My journey to the Crittenden Summer Opera Workshop began at the 2005 Classical Singer Convention. I was discussing the various convention presentations with one of the other participants when she said, “Did you see the presentation by Richard Crittenden? His students are really good.” Since I hope to be “really good” one day, I tucked that information away in my mind for future reference.
Then, in the fall of 2006, I was flipping through Classical Singer and came across an ad for Crittenden’s New York City-based classes. Bing! I remembered my colleague’s comment and raced to the phone to see if I could schedule an audition. The answer was “Yes.”
I auditioned and was accepted into Performance Practices, Crittenden’s audition-aria preparation class. I was introduced to many of his key concepts including “Make the Music Happen” and “Explore the Possibilities,” but it became clear to me that the best way to fully integrate these concepts into my thinking and acting would be to take his two-week summer program intensive. So when the time came to apply for the 2007 workshop, I leapt at the chance. I had such a wonderful time that I went back in 2008.
The price was one reason I chose to do this workshop. The tuition, $520 for two weeks of classes, was a real bargain. Another reason was the old business maxim: location, location, location. I live in New York City and any chance to get away from it during the summer is most welcome.
The workshop is usually in Washington, D.C. for two weeks at the beginning of July and in Boston for two weeks at the end of July. Both cities are an easy train ride from New York. I chose to go to Boston that first summer, since it was familiar to me from my graduate-school days at Harvard. In addition, I was able to stay with relatives in Somerville, saving on housing costs.
When I chose to take the workshop again in 2008, tuition had increased to $570 (still a bargain) and the location for both sections was Washington, D.C. I received a scholarship of $175 this time, which made it even more affordable.
I have no relatives in the D.C. area, so this time I was happy to have the workshop staff find housing for me (priced at a reasonable $150 per week). They found me a wonderful garage studio apartment in Bethesda, Md., a northern suburb of D.C. I had the apartment all to myself for the entire two weeks.
In both ’07 and ’08, I used my accumulated Amtrak Guest Rewards points for my train fare, so my round-trip ticket from New York City was free. Meals wound up being my biggest expense, after tuition, in both summers.
The Boston ’07 workshop took place in that city’s historic Tremont Temple. A short walk from the Park Street stop on the Red and Green subway lines, it is near Downtown Crossing, Boston’s shopping and business district, and Quincy Market, a waterfront mall popular with tourists. The stage techniques lectures, masterclass and performances all took place on the 6th floor of Chipman Hall in a very large room (1,000 square feet, according to the temple’s website) with high ceilings. The movement and acting classes, scene rehearsals, and coachings took place in various rooms on floors 5, 6, and 7.
The building has two elevators, making everything easily accessible. The air conditioning in Tremont Temple was a bit erratic. Some rooms were freezing cold and others stuffy.
The 2008 D.C. workshop was at the Chevy Chase United Methodist Church in Chevy Chase, Md. Chevy Chase is another of the northern suburbs of D.C., right next to Bethesda. The church is on Connecticut Ave., a busy six-lane thoroughfare with nothing but houses for a mile in either direction.
A 10-minute walk east, a small local shopping area on Brookville Road includes a grocery store, pharmacy, and diner. A Korean family runs the diner, and they were so nice to us. They stayed open later than usual for the two weeks so that we could come in during our dinner break. (I didn’t try it, but I understand that their beef bulgogi was great.) Most of our classes were in the basement of the church, which housed the auditorium and several classrooms.
We received additional coachings and rehearsals in a large room on the second floor and we had access to small classrooms on the third floor as warmup rooms. The church also has an elevator, making all floors accessible. The air conditioning was more consistent in the church than the air conditioner in Boston.
Both years, the program had approximately 40 participants. The first Sunday is arrival day. Everyone gathers at 6 p.m. for introductions and information. In D.C., we had a sing-in at the end of this session in which we all had the opportunity to sing 8 to 16 measures of our favorite aria for each other. We then retired to our lodgings for the night, so that we could arrive refreshed and ready to go at 1 p.m. the following day.
The program had two daily schedules, the first an unchanging computer-printed schedule posted on white paper and the second a variable handwritten schedule on a lined, yellow, notepad page that listed extra rehearsals, coachings, room changes, etc. The variable schedule could change two to three times a day, so we checked it often.
Our day went from 1 p.m. to 11 p. m. and was broken up into 45-minute segments. Everyone attended the 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 6:45 p.m. Stage Techniques classes, led by Richard Crittenden or Elizabeth Vrenios. Around these classes we attended rehearsals, coachings, and either a movement class with Adriana Hardy or an acting class with Vrenios. (Half the students took the movement class in the afternoon, while the other half took acting. In the evening, they switched.)
Each participant had at least one free segment scheduled into his or her day, and we broke for dinner from 5:15 to 6:30.
Each year, during one of the full group sessions, one of the coaches gives a lecture on diction. In 2007 it was Kathleen Scott, and in 2008, Stephen Brown. Both gave very clear suggestions for improving our foreign language and English language diction, plus a handy bibliography. The emphasis of the workshop is stagecraft, so outside of our individual coaching sessions, this is the most that anyone talked about diction over the course of the two weeks. We also got a brief introduction to basic unarmed stage combat (slaps, falls, and hair pulls) in our stage techniques class.
The first Saturday each year is a short day, at the end of which a guest artist teaches a masterclass. In ’07, we heard from countertenor Drew Minter, and in ’08, from lyric baritone Dominic Cossa. Each regaled us with stories of his successes and challenges in the opera world and his life after opera.
We had that evening and all of Sunday to catch our breath and recharge. In Boston, that meant doing laundry, but in D.C., a colleague and I spent the afternoon at the Bethesda public swimming pool—much more fun than laundry!
