What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1459044
Q. Tell me about your experience at Opera in the Ozarks. Lang: My summer at OiO was a big deal for me — Massenet's Manon was my first official leading lady role, fresh out of grad school. I remember taking the BoltBus to audition in New York. I brought an aria from the opera, "Adieu, notre petite table," and my audition ended with sight-reading the Gavotte! I returned home to Boston, and upon sharing this information with my professors, was cautioned against ever doing anything like that in an audition again. A good lesson to learn, to be sure, but maybe not that time around, since it all worked out! There was so much to learn that summer. … I was definitely the greenest Manon, and was so glad to be double-cast with some really supportive colleagues. I just felt like a sponge all summer — watching my older colleagues and learning from them. Trying things out and experimenting. I still remember the first time we sang with orchestra; it was magical. This is what's incredible about Opera in the Ozarks — that it provides budding artists the chance to get up and perform a role. Not only covering and singing in the chorus, which can both be great experiences, but having the opportunity to step into the light and seize your moment. Scheid: I came to Opera in the Ozarks in the summer of 2017 to perform Blitch in "Susannah" and Escamillo in "Carmen." Very much a city-slicker, spending eight weeks on a rickety bunk bed on a mountain in rural Arkansas was a bit of an adjustment — and still the closest I've ever come to camping — but it was impossible not to fall in love with the beauty of my surroundings. I honestly had no idea that there was anywhere in America you could see so many stars! My time at Opera in the Ozarks was the first opportunity I had to really spend all day every day doing opera, and it was also my first chance to play a leading role — both of which were pretty overwhelming at the time, in a chaotically wonderful kind of way. Q. What's next for you after this recital? Scheid: I work with a small opera company called Strange Trace, which creates and produces new works of opera theater. Right now we're in the process of developing and filming four brand-new shows by an international cohort of composers and librettists for our annual spring festival, Stencils, which will be available for streaming this summer. Lang: Up next, I have the second installment of my passion project, "LITER ABEND," in New York City. "LITER ABEND" is a joyful and intimate art song experience that celebrates German Lied, and I'll be performing a Brahms set and Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder alongside my guest artist. Later in the month I'll head to Michigan to perform my first "Carmina Burana" as soprano soloist with the Marquette Choral Society. In June I'll perform contemporary opera and song in concert at the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. July takes me to New London, N.H., where I'll join the Berlin Wagner Group for their inaugural U.S. concert: Wagner's Ring in One Evening. And I'll close out the summer with more Wagner: my first performance in a full production from "Der Ring des Nibelungen," singing the Valkyrie, Gerhilde, in TUNDI Productions' "Die Walküre" in Brattleboro, Vt. THE LINCOLN CENTER THEATER PRODUCTION THEATER / VENUE NAME VENUE URL SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT DATES NOV. 3-8, 2020 SIX SHOWS. 26 TONY ® AWARDS. ONE SPECTACULAR SEASON! 2022/23 Broadway Series SUBSCRIBE ONLINE NOW! AUG. 9-14, 2022 SEPT. 20-25, 2022 NOV. 8-13, 2022 JAN. 17-22, 2023 FEB. 9-19, 2023 MAY 23-28, 2023 Series Support: Friends of Broadway 4 WHAT'S UP! MARCH 13-19, 2022 EUREKA SPRINGS Opera Continued From Page 3 FYI Alumni Recital Series March 20 — Lang and Scheid, Eureka Springs City Audito- rium April 24 — David Adams and Rose Kearing, venue pending May 8 — Dawn Pierce and Justin Burgess, venue pend- ing June — Catherine Cook, who will be resident voice teacher this summer, date and venue pending INFO — 253-8595 or opera.org "I came to Opera in the Ozarks in the summer of 2017 to perform Blitch in 'Susannah' and Escamillo in 'Carmen.' Very much a city- slicker, spending eight weeks on a rickety bunk bed on a mountain in rural Arkansas was a bit of an adjustment — and still the closest I've ever come to camping — but it was impossible not to fall in love with the beauty of my surroundings." — Joshua Scheid