Spotlight on Opera is a unique program in Austin, Tex., that works hard to cater to a wide spectrum of singers. The program has various divisions tailormade to fit many different schedules—including a division for local singers, both amateur and emerging professional, who work full time and can only participate in the evenings.
Founded in 2007 as a one-week summer program at St. Edward’s University, the program has quickly grown to last a minimum of four-weeks and gives singers the opportunity to perform two fully staged operas and a variety of scenes programs, concerts, and one-acts. In addition to the more traditional, tuition-based summer training program, Spotlight on Opera now also functions in the fall and spring as a community opera troupe, performing a variety of concerts and one-act operas. Members do fundraising to cover the program’s operating costs, so there is no tuition in the fall and spring. For singers in the Austin area, these fall and spring concerts are terrific opportunities.
Out-of-towners will find the summer sessions to be most appealing, and thus will be the focus of this review. I attended the program in the summer of 2012 as a guest artist. I enjoyed my time there very much and found it to be a very rewarding experience. The program offers a variety of opportunities for all levels of singers.
Students
Students at Spotlight on Opera vary more than participants at most summer programs. Open to ages 15 and up, the program has had participants in their 50s and even 70s. The majority of singers, however, are between 20 and 40, and the students I met ranged in age from late teens into early 40s. Some of the participants were established career singers attending the program for role study and performance opportunities. Others were fledgling singers, who were there mostly to take advantage of chorus and comprimario opportunities and to enhance their knowledge base through the classes offered. For most participants, music was either a future career or a current one, but there were also a few local singers who simply enjoyed performing as a hobby.
It was an eclectic group, to be sure, but Spotlight somehow managed to look after the needs of the entire spectrum of participants. Artists of all levels worked together, creating a feeling of equality, regardless of experience level. Each student I spoke to seemed to have gotten all that he or she wanted out of the program, and many of the students were more than satisfied with the training and experience they received.
Faculty
Spotlight’s program director, Cindy Sadler, has assembled an impressive faculty of voice teachers, singers, coaches, conductors, accompanists, and stage directors from the Austin area. These faculty members are strongly connected to both the university and the community arts scenes in Austin. Sadler, too, is extremely wired into the opera community, both in Austin and all over the country. She is seriously invested in the artistic growth of all of the program’s participants and teaches some of the classes offered herself. In addition, Sadler brought in masterclass clinician, Cynthia Clayton. An accomplished soprano who has sung major roles worldwide, Clayton also teaches at the at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. Her class was both entertaining and informative.
Many of the faculty members are known to make extra time for students that desire it, to the great benefit of those students. The coaches made time to work through some of my audition repertoire with me—something not required of them by the program, and which I found very beneficial. Students experiencing difficulty learning their roles—in operas or in the scenes—discovered very quickly that the faculty would do whatever it took to ensure their artistic success in performances.
Divisions
A testament to the program’s determination to meet students’ needs, Spotlight offers tailor-made sessions to fit a variety of schedules. There are three divisions: the Daytime Division, for students who can devote their full time to the program during its run; the After Five Division, for singers who are available to rehearse only after 5 p.m.; and the Choral Division, which is primarily geared toward high school age students (but open to all) and is free.
In addition, two different sessions of various lengths are offered. Session I has a limited rehearsal schedule and is geared toward local singers who work and cannot commit to rehearsals every night of the week. Performances are generally limited to aria concerts and smaller programs. Session II is a much more intensive session lasting a minimum of four weeks, with classes and rehearsals throughout the day and in the evenings.
Classes
Daytime Division singers received a wide variety of daily instruction, including classes on the business of singing; Italian, French, and English diction; acting; yoga; art song; audition makeovers; and mock auditions; as well as private lessons and coachings. After Five singers had access to several masterclasses, but the bulk of their participation was in rehearsing and performing.
One of the classes taught singers how to deal with the challenges of having to collaborate, in an audition setting or otherwise, with a poor accompanist (or at least one who is unfamiliar with the singer’s music). In this particular class, after a bit of a lecture, singers volunteered to get up and perform with the coach, who simulated this type of scenario.
Another class focused on rules of diction. Although it was geared toward less experienced singers, I sat in and found it to be an extremely useful refresher. Another interesting class was Sadler’s career class, which included a lecture and a very valuable question-and-answer session. She was very adept at fielding the various questions, answering from her personal experiences and the experience of her colleagues.
Finally, there were optional group fitness and wellness sessions held in the morning. It was an invigorating beginning to rehearsal days. These sessions centered around yoga in 2012, but vary from year to year. In 2011, for example, the fitness class was an outdoor bootcamp.
Performance Opportunities
One of the major benefits of Spotlight is that participants have many performance opportunities. In addition to the masterclasses, there were multiple opera scenes programs. Spotlight students also performed in Song Café sessions, where participants staged semi-improvised dramas around art songs. This type of art song staging was something I had never seen anywhere else and resulted in some pretty powerful moments. Some singers said that presenting their songs in this setting forced them to perform them from new perspectives and to reinterpret material that had previously become stuck.
The main performing opportunity and major draw for prospective participants are the fully staged operas. Although they are performed with piano accompaniment, there is a conductor for each show. This was not only musically helpful but also educational for students that did not have much experience watching a conductor throughout a performance. I would have been much more prepared for my first orchestral production if I had performed a show in this manner before.
In 2012, Spotlight put on three fully staged operas: Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and Mark Adamo’s Little Women. The performances were presented at a local church, and while it wasn’t the optimal performance venue one could expect from a full stage, it was more than adequate and the performances were well attended.
Unlike many larger programs, which choose shows and then select applicants to fill roles, Spotlight on Opera considers its applicants when choosing shows. Additionally, all roles in all operas were given to students enrolled in the program, with the exception of only two. This stands in sharp contrast to many programs, which offer only comprimario roles to participants and bring in established singers to perform most of the major roles in their productions.
Rehearsals, Housing, and Transportation
The rehearsal schedule is very accomodating, and the scheduler takes great care to ensure that the performers are not overworked. Housing is not provided, per se, but I was able to secure a place to stay with a former participant in the program with very little effort. Some out-of-town participants may wish to find lodging for themselves and stay alone, but I don’t know of anyone that needed a place to stay that wasn’t able to find one with a current or former participant in the program. Because of this, there was a wonderful spirit of camaraderie and rehearsals moved as smoothly as any that I have experienced.
Transportation is also not provided, but I never had any difficulty finding rides to the rehearsal space. Participants live all over the Austin area, and staying around the rehearsal space for a couple of hours in between rehearsals was the biggest concession I made for not having a car.
Tuition
Tuition for Session I is $350. Session II, After Five Division, is also $350. Session II, Daytime Division, which includes the After Five Division activities as well, is $1,250. Participants choosing to register for multiple divisions receive a discount: Sessions I and II, After Five Divisions are $500 combined; Sessions I and II, Daytime Divisions are $1,400 combined.
Summary
Overall, Spotlight on Opera is a very beneficial, reasonably priced program for anyone interested in performing opera. The faculty is highly skilled and very invested in the artistic success of the participants. The program manages to serve the needs of a very diverse group of participants. The various classes offered are useful and informative, and there are many opportunities to perform. Those who have never been to Austin will find it to be a very eclectic city with an interesting nightlife. There are many wonderful restaurants, bars, and cultural places to visit. Singers can expect to find great camaraderie and the formation of some lasting friendships from this program, with both fellow singers and faculty.
For more information, visit www.spotlightonopera.com or e-mail Cindy Sadler at info@SpotlightOnOpera.com.
