Aspen Opera Center

The Aspen Opera Center offers a wide range of exciting performance opportunities. These include: two fully-staged productions in the historic Wheeler Opera House; weekly public Opera Scenes Master Classes; vocal chamber music performances; and house concerts. All of these performances are sung exclusively by AOC singers and are coached and led by distinguished conductors and directors.

Performances during the 2019 Wheeler season will include new productions of:

SONDHEIM: A Little Night Music, conducted by Andy Einhorn

Performances: July 11, 13, 15

MOZART: Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Jane Glover

Perfomances: August 13, 15, 17

 

In addition, AOC will present a semi-staged performance of Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, conducted by Scott Terrell, on July 30 in Harris Concert Hall. Eight public Opera Scenes Master Classes with director Edward Berkeley will give AOC singers the opportunity to appear publicly with conductor and either piano or orchestra. Two of these sessions are presented with full orchestra in collaboration with the Aspen Conducting Academy. The mentors for the orchestral classes will be Music Director Robert Spano and Patrick Summers.

Fellowship recipients sing the principal roles in AOC productions and are considered Young Artists of the Aspen Opera Center. They are expected to arrive having fully learned the roles in which they are cast and will then have final coachings in preparation for staging. Fellows are an integral part of AOC and as such will be featured in scene programs and will be involved in other facets of the Aspen Opera Center.

Those who come to Aspen without fellowship or a principal role are invited as Studio Artists. These students may be cast as covers, sing chorus, and participate in scenes programs. Studio Artists will be intimately involved in other facets of the AOC and additional performance opportunities may be offered. Studio Artists and Young Artists work together in classes, rehearsals, and performances with different objectives while working toward the same larger goal.  

Aspen Opera Center singers also participate in an intensive curriculum of weekly voice lessons, vocal master classes taught by resident artist-faculty and guest artists, opera music, acting, song repertory, dance classes, rehearsals, auditioning and professional-orientation workshops, and individual music and dramatic coaching. In different sessions, singers will work both in groups and individuallywith many influential figures in the field: resident artist-faculty; Diane Zola, Assistant General Manager at the Metropolitan Opera; Joshua Winograde, Director of the LA Opera Young Artists Program; Brian Speck, Director of Houston Grand Opera Studio; and Pamela Hinchman, master class technician, recitalist, and professor at Northwestern University. All members of AOC are expected to sing in one opera chorus and to provide technical-support hours as part of their contribution to the program. A select number of singers will participate in song recitals in which students prepare repertoire under the guidance of AOC artist-faculty.