In some ways, this feels like a normal summer. There are singers onsite, we are rehearsing a bevy of musical projects, the epic Virginia heat and humidity has kicked up a notch. In more ways, this is a deeply different experience. Our singers have been onsite for one week, and in this last week we’ve
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Dear friends, WTO 2020 is under way! Our artists are safely snuggled into a suburban Virginia hotel, waiting out the end of our quarantine period. Every day there are interactive lectures with Wolf Trap Opera alums, language coachings, musical coachings, and dramatic tablework sessions on the schedule – we’re averaging somewhere around 60 hours of
Read MoreThe last several months have forced us –individuals, the opera industry, and our larger communities – to pivot. A crucial, pervasive part of those pivots has been to take stock; examining what we usually do in the light of present circumstances, and to frame all forward action against the dual goalposts of our new reality
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There’s a quote by Bishop Desmond Tutu that keeps floating to the top of my consciousness this spring. “The only way to eat an elephant is a bite at a time.” As someone whose mental processes tend to conflate and connect thoughts and issues and ideas into one large vat of mental stew? Well, it’s
Read MoreApril 21, 2020 Dear Wolf Trap Opera Community, I write this hoping that you and your loved ones are all healthy and safe, and that you’re caring for yourselves during this truly unprecedented time. We find ourselves at a particular moment when the shared musical experiences that we live for and that our artists and
Read MoreWe are thrilled to introduce you to the newest member of the Wolf Trap Opera team! Jon DeVries joined us in early January 2020 to take on the role of Coordinator, Company Management; he keeps our finances in order and our artist services on point. If you need a refresher on the rest of the
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This art form of ours is pretty incredible, isn’t it? I’m not sure that there’s another method of incorporating both the fullness of the entire artistic spectrum and the fullness of the human experience. Opera allows for both grand spectacle and the very most intimate, vulnerable moments in the same genre…often within the context of
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To help you celebrate October | Halloween | Hauntober | Spooktober, might we suggest one of the following resources? Option 1: You’re looking for a party soundtrack that has less to do with a booty-shaking beat and more to do with terrifying your friends and neighbors. You’re in luck! Download (available as of October 18, but
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Hello friends!We are hearing auditions this week in New York City, at the lovely National Opera Center. It’s our third stop: we started in Los Angeles last week, and took a rather indirect route to get to Houston in the wake of Tropical Storm Imelda. It feels like a bit of luxury to unpack our
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Fun fact about yours truly: when I was choosing college programs of study, I only auditioned for one school. I wanted to be a writer, a novelist or poet. Writing was one of the two tools that I had for making sense of the world; it was my way of breaking down feelings, situations, actions
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