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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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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If you’ve been to Wolf Trap, you might’ve seen the house on the hill next to the parking lot of The Barns. It was one of Mrs. Shouse’s (Wolf Trap’s Founder’s) residences, and she still lived there during the summers I was on WTO staff as a coach. She hosted picnics on its patio, and
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Yes, Figaro will get married in a few weeks. But today it’s his birthday! And we do birthdays right at Wolf Trap Opera… Thanks to bass-baritone Thomas Richards (a.k.a. Figaro) for being such a good sport and wearing the birthday ritual crown, glasses and boa. Check out his real photo and bio here. Stay tuned
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Director David Paul describing the set model photo to the FIGARO cast
Figaro rehearsals begin. It’s the first day of school, the first day on a new job, and the first day in a new town. Artists arrive and barely get a chance to shake hands before being thrown into a full sing-through of the entire opera. None of this sit-around-a-table-with-coffee-and-read-the-script like our actor friends. Not for us
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