The second week was shorter in terms of class time but felt even more intense. The second Thursday was dress rehearsal day, accompanied, naturally by a completely revised schedule. The second Friday and Saturday were performance days. On that Saturday each year, in between the matinee and the evening performance, everyone gathers for a group dinner at a nearby restaurant. It’s a great way to unwind toward the end of the workshop. In Boston, we went to a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. In D.C., we went to an Italian restaurant whose banquet room decor seemed to be straight out of some Renaissance castle. It was all I could do to resist grabbing a sword off the wall and challenging a fellow diner to a duel.
A mix of family, friends, locals, (and in Boston, a few tourists) attended the performances. Then, after declarations of lasting friendship, it was all over.
Both years brought a good mix of local and non-local singers in terms of skill level, stage experience, age, and voice type. (In Boston, we had 10 tenors, including one countertenor.) Everyone was collegial, no divas or divos that I was aware of.
We provided our own costumes and props. In D.C., I had fun making a prop hurdy-gurdy out of a Cheese-It box, a spool of ribbon, a straw, glue, and some art paints. Also in D.C., one of the baritones was a Renaissance Faire person who brought a wide range of costume bits that he shared with everyone.
Crittenden, Vrenios, Hardy, and Joseph Spann directed the scenes. Everyone was in three scenes, the assignments clearly designed to take you beyond what you know or think you can do. So if you are a soprano who always gets cast as the ingénue, you might wind up donning trousers as one of the Three Spirits in a scene from The Magic Flute. Or if you are a tenor who always plays the good guy, you might have a chance to play the heavy in a scene from Tosca. Or if you’re a mezzo with a thin, athletic build who is always playing opera seria heroes, then you just might get to play Zerlina, as I did in 2007.
That was a real challenge. I also played Mrs. Page (Merry Wives of Windsor) and Idamante (Idomeneo) that year, both of which were relatively easy for me: Idamante because he’s the sort of long-suffering hero I’m used to playing and Mrs. Page because she’s a strong and determined woman. In 2008, we had the opportunity to add a complete role to our résumés with the inclusion of one-act operas in the program. So, in addition to my two scenes (the good-hearted orphan boy Pierotto from Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix and sexy Maddalena from Rigoletto), I was the frustrated housewife, Sally, in Barber’s A Hand of Bridge. Both years, since I have a strong dance background, it was a pleasure to be asked to dance as a Dew Fairy in Cendrillon, bringing my scene total to four.
Returning students have the option of taking only the evening segment of the workshop (from 6:45 p.m. onwards), which includes a special class not offered to the other students. In 2008, Vrenios taught the special class, on interpretation. It was the first such class I’ve had, and it was an ear-opener. I have listened to lots of music, but even my graduate school did not encourage close listening to opera and classically-trained singers. I thoroughly enjoyed this class—and I discovered another area of exploration for myself.
The Crittenden Summer Opera Workshop so engaged my enthusiasm that I’m considering going a third time. It’s all about learning what the pieces are in this puzzle we call an “operatic career,” and it helps each singer discover how his or her own puzzle looks and the proper order of the pieces.
One of the best things about this workshop is the consistently high level of the teaching from all the staff. As someone who has had a lot of schooling (academic degree programs, plus workshops in Baroque, modern dance, mime, clowning, acting, and opera), I recognize and cherish good teachers. It’s rare to have so many committed, supportive, and compassionate teachers in one place. It encourages creative risk taking (as well as copious note taking).
Crittenden’s No. 1 rule is “Make the music happen,” and each of the classes gave us the tools to accomplish just that. We learned how to make ourselves look good on stage and how to avoid being upstaged. We learned multiple ways to create a character through status exercises, energy center exercises, and dance types. Each teacher’s methods built on or complemented what we were learning in other classes.
I began hearing music in a different way, both from the interpretation class and from learning to ask questions of the music, such as “Why is that rest there? Is the accompaniment supporting what my character is saying, or contradicting my character?” etc.
I’m learning to hear the drama in the music and translate that into gesture. Speaking of gestures, Crittenden teaches another important point: Gestures happen with your whole body but they start in your eyes. The audience has to see an idea in your eyes before it happens anywhere else. This is similar to a rule I learned in a mime workshop I took with Marcel Marceau years ago: When we’re acting, we have to make visible the invisible.
I know that being off-book at the start helped me to get much more out of each class rehearsal and coaching. Also, the housing situation in 2008 gave me a more thorough immersion experience than the Boston one. In D.C., my living space was a few miles down winding roads from the church, and since I got a ride each day from one of the staff, I was in the workshop space from the beginning to the end of the day. Without the comforts and distractions of New York City (family, friends, TV, the subway, Borders, Macy’s), I was able to focus completely on growing as a singer-actor.
Variety is one of Crittenden’s favorite words, also expressed in his maxim “Explore the Possibilities.” The singer-actor’s tools are not just the voice, but the eyes, the hands, the whole body, and props. You explore the many different ways you can use these tools to express your character’s thoughts and emotions. Then your artistry as an actor comes from choosing from these discoveries what you think best communicates the meaning of the music.
Another common thread running through the workshop was the importance of being a good observer, a good communicator, and a good colleague. The opera world, just like the rest of life, is about relationships. What works to improve your imaginative and communicative abilities on stage will also work to improve your life off stage (Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization wound up in my notes as a recommended read both years).
Reviewing my notes, I found so much that it is impossible for me to share everything in this one article. I learned so much both years and I am still digesting it all―and I know that if I go for a third time, I will make even more discoveries.
