Paul Houghtaling, Director
2012-2013 Graduate Assistants in Opera
J. Bradley Baker, pianist – Henderson, Texas – DMA, Coach/Assistant Conductor
Ten Yeen Chong, pianist – Singapore – MM, Coach/Assistant Conductor
Alana Sealy, soprano - Cary, North Carolina – MM, Opera Production/Administration
John Martin, tenor – Mariana, Florida – MM, Opera Production/Administration
Amir Zaheri, composer – Morehead, Kentucky – DMA, 2012-2013 Resident Composer
WHY COME TO ALABAMA FOR OPERA?
Click on this link to get some answers!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcOCNTGIjHI
Follow us on Facebook -
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-University-of-Alabama-Opera-Theatre/283337481024
OPERA THEATRE NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS !
**** March 2013 – The Opera Theatre is excited to announce that we’ll be moving in to a newly renovated, dedicated opera space next season. The university is investing heavily to reconfigure a newly-acquired existing structure which will serve as our teaching and performing space and it will be a state-of-the-art facility. Stay tuned to more details and some photos of the before and after.
********Members of the UA Opera Theatre have formed THE UA OPERA CLUB! This is a group of opera loving students and friends–both singers and fans–who gather a few times a month to sing through operas, talk about the art form they love, plan trips to see the MET HD broadcasts, and to just celebrate everything opera! Join the club or see them on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/436936443032205/?fref=ts
************October 29-31, 2012 — The UA Opera Theatre celebrated Opera America’s National Opera Week by bringing opera workshop classes to Capstone Village Retirement Community. Members of the program enjoyed leading residents in classes in movement and improvisation and residents then served as our mock audition panel for Audition Class. Opera America was so intrigued by UA’s National Opera Week offering that they featured it in their national press release as a unique and noteworthy event in 2011.
****************CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of the First UA Opera Theatre Mini-Opera Composition Competition: First Place – “Onomast” by Thomas Wilson; Second Place – “The Abyss” by Ten Yeen Chong; Honorable Mention – “Queen Misery” by Tim Gibbons. “Onomast” received its world premiere on the Opera Theatre’s fall production Something Old, Something New: The Then and Now of Opera on October 12 and 14, 2012. A short scene from “The Abyss” was also be performed. Congratulations to all!
CLICK THE LINK BELOW to see a fun promotional trailer for our March 2012 production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itfeiW7xYWo
CLICK THE LINK BELOW to see an exciting promotional trailer for Amir Zaheri’s The Raven’s Revenge, the world premiere of which the UA Opera Theatre gave in 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5E0QpcGdVQ
2012-2013 UA Opera Theatre season:
Something old Something New! The Then and Now of Opera
October 12, 2012 at 7:30 pm
October 14, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Choral Opera Room, Moody Music Building
The UA Opera Theatre offers a selection of scenes, songs, and arias from the worlds of baroque and modern opera. A highlight of the show will be world-premiere performances of ”Onomast” by Thomas Wilson, the winner of the first Opera Composition Contest, paired with exquisitely beautiful selections from the first century of opera!! The evening will also feature a sneak peek at Amir Zaheri’s new musical Over Dinner which will receive it’s full world-premiere in the spring of 2013 (more details on this TBA).
Tickets: $10 = General Admission; $5 = students *NEW THIS SEASON* purchase your tickets in advance! TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE!
Limited seating – early arrival suggested. Tickets also available at the door or in advance through Music Services.
The Mikado by Gilbert & Sullivan
March 1 and 2, 2013 at 7:30 pm
March 3 at 3:00 pm
Choral Opera Room, Moody Music Building
The UA Opera Theatre is excited to present this comic masterpiece by Gilbert & Sullivan. Come and meet Ko-Ko and the zany residents of the Town of Titipu, including the “Three Little Maids from School.” Fun for the entire family.
Tickets: $20 = General Admission; $5 = students *NEW THIS SEASON* purchase your tickets in advance! TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE!
Limited seating – early arrival suggested. Tickets also available at the door or in advance through Music Services.
One Night Only: An Evening of Our Pop and Broadway Favorites
April 2, 2013 at 7:30 pm – Choral Opera Room
An annual celebration of the best of Broadway, this popular event is performed in an intimate cabaret setting. Seats go fast!
Admission is free, so early arrival suggested!
Click here for past UA Opera Theatre seasons, including productions, graduate assistants, and visiting artists/instructors.
Please keep reading whether you are a potential student,
a welcomed audience member, or a Friend of the Opera Theatre
in the form of a generous donor, because …
Opera at Alabama is exciting!
Our training program includes opera as well as musical theater styles ranging from the Baroque to the 21st century. We perform Verdi and Sondheim, Monteverdi and Cole Porter, Mozart and Bernstein, side by side because we believe versatility leads to marketability. We study the art of the singer-actor, applying skills to the rehearsal process to bring music and theater to life on the stage. We offer students the tools needed to have a career in the business today and the chance to find who they are as performers. Join us in the pursuit of excellence in our craft, and start your career at the University of Alabama! The UA Opera Theatre is a comprehensive opera and musical theatre training program encompassing:
- Workshop classes appropriate to all experience levels
- Individual attention and personalized career guidance
- Aria/song audition class
- Improvisation (improvised operas on Dr. Seuss books),
- Dance, including period dances, and movement classes
- Stage combat classes
- Stage makeup classes
- Music business classes (resumes, headshots, websites, promotion and marketing)
- Technical theatre experience
- Directing experience for graduate students and upperclassmen
- Scenes, one-acts, and full productions with piano and orchestra
- Visiting artists and instructors including managers, agents, conductors
2012-2013 visiting artist/instructors will include:
- Stacy Searle Panitch - acting for singers
- Jennifer Lane, mezzo-soprano (University of North Texas) – master class
- Dr. Dean Southern, baritone (Cleveland Institute of Music) – “Distant Voices: Listening to Singers of the Past”
- Dr. Nancy Walker, soprano (University of North Carolina at Greensboro) – master class
- Natassia Perrine – dance classes
- Clarissa Boggess – yoga for singers
- Matthew von Redlich – stage combat
- Stephen Tyler Davis – acting
- Marian Montevani – clown and mask workshops
- Toby Pruett – clown and mask workshops
- Victoria Jolson – author and UA Alum. Booksigning and Reception
2011-2012 visiting artist/instructors included:
- Andy Anderson – Conductor, Mobile Opera, conductor for Cosi fan tutte
- Dr. Kevin Chance – vocal coach
- Martha Wade, Wade Artist Management, New York – career consultations,
coachings, and master class - Stacy Searle Panitch - acting for singers
- Victoria da Costa – dancer, classes in waltz and latin dances
- Clarissa Boggess – yoga for singers
- John Jones, Opera Birmingham – mock auditions
- Dr. Julianne Baird – master class on baroque opera (in conjunction with the School of Music Endowed Chair Program)
- Matthew von Redlich – stage combat
Click here for photos of classes in action!
Click here for links to videos of past opera performances.