`00 REDLANDS SUMMER PROGRAM FOR THE VOCAL PERFORMER

Euterpe Opera Theatre and the Southern California Institute for Vocal Studies are conducting a 3-week intensive residency program for the vocal performer, which will be held July 5 through July 25, 2000, on the campus of the University of Redlands, in San Bernardino County, California.
This summer program will offer the emerging opera/vocal performer an intensive, advanced, integration program of specific disciplines needed by the singer to master the imperative vocal and dramatic skills, as well as to meet the highest artistic demands.
These disciplines include individual vocal technique, repertoire coaching, drama and body movement, role preparation, musical style, comparative listening, diction, Alexander Technique, physiosynthesis, and integration seminars. Each Workshop participant will take part in one or more recitals, and will have the opportunity to perform in a fully staged and costumed opera. An audition for the opera roles for the Summer opera production will be held in Pasadena, California in March.
Cost of the Summer Program is $1750, exclusive of room and board. Housing is available in student apartments for $20 per day, or $400 for the program. These apartments, which have kitchens, each house two students. Meals in the student cafeteria may be paid by the meal or by purchasing a weekly meal ticket at a cost of $140 per week. Some scholarship money may become available for partial tuition.
Objectives:
  1. To train the vocal performer to be conscious of, condition, and maintain the integrity and individuality of his/her unique vocal talent.
  2. To train the young singer, often left with an imbalance between theory and application, by providing an opportunity to apply the integrated disciplines required of today's vocal performer, through an intensive program of coursework, individual instruction, detailed rehearsal, recital, and full opera production with orchestra.
  3. To provide all participants a public forum to mee, talk with, and perform for influential members of the operatic/vocal business world, and best present their individual talents.

Workshop Course Description

Individual Voice Instruction:

Each student will have individual voice lessons twice per week. These lessons will emphasize freedom and purity of tone, vocal individuality, absence of imposed production, and non-generic sound.

Individual Repertoire Coaching:

Each student will receive repertoire coaching twice per week, with detailed attention to stylistic preparation, development of true vocal line, textual shaping, and expressive vocal continuity.

Alexander Technique and Physiosynthesis:

Instruction 3 times per week in Alexander Technique as it applies to the vocal performer -- enhancing upper body alignment, flexibility, strength and expansion. Instruction, also 3 times per week, in Physiosynthesis as it applies to the vocal performer -- enhancing lower body muscle development, strength, flexibility and balance.

Drama:

Instruction 3 times per week in basic-through-advanced acting technique, character development, expressive body language for the stage, delivery of intent, and focus. This class emphasizes the art of acting unto itself in a two-step process: first, developing the students' dramatic skills entirely unrelated to opera, then applying these skills to the demands of the operatic medium.

Role Preparation:

Instruction twice per week in the meaning of complete role preparation. This includes history of the opera; the political atmosphere of the time and place of the composition; the composer's personal, and emotional intent; and the character's place in the real world, the opera, and the score.

Musical Style:

Twice weekly discourse and in-depth analysis on the composers' individual styles. Special emphasis will be placed on those musical characteristics that make each composer uniquely identifiable, as well as on the differences and similarities of each composer's phrasing, vocal line, and unique musical language.

Comparative Listening:

Instruction four times per week, through literature, recordings and videos, covering many eras, vocal styles, and individual vocal artists. Comparative discussion and analysis will introduce the student to the varied traditions and techniques of vocal artistry from its inception to the present day.

Integration Seminar:

In one group session per week, students will be asked to participate in a rehearsal/performance seminar that will demonstrate the demands of integrating all the skills and techniques required of a vocal performer. This seminar is intended to provide students an arena to accommodate demands from conductors, stage directors, lighting directors, repertoire coaches, voice teachers, and administrative staff, will have all academic and production staff members present to assist and guide students, and will be open to both special invited guests and the general public.

Scheduled Performances and Events:

Two full opera productions, or combination one-act productions, with chamber orchestra.
A full-length song recital program.
Guest speakers at a Career Forum.
Send e-mail to Euterpe Opera Theatre
Further information may be obtained by writing to Euterpe Opera Theatre at P.O. Box 40018, Pasadena, CA 91114, or by sending an e-mail to Euterpe Opera Theatre.