More than ever before, opportunity abounds for young singers affiliated with the Metropolitan Opera and the Juilliard School. As part of Met General Manager Peter Gelb’s ongoing commitment to accessibility and public relations, the Met has formed a partnership with its neighbor. Effective the 2010-11 season, this alliance fosters the professional growth of singers in Juilliard’s Vocal Arts Department and the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
“I felt that it would be very beneficial to have an ongoing relationship in which Juilliard and the Met could develop special projects,” says Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi. “Young artists in the Lindemann program have access to Juilliard and its resources and personnel, such as the library, practice rooms, performance spaces, acting classes, and special coaching. Juilliard singers, who strive to reach the Met’s standards, have access to those standards. For example, freshmen can attend Met performances because more tickets are being made available to Juilliard, and advanced students could be cast in productions with the Lindemann program.”
In the past, Juilliard’s opera productions featured the Juilliard Opera Center, the most advanced of the three opera performance groups in Juilliard’s vocal program, with 12 to 14 students earning artist diplomas. Now the Center has merged with Juilliard Opera, a training program at the graduate and post-graduate levels. To adjust to this merger, the Center will admit only six to eight singers pursuing artist diplomas (minus the specific focus on opera) and open auditions for staged public performances to all singers in the Juilliard Opera program.
Serving as administrators of the joint training program, “The Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in Partnership with the Juilliard School,” are Met Music Director James Levine as artistic director and Brian Zeger, artistic director of Juilliard Vocal Arts, as executive director. Levine founded the Lindemann program in 1980 to use the Met’s resources to nurture the most talented young artists through training and performance opportunities.
“I am delighted this important training program will be enhanced through the Met’s new association with Juilliard,” Levine said in a Met press release. “I know first hand the magnificent resources the Juilliard School makes available to young artists, and I look forward to working with Brian Zeger to maximize what we can offer our singers and accompanists in the program.”
According to Zeger, Lindemann could not provide its singers with performance opportunities in major roles. “Singers in the program are not ready for major roles on the Met stage but, with the availability of Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater and orchestra, they now have an appropriate venue to sing major roles in performances mounted for them. Plus, this is an opportunity for Maestro Levine to conduct Lindemann and Juilliard singers and the Juilliard orchestra in a fully staged or concert opera production every year,” he says.
The annual opera production to which Zeger refers is the most visible aspect of the partnership. Among the other benefits: Juilliard students will be more visual to the Met casting department, singers currently appearing at the Met or who have sung at the Met in the past will give masterclasses at either Juilliard or the Met, and the Met’s guest conductors can conduct at Juilliard while they are under contract at the Met. According to Polisi, while these singer and conductor appearances could have taken place in the past, the partnership facilitates them.
Of course, Levine’s leadership will be invaluable, especially when it comes to choosing the operas. “It is extraordinary that, despite his fantastically busy schedule, he spends a lot of time thinking about the repertoire our students should study and what roles they should sing when,” Zeger says. “People outside the Met could not imagine that someone of his importance would spend that much time thinking about the next steps for young artists, but he’s passionate about it, even recital repertoire.”
Singers cast in the February 2011 production of The Bartered Bride collaborated with director Stephen Wadsworth, head of dramatic studies for the Lindemann program, director of opera studies for Juilliard’s Artist Diploma program in opera, and director of the Met’s current productions of Rodelinda, Iphigénie en Tauride, and Boris Godunov. As a staff member of both institutions, he sees the potential impact of joining their resources. “We are looking for more and more opportunities to bring Juilliard students into the heart of the Met—to work, observe, and audition—and, likewise, the Met young artists come to Juilliard to work on elements of craft which complement their Met training. It’s important that both groups remain autonomous but, with this partnership, both groups have much-expanded educational and professional opportunities,” he says.
