About SDSU Opera

What to expect and What's expected!! A view to the "real world"....

You have been accepted into the opera production. Hopefully, you are here to learn about the craft, about production & performance demands, about yourself & to stretch / strengthen your skills both on and off stage. What you take away with you post this process and how you use it in the rest of your life is up to you. For the time you are here, it will be assumed you are a young professional-in-training, committed to this production! There are no halfway measures accepted here!

You have been "hired" for a specific production with specific roles or parts. This will be run like any other professional production, with the exception that it will be over a longer period of time with the added advantage of emphasis on tool/skill building and process assessment.

The bottom line, however, is that we are preparing a production for presentation to the "paying"public who are coming to be transformed / entertained by the end product of our mutual process. This is hands-on, a laboratory setting: a place to apply what you work on in the studio!

Opera is Music!

You are a musician, or training to be one. Utilizing all your skills as a musician in this craft is essential. You must know your music. You must know your part(s), be able to memorize it, count it, know what the accompaniment is, other people's parts. You must become aware of style and tempi -- all your skills as a musician must be honed and used! If you don't know it, you can't perform it.

Opera is Singing!

You must be training your voice and applying your skills from your lessons directly to this work. This is where you must put it all into action. You must be ready to take difficult areas to your teacher for assistance. You must communicate with the music director / coaches/ conductor. You must do outside work alone in the studio to work the pieces into your voice. Your voice is a your instrument, the way your character "speaks". You must be building your vocal technique so that, like building language proficiency, you can say more, quickly, and with confidence and ease.

Opera is Drama!

You are a singing actor. You are not just standing there making pretty sounds. You are a character in time and place saying something. What are you saying? Where are you? Who are you? What do you want? Who are you with? What do you know? Not know? What's the story? When does this take place? How do you feel? How does the music, not just yours, convey this? How do you physicalize the character? How do you develop your character? Where do you get the information you need?

Opera is Theater!

You will be standing on a stage performing. Do you know all the stage areas & terms? How to play the space? How to project? How to feel for your lights? How to take blocking / acting notation? Deal with props, costumes, sets, and makeup? What other technical elements do you need to be aware of? What are your backstage or rehearsal period responsibilities?

Producing a music theater work is a team effort. Each "player" is essential to the process and the end product. Each endeavor brings together a wide variety of personalities, levels of experience, expertise, and styles of working. You will learn a lot from each other both on & off stage, sometimes whether you want to or not! Each member of the team is responsible for the end product. Each of us is called upon to share resources and to stretch beyond what we perceive to be our limitations.

People who develop and utilize all the elements above we call "Professionals"

(P.S. In the real world, there are plenty of folks waiting to do this. They are all ready, willing, and able. They work hard. They are talented, or use their talents and abilities the best they can.They come prepared. They work their butts off. They are the ones who get hired a SECOND time...)