Posts Categorized: WTOC History

By the Numbers: WTOC’s 40th Anniversary Concert

14 Alumni of the WTOC, returning to donate their performances to benefit the Company 17 Different years of the Company’s history represented by these singers 9 Members of the 2011 summer Filene Young Artist roster returning to sing with the alumni 58 Major opera companies worldwide represented in the collective biography of these singers 22

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Homecoming: Stephanie Blythe

Stephanie spent two summers at the Trap, and her roles included Fidalma in Il matromonio segreto, Marchesa Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims, Dame Quickly in Falstaff (far left), Tisbe in Cenerentola (typical WTOC luxury casting…) and Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare. I had the privilege of being on music staff during Stephanie’s Wolf Trap summers,

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Homecoming: Matt Boehler

Fortunately, it doesn’t feel as if Matt ever really left us! He’s of the most recent “vintage” on our alumni concert, and he returned just a few months ago to create a memorable Adolfo in the premiere of Wolf Trap’s newest commissioned opera, The Inspector. Matt’s WTOC roles included Sweeney Todd, Leporello in Don Giovanni,

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A Different Look at the Future of Opera

In addition to the alumni singers and conductor on the August 24 anniversary show, we have the pleasure of welcoming back some prominent opera administrators and managers who got their start at Wolf Trap. These six colleagues will introduce segments of the program and offer their own brief reminiscences of the WTOC. Scott Altman was

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Homecoming: Lawrence Brownlee

Larry ultimately only spent one summer with the WTOC, but we almost got to two… Larry had a crazy patchwork summer in 2001, singing Herr Vogelsang in Mozart’s Impresario, Tenore in Donizetti’s Viva la mamma (at left), Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Don Curzio (!) in Le nozze di Figaro. That fall, he

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Homecoming: Tracy Dahl

Tracy was at Wolf Trap my second summer here, and I remembered being awed by her even back then. Her name has come up a lot this summer, as we just produced The Tales of Hoffmann, and Tracy was the Olympia in the Company’s only previous Hoffmann. And she did it on roller skates (at

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Homecoming: Stephen Lord

Even though the star singers are getting most of the attention in this lead-up to our August 24 alumni extravaganza, it’s the man on the podium who will make it all happen. Stephen Lord has been so integral to the history and success of the WTOC, and we’re incredibly fortunate to have him back to

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New Pairings

The world of professional opera is small. Very few of the singers returning for our August 24 extravaganza sang together while they were here, but they’ve connected in many ways in the intervening years. Some of the pairings on this concert came to us from the singers themselves (Stephanie Blythe and Lawrence Brownlee in a

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Homecoming: Mary Dunleavy

I was fortunate enough to catch Mary in last fall’s Intermezzo at New York City Opera. What a tour de force. Mary’s WTOC roles included the Queen of the Night (a role that went on to be a signature, but that she recently retired), Fiorilla in Rossini’s The Turk in Italy (at left), Susanna in

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Homecoming: Richard Paul Fink

Richard has been in the opera world news a lot this past week, as he triumphed in the title role in Wozzeck at Santa Fe. We’re thrilled to have him come to Virginia right after he finishes in New Mexico. My first summer at the Trap coincided with Richard’s. (He probably wouldn’t mind my telling

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