As you drive north from the desert city of Albuquerque to Santa Fe, the New Mexico landscape becomes a bit greener, and the road takes you to places well over a mile high, where, even in July, you sometimes see snow on the mountaintops. This is the setting for the world-famous Santa Fe Opera and its well-known apprentice program. This comprehensive training program for young singers, according to mezzo Frederica von Stade, star of the Santa Fe Opera and many other great opera companies, is the finest in the world because it constantly achieves an extraordinary level of excellence.
What is it like to participate in this prestigious operatic summer school? To answer this question, CS asked the Santa Fe Opera to allow us to talk to several of the singer-apprentices working there during the summer 1999 season.
Kirstin Chavez said of her experience auditioning in Albuquerque, “I arrived slightly before my appointed time, fully warmed up. There were three judges and an accompanist. I didn’t have a chance to rehearse, but I sang an aria of my choice and then was asked to sing a second aria. They didn’t say much other than ‘Thank you,’ but two months later I was notified of my acceptance into the program.”
The first-year apprentices, Chavez and Markus Beam, were unsure of what awaited them for the summer of 1999, but they were thrilled at being chosen and ready for a great deal of hard work with top-flight teachers and coaches. Beam said that, for him, “…just breaking into this level of connections (was) exciting.” The second- and third-year participants were looking forward to performing and/or covering roles in Santa Fe’s full-length operas, along with their other apprentice duties, which included attending classes, coaching sessions, and working as choristers.
Some of the roles assigned to the apprentices included the First Commissioner and the larger tenor role of the Chevalier in Dialogues of the Carmelites; Echo, the Wigmaker, and Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos; and Dancaïre and Remendado in Carmen.
Apprentices take up residence in Santa Fe in May and remain until after the final performance of the apprentice showcase program in August. Before arriving, each participant receives an apprentice contract listing the roles he/she is to sing or cover, other duties such as chorus work, and compensation. Pay is usually around $290 per week for the first year. Apprentices are also given a list of available housing from which they can choose, including opportunities to stay with a local family at a reasonable rent. Individual apartments or condos can be found, but that type of accommodation costs a great deal more.
Since car rental can be extremely costly, many apprentices drive their own cars to Santa Fe with the knowledge that they can earn a little extra money from the opera company if they chauffeur their nondriving colleagues to necessary appointments. Third-year apprentice Patrick Carfizzi, who has not had a car for any of his Santa Fe summers, says that this system has worked out well for him.
The 1999 apprentices were well satisfied with the level of their instruction. Some of the teachers and coaches they were able to study with included Patricia McCaffrey and Gary Kendall; Diane Richardson, for aria and role coaching; Regina Sarfaty, who gives master classes on auditioning; diction coach Nico Castel; and Evelyn Lear, presenting a master class on interpretation. Second-year apprentice Scott Wyatt said, “When a singer is working on several choruses, covering, and singing solo roles, it’s especially important that he have an expert listening to his singing to help him keep his voice healthy.”
In today’s marketplace it is necessary for young opera singers to be thoroughly trained in their craft so that they can perfect their roles during the short rehearsal periods available for mounting opera productions. Beam and Carfizzi said that singers have to learn both music and staging very quickly, remember it fully, and be ready to perform on demand. Kathleen Callahan, another second-year apprentice, added, “A reliable vocal technique becomes invaluable under today’s circumstances, when so much singing is required day after day. Sometimes an artist must be able to sing even when he/she is physically ill. With a really secure technique, a singer who is turning green in the dressing room can still give a fine performance.”
The summers at Santa Fe offer young artists the opportunity to observe seasoned performers at close range onstage. Apprentice Adina Aaron pointed out, “a singer can also get extra instruction from a more experienced colleague if he/she is willing to invest more working hours.” During the summer of 1998, Aaron spoke with mezzo soprano Susan Graham about Berlioz’ Les Nuits d’Ete, and Graham gave her quite a bit of help.
How much instruction does an apprentice receive? To some degree that depends on your point of view. They learn chorus parts as well as solo roles, but every day other than Sunday is filled with rehearsals, vocal instruction, coaching, and/or performing.
Most of the apprentices we spoke with feel that the general level of musicianship among opera singers has improved over the last two decades because today’s singers are getting more university training and obtaining graduate degrees instead of making their professional debuts in their late teens or early twenties. Wyatt noted that a teacher he studied with at Arizona State University, David Britten, sang at Santa Fe when he was 18 years old, and made his Metropolitan Opera debut at the age of 23. “These days, singers may still be apprentices in their early thirties.”
Apprentice programs like the one at Santa Fe are meant to bridge the gap between the supportive atmosphere of the university or conservatory, and the world of professional opera. Young artists who participate in the Santa Fe program study and rehearse during the day, and perform chorus or comprimario parts in the evening. It’s a tough grind, but the singers who are lucky enough to be there are becoming reliable performers. According to Chavez, “After the last premiere at the end of July, the workload lessens a bit, but it will increase again, because each of us has a solo part in the forthcoming showcase scene program.”
The apprentices have one day off per week for most of the summer. The theater, rehearsal halls, and practice rooms are all dark on Sundays, except for the last two weeks of the season, when the showcase scene programs are presented to large, paying audiences. Santa Fe also has a program for technical apprentices, who exhibit their skills by creating the lighting, props, scenery, costumes, wigs, and makeup for the showcase. One of the technical apprentices, Jenny Fahey, is also a singer. “Learning to do props will make me more sure of always finding work in the theater,” she said.
Since the apprentices form the chorus for the opera productions, we asked them how they liked that aspect of their work. Although many commented that choral singing was not always ideally suited to their solo-quality voices, they said they learned a great deal from the world-class conductors and stage directors with whom they worked. Keith Jameson, a second-year apprentice tenor who has solo parts in Carmen and Ariadne, still found it thrilling to work as a chorister in the Francesca Zambello production of Dialogues of the Carmelites.
It was a great pleasure to speak with these young artists on the brink of the careers of their dreams. They are working very hard and, at the same time, enjoying it immensely–but then, isn’t that what opera is all about?
