Photo Essay: From Practice to Professionalism, an Opera Becomes a Training Site

University Relations - Communications
April 10, 2014

Beginning this week, the UA Opera Theater will present "The Magic Flute" or "Die Zauberflöte," an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart offered in two acts.

With more than 100 people involved, it is one of the largest productions at the UA School of Music in recent years.

The production’s impressive cast and crew includes 50 School of Music singers and 40 orchestral musicians; 10 School of Dance students; three student pianists and assistant conductors; a lighting designer from the School of Theatre, Film and Television; a German coach from the UA German studies department; and about 10 staffers, including the director, conductor, technical and production directors, costume and set designers, as well as two coaches. Also joining the cast is professional bass vocalist Arizeder Urreiztieta.

The production will be sung in German, with English dialogue and English supertitles, to be projected above the stage. The opera tells a magical story of three women who save a prince from a monster, only to be thrown into a plot full of comedy and drama.

Members of the UA School of Dance will perform under the direction of choreographer Alyssa Alger, artist-in-residence. Sets were designed by Sally Day, a technical expert, and costumes were designed by Christopher Allen, with additions provided by the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center.

To create the production's dozens upon dozens of costumes, six Opera Guild of Southern Arizona members volunteered their support.

Two things were hugely important to the production team: that the group remained true to the UA's interdisciplinary nature – a core strength of the institution – and that students got the type of cross-collaborative training that will help them professionally.

The production team produced a cross-disciplinary, training-infused process, connecting parts of campus that do not always come in contact. For example, students have to sing in German, so a coach from the Department of German Studies was brought in to help them prepare.

"We are all stronger when we work together as a team and working with different areas exposes the students to new things: dance, the German language, theater training," said David Ward, interim director of the UA Opera Theater, who staged the production. "Opera is a collaborative experience, so I want the students to have a collaborative experience."

Ward personally trained three student stage managers, an assistant director and six stange managers.

To professionalize the experience, all students, regardless of their role, were required to work the same hours and meet the same deadlines as professionals would.

"This enables them to learn what other kinds of jobs exist in the opera world. Many of them will not go on to professional singing careers, but many of them will stay in music if they discover other areas of opera production," Ward said. "I treat them like professionals in the rehearsal process and demand they act like professionals."

Also, the team stuck to a detailed weekly rehearsal schedule, modeling the process after professional companies. Students were required to have their roles memorized by specific dates "so that they can really work on their characters and their performances," Ward said.

"I tell them, 'You can't act or perform with a score in your hand.' In the professional world, you arrive at your first rehearsal with your role memorized," said Ward, who is a visiting assistant professor in the School of Music.

"I am so pleased with the way the students have handled themselves in rehearsals – like professionals. "I am watching them enjoy their work, as true professionals do," he said. "I think this production will be very special."

"The Magic Flute" opens on Thursday and will run through Sunday at Crowder Hall, located at the UA School of Music. Ticket information is available online or by calling 520-621-1162. Pre-performance talks with stage director David Ward will be held 45 minutes before each performance in Room 146 of the School of Music.

UA music director Thomas Cockrell will conduct the Arizona Symphony Orchestra for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances; doctoral conducting student Keun Oh will conduct on Sunday.

Photography credit: Beatriz Verdugo/UANews; Ingvi Kallen/School of Music

Contact: Ingvi Kallen, information specialist for the UA School of Music, at 520-626-6320 or ingvi@email.arizona.edu.

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