Houston Grand Opera has the Texas Opera Theater, and there are programs in other cities based on the Young Artists model. He implemented his vision of a young artists’ program in 1957.Īfter our apprentice program came the Lyric Opera’s Ryan Center in Chicago, the New York Met’s Lindemann Center, the Domingo-Thornton program in Los Angeles, and the Domingo-Cafritz in Washington, D.C. Wm: Would you agree that the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist program has had an influence on the way American opera companies operate?ĭH: Yes, all of the training programs in every company are based on John Crosby’s original idea. I had not been around Santa Fe since 20, when Gaddes had me do some winter opera – Gay’s “Beggars Opera” and Gilbert and Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore” in Downtown Santa Fe. How did you come to assume the directorship of this program?ĭH: Santa Fe Opera’s former General Director Richard Gaddes invited me to be the first person to hold the title “Director” of the Santa Fe Apprentice program in 2005. Now you are the Apprentices Program Director, as well as chair of the Performance Department of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of the Performing Arts. Wm: Forty-five years ago, you were one of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice artists. Many people make the bridge, but some people do not make the crossover. What John Crosby, Santa Fe Opera’s founding director, always said about the program, was that he wanted it to be a bridge program from conservatory to professional life. Besides that, how many opera companies have their own swimming pool?Ĭertainly, just becoming an apprentice, and getting that designation for your resume, puts you into a professional category.
In addition, there are a number of outside engagements they do, and they are paid for what they do. We use them in small parts in the five operas we schedule each summer and as the Chorus. I think that, for a summer festival situation, the Santa Fe Apprentice program is remarkable in the number of opportunities for singing that it gives young artists.
From the outside, it appears that the Santa Fe Summer Festivals provide the artists chosen to be apprentices with experiences that are quite unique.ĭH: I have watched this program in operation for over five years. Wm: You have been Director of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program since 2005 and you were an Apprentice yourself here in 1966.
0 kommentar(er)