It is well known that Juilliard, like the Met, maintains exceptional standards and evokes images of prestige. In fact, for pianist Ken Noda—musical assistant to James Levine who teaches and coaches at both places and has been working at the Met for 20 years—Juilliard was the first company to set the standard for his expectations. As a student in the Juilliard Pre-College Division from 1970 to 1974, his first opera in 1972 was Juilliard’s “unforgettable” production of La bohème, conducted by James Conlon. Two years later, the production was revived with students Leona Mitchell, Neil Shicoff, and Willard White, again conducted by Conlon; Noda sang in the children’s chorus.
“Their portrayals exemplified what is now expected of opera singers,” Noda says. “They looked their parts, in addition to having great voices, and could act. It was a shock when my parents finally took me to the Met a few weeks later to see Bohème with a cast of famous singers, including Luciano Pavarotti. Even at my young age [of 12], I was unmoved because I couldn’t believe in them as the real-life characters in the story. To illustrate how indelibly the Juilliard performance affected me, it wasn’t until I attended opening night of the Zeffirelli production in 1981 with Stratas, Scotto, and Carreras, [with] James Levine conducting, that I experienced a Bohème at the Met to equal it,” Noda says.
Considering how this partnership is intended to help rising singers, what do singers think? Mezzo-soprano Renée Tatum—who has earned degrees from California State University–Fullerton (bachelor of music, 2004), the Manhattan School of Music (master of music, 2007), and Juilliard (artist diploma in opera studies, 2009)—has been a member of the Lindemann program since January 2010. She made her Met debut as Ines in Il trovatore on October 26, 2010, and sang Háta in the February 2011 Bartered Bride.
“This collaboration between the Met and Juilliard is a natural progression of two of the preeminent institutions in New York, forming a bond that is crucial for the future and sustenance of classical music. Being part of the Lindemann program is absolutely more high profile than being a student at Juilliard but, in many ways, you are supported and influenced by the same people. To work with these highly respected industry professionals is invaluable—and what exposure for Juilliard singers to the opera world!” she says.
For Tatum, working with Levine on a full-scale opera is nothing short of exhilarating. “The simple fact that we have so much time with him is a very rare thing, considering his nonstop schedule and other commitments. Observing Maestro Levine conduct a rehearsal is a masterclass in musicianship and pure inspiration. You can ask every Juilliard orchestra player in the pit or every singer on the stage, and each one will be changed in some way,” she says.
Having attended Juilliard (master of music, 2005) and participated in both the Juilliard Opera Center (artist diploma, 2007) and Lindemann (2007-2010), soprano Erin Morley is pleased that the strengths of the Juilliard Opera Center and Lindemann are being combined. Juilliard allows singers to perform major roles in a safer environment than on the Met stage (meaning fewer comparisons to other singers), while Lindemann allows singers to perform small roles in a big house with internationally renowned singers, conductors, and directors.
“With the two institutions working together, we have the best of both worlds—the singers get to try out big roles in a still-safe environment, but they are working with the best conductor and director the Met could offer” Morley says. “This will not only be helpful in terms of getting important people in the business to attend the opera, but the training and experience of working with these artists will be invaluable to the singers.”
Now that both organizations are collaborating, it is also important to mention that both Juilliard Vocal Arts and the Lindemann program will continue to have separate application and audition processes (a singer does not have to attend Juilliard to be accepted into Lindemann). For those unclear on the difference between pursuing an operatic career at Juilliard and in Lindemann, Zeger tells prospective students that Juilliard provides a well rounded education, while Lindemann is appropriate for those who can learn best in the atmosphere of an opera house. Also, singers in the Lindemann program will continue to receive their yearly stipend for living expenses from the Met, as well as musical and language coaching with the Met’s artistic staff.
This joint venture, cheered with enthusiasm from all involved, offers young singers a unique opportunity to grow and explore their potential.
See the respective websites for more information about these programs:
Juilliard Vocal Arts:
www.juilliard.edu/degrees-programs/music/voice/index.php
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program:
www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/auditions/young_artists/
