Prick up your ears – the International Summer Opera Program is in town!
The Israeli Vocal Arts Institute’s summer opera program opened yesterday, starting a month-long adventure through the world of opera. A series of master classes and concerts, the Summer Opera Program has been training young divos and divas since 1987, but it isn’t the singers who form the program largest student body – it’s the audience.
Each year, the International Summer Opera Program (or the “Sadna”, as it’s called in Hebrew by locals and visitors alike) brings us a handful of promising young opera singers, who hail from countries far and near and who may yet become the next great opera stars. Some of the program’s graduates have now become household names in Israel: Hila Baggio, Shiri Hershkovitz and Oded Reich are only three names in a large roster of successful singers. The faculty is comprised of vocal coaches, directors, conductors and world-famous singers – this year’s guest star is Chilean soprano Verónica Villarroel.
I like to think of the Summer Opera Program as part operatic theme park and part mini college course, which everyone can attend and benefit from. For young singers, it’s an opportunity to hone their craft and gain renown; for the rest of us, the Sadna provides an intimate look into the intricate workings of the opera world. When we see and hear opera performed, we get to know the finished product, but it takes a lot of effort to get there. Attend a couple of master classes with the IVAI faculty, and you’ll get to be a part of the process. Vocal coaches and conductors will focus on sound production and expression, and guide the singer through all those impressive high notes. Stage directors and movement coach John Norris will help a singer move across the stage and embody the role they are portraying; diction coach Hemdi Kfir will work on pronunciation and intonation. You’ll learn what the singers learn, and your enjoyment and understanding will be enhanced.
What’s on the program? For the first two weeks, master classes are held with various members and guest lecturers. Meanwhile, on July 5th, the annual competition will be held, where audience members are invited to participate and vote for the winner. (It isn’t easy!) Then, on July 12, the singers will perform opera highlights at an open-air concert in Jaffa, which is, as every year, free of charge.
The open-air concert will begin the concert season of the program, which, happily, is even longer than last year’s. There’s something for everyone in the five-part concert series, each of which will focus on a different genre or repertoire – songs by Schumann and Brahms, Italian bel canto, French composers of yesterday and today, a concert of favorite operatic scenes and an evening of Broadway hits. Then, four full length operas will be performed: Puccini’s La Bohème, Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Handel’s Alcina, and Bizet’s one-act comic opera, Le Docteur Miracle. Finally, the Sadna will say farewell with a Gala Concert, held at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center.
This project is headed by the amazing Joan Dornemann, one of the pillars of the Metropolitan Opera and a true force of nature. The first female prompter and assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, she dedicated her career to coaching opera singers and has worked with the greatest stars of our time – Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Joyce DiDonato and Anna Netrebko, among others. She received an Emmy award for her participation in the first “Live from the Met” telecast of La Bohème. Today she coaches singers across several continents, with terrific energy and a contagious, never-fading smile.
We have Ms. Dornemann and the Israel Vocal Arts Institute to thank for this exciting operatic summer camp. When it’s not running the Summer Opera Program, the Israel Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) supports young opera singers with financial assistance, professional training and education.
Except for the Jaffa open-air concert and the Gala Concert, the events will be held at the shiny new Tel Aviv Conservatory, on the corner of Stricker and Louis Marshall St. Ticket prices vary according to the event, ranging from 50 NIS for a master class to 200 NIS for the best seats in the house at the gala. Visit www.ivai.org.il for more details and for online purchasing, or call *9066.
