An elite and intense program in opera technique and repertoire presented by the world’s best would appear to be custom-made for divas.
And that is exactly what The University of Western Ontario’s new Canadian Operatic Arts Academy (COAA) is designed to be.
With faculty from La Scala in Milan, Juilliard in New York and other prestigious institutions, students in the program, which runs from May 4 to 23, will be modeled into the opera stars of tomorrow.
“The purpose is to prepare them for obtaining, realizing and sustaining a prolific and rewarding career in opera,” says Sophie Roland, director of COAA.
To do so, Roland assembled a panel of experts from around the world.
• Simon Luti, is a musical coach at La Scala in Milan, Italy.
• Steven Blier is on faculty at the Juilliard School and works with young singers at Wolf Trap Opera and San Francisco Opera summer programs. He is also a regular quiz master on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, artistic director of New York Festival of Song, and performs with Renee Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Jessye Norman, Susan Graham and Cecilia Bartoli.
• Timothy Nelson is founder of the American Opera Theater combining music, movement and design to challenge audiences’ ideas of opera as theatre.
Other renowned faculty include Chantal Lambert, soprano who is a director with Atelier lyrique de l’Opera de Montreal, member of the artistic committee of the Jeunesses musicales du Canada and vice-president of the Conseil Quebecois de la musique; Timothy Vernon, founding artistic director of Pacific Opera Victoria and recipient of Opera Canada’s Ruby Award for opera builder and Order of Canada; and Miranda Wickett, award-winning dancer and choreographer.
COAA faculty also includes several notables from Western’s Don Wright Faculty of Music. Theodore Baerg, director of opera and musical theatre at Western, has an international career as a baritone starring in lead roles for the San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Canadian Opera Company and the Stratford Festival. Others include Mark Payne, Carolyn Herrington, Suzy Smith and Roland.
As well as the unprecedented caliber of faculty, the COAA is unique in its approach to repertoire. Instead of preparing a single opera for performance at the end of the session, students will hone 16 scenes.
“This makes it more selective, more individualized and the work more balanced,” says Roland. “Everyone gets a similar work load, instead of a few having major roles and others in the chorus.”
The scenes were selected from a wide range of operas by Britten, Puccini, Verdi, Rossini, Strauss, Dvorak, Bizet, Donizetti, Handel, Cavalli, Debussy and Mozart. These will be performed May 23 at 7 p.m. in the Music Building, Room 104 for the public and the concert is free.
More than 100 singers auditioned for one of the coveted 30 spaces in the program. They will spend six days a week, for three weeks, learning movement and staging, repertoire, diction and participating in rehearsals and master classes.
“We want to give students the best experience and tailor it to their needs,” says Roland.