My session at Opera New Jersey took place adjacent to Princeton University’s campus, in the gorgeous McCarter Theater. It was encouraging and exciting to be part of a vibrant opera company for the day. Opera NJ had several rehearsals going on at the same time that day and I was privileged to get to work with many talented members of the Victoria J. Mastrobuono Emerging Artist Program before their evening performance of Carmina Burana.
I was also able to sit in on some of the staging for Don Giovanni. Among this all-star cast was Matt Boehler performing another highly successful Leporello. Matt and I first worked together at Ash Lawn Opera in Boheme. I have since seen him perform several times including a stunning Leporello with Chicago Opera Theater. COT’s production was a bit different than ONJ’s, given the setting in a brothel… Same great singing, though.
Other masterclasses offered this summer included: Ana Archuleta, Heidi Skok, Sally Wolf, Greg Trupiano, John Beeson, Laurent Philippe, David Ronis, Kathryn Cowdrick, Robert Swensen, Michael Paul, Willie Anthony Waters, Joel Revzen, Ron Land, Andrew Garland, Peter Randsman, David Ward. I am excited Velvet Singer was able to be a part of it!
The Seminar
The Emerging Artists at Opera NJ really seemed to enjoy the process and the craft. Despite having just performed Faust and having a busy schedule, they carried a very positive and collaborative energy in to our work together. Congratulations to Associate Conductor and Young Artist Music Director Keith Chambers for gathering these talented singers and setting a supportive tone for the summer.
We compressed the session just a touch as some were off to staging, but that made for a very focused seminar. We explored the nature of our business — how our daily activities as singers are unique in that we straddle the line between being an artist and being a self-starting freelance entrepreneur. These singers agreed heartily with the premise that we naturally place a higher priority toward artistic improvement and sometimes altogether neglect the power of being organized and centered. In this seminar, we made great strides toward balancing out these two sides.
The session culminated in public proclamations of actions items. Each singer announced to the group what they intended to do differently going forward. Action items were to be:
- Succinct
- Measurable
- Actionable
- Specific
We can talk and talk in seminars such as these, but action items are where the rubber meets the road. These singers rose to the challenge and were able to walk out of our time together with a few simple goals firmly in place.
I am finding this very rewarding personally to help singers make these breakthroughs and to get such awesome follow-up emails of thanks. Thank you Opera New Jersey!
Young Artists at this stage will not only focus on Velvet Singer’s core journaling, audition logging, and repertoire tracking features, but will also have a need to manage their finances. For these singers Velvet Singer will become a comprehensive bookkeeping tool. They will be able to track their expenses and pick up tax tips along the way. And they will be able to quickly and easily reconcile their calendar with income that they received. For example, if an organization (such as Opera New Jersey) pays their singers bi-weekly, then each time a singer receives a check, the transaction is neatly filed away into Velvet Singer. Then come tax time, they will have everything organized. Perhaps more importantly, they will also be able to watch the growth of their business and see which types of gigs (church, YAP, chorus) have provided the most income.