An open letter to audition candidates

Op-ed

Panels don't often offer feedback to candidates: it's time-consuming and usually difficult to successfully administrate in the aftermath of a set of auditions. So here's a general note I wish I could send to everyone who auditions for me:

Talking with conductors: Harry Bicket

Interview

"The notes of a Handel opera are relatively simple, compared to a Strauss or Wagner opera, but I concentrate a lot on the rhetorical gesture of every phrase and in creating a soundworld that precisely matches the emotional temperature of the drama."

Ned Canty's Die Fledermaus: "A pleasant, persistent buzz of happiness."

Interview

"We did try to find some nuance at the very end of the piece, making Rosalinda's forgiveness a little more hard won. In both operas, I believe that this "one crazy night" is the thing that the marriages needed to figure out that question of what is this marriage without children. (Yes, Mère Coupable exists, but I file it with Go Set a Watchman. In my heart and soul the Count and Countess fall back in love, and Atticus Finch is not a bigot."

In review: The Cradle Will Rock

Review

Thanks to this production, I am ready, as a devotee of Blitzstein’s work, to let go of Marc on the piano stool and allow his authorial Authority to grow, to allow the ongoing struggle to reconcile Power, Authority, and Truth to be carried forward through the lens of a conductor’s vision. I encourage everyone else to witness as Blitzstein’s powerful orchestral Cradle at last begins to earn its rightful Authority by catching this production while the paint’s still wet.

Young singers in Santa Fe: Adelaide Boedecker

Interview

"Everything about the Santa Fe Opera made me want to apply for the apprentice program. I had dreamt of working here for a long time, after hearing my teacher and her husband speak so fondly of the company. It was a dream come true when I got the job!"

Young singers in Santa Fe: Jessica E. Jones

Interview

"I am lucky enough to have my husband and two dogs with me all summer. When I am not at rehearsal I am spending time walking my dogs, grilling with friends and neighbors, and generally soaking in the beauty of Santa Fe. "

Young singers in Santa Fe: Kasia Borowiec

Interview

"I will also be singing on the concert that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hosting at the end of August, and I couldn't be more excited to meet her and be a part of such a special program. We also already had the Santa Fe Opera Olympics back in June, but that's a great highlight of the season as well. Imagine staff from across the Opera getting together to relive their fifth grade field day dreams! It's truly a blast."

Young singers in Santa Fe: Carlos Enrique Santelli

Interview

"A huge highlight for me this year has been making my Santa Fe Opera debut as Arturo in Lucia! If you would have told my family or myself 2 or 3 years ago that I would be singing on this stage so soon, I don't think we would have believed you. It gives me a great sense of pride to make them proud."

Young singers in Santa Fe: Sarah Coit

Interview

"You can learn a lot by just watching a rehearsal: how more experienced singers deal with problems they may have, how often or not they mark, what kind of things to be watching for from a conductor, etc. You can see all of these things without making the mistakes yourself in that setting. It's kind of a major blessing."

Spotlight on: Anush Hovhannisyan

Interview

"I like portraying ladies with character, people who made a mark in history, who had strong will and great belief. I like portraying queens or characters who had gone through biggest challenges driven by their belief, not necessarily religious belief. I see many parallels in my own personality and those strong characters and it helps me to translate them well... I also LOVE comedy, so anything silly is my thing!"