 2015 season operas and concerts, and I hope you were among them. Lee Anne, Morgan and I are taking a couple of
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My work is done. Literally thousands of hours of prep done by hundreds of people have led us here. This is always a bittersweet moment for those in the performing arts, and even moreso when doing a big show whose opening night is the same as its closing night. Congratulations to all of the folks who shepherded
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A beautiful night for Puccini on the lawn!!!
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