Oberlin Summer Opera Intensive
OBERLIN SUMMER OPERA INTENSIVE
SUNDAY, JUNE 12-SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2022
Applications are now closed.
Join Metropolitan Opera artists and Oberlin faculty in a program dedicated to preparing young singers, high school seniors though graduate school (18 and older), for the unique challenges and opportunities of today's opera world. Daily instruction will focus on three areas of concentration:
Performance Skills
Acting and movement instruction, musical coachings, voice master classes
Personal and interpersonal skills
Health and wellness, equity and inclusivity, consent-based instruction
Practical Skills
Headshots, video recordings, resumé
Participants will be able to practice and hone new-found skills in arias, cabaret, and scene showcase performances presented in Obelin Conservatory's world-class performance venues and training facilities. In addition, each student will receive headshots and audition videos to use on the next stop of their artistic journey.
Please note: All summer programs are subject to the College's public health and Obiesafe policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic. All participants agree to adhere to all College policy while participating in a summer program.
Applications are now closed.
Oberlin Opera Intensive Faculty and Staff
Salvatore Champagne and Timothy LeFebvre, Co-Directors
Stephanie Havey, Seattle Opera, Artistic Director
Christopher Cano, Opera Arizona, Musical Director
Katherine Carter, MITTEN Lab, Acting Faculty
Christopher Mirto, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Acting Faculty
Salvatore Champagne, Katherine Jolly, Timothy LeFebvre, Oberlin Voice Faculty
Katherine Jolly, Sarah Weiss, Kelly Mollnow Wilson, Movement and Wellness
Guest Artist Master Clases and Seminars - TBA
A seasoned recitalist, orchestra soloist and collaborative pianist, Christopher Cano has performed throughout the US, Mexico, Israel, Europe and the Far East. Having maintained his private studio in New York City since 2002, Cano has prepared singers for appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scalla, Chicago Lyric Opera, and orchestral appearances with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic among others. As a collaborative artist, he has played in the Master Classes of Licia Albanese, Fedora Barbieri, Anna Moffo, Lauren Flannigan, Martin Katz, Craig Rutenberg, and Suzanne Mentzer. Cano has also played for the master classes of Marilyn Horne in New York City at Carnegie Hall. As a studio pianist, Mr. Cano has had the distinct privilege of working with some of the great artists and teachers of singing including Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes, Luciano Pavarotti, Marni Nixon, Patricia McCaffrey, Joan Patenaude-Yarnell, Rita Shane and Diana Soviero.
Katherine Carter Katherine M. Carter is a New York based director of opera and theatre. She is the co-founding Artistic Director of the MITTEN Lab, now in the fourth year. Recent: Santa Fe Opera (2019 Apprentice Scenes), Parallel 45 Theatre (LITTLE BUNNY FOO FOO), Canadian Opera Company (LA BOHEME), Houston Grand Opera (LA BOHEME). Previous: New School for Drama, Joe’s Pub, Houston Grand Opera, Westport Country Playhouse, Boston Lyric Opera, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, New York Musical Festival, The Little Orchestra Society, 3LD, NYU, and Wolf Trap Opera. Fellowships: New Georges, The Drama League, and Playwrights Horizons. 2019 Honored Finalist for Women in the Arts & Media Coalition with playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger. Upcoming: Carnegie Mellon University (RINALDO), Rice University (LA CLEMENZA DI TITO).
Salvatore Champagne ’85 is conservatory professor of voice. He began his singing career in 1988, when he was chosen to be the tenor soloist in a European tour of Leonard Bernstein's Songfest conducted by the composer. Immediately thereafter, he joined the ensemble of the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany, appearing in a wide range of leading tenor roles. For the next 10 years, he was engaged as a guest artist in many of Europe’s finest opera houses and concert halls.
Winner of the Adelaide Bishop Award and the OPERA America Director-Designer Showcase, Stephanie Havey has staged productions for Seattle Opera, Opera de Montreal, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Hawai'i Opera Theatre, Michigan Opera Theatre, Atlanta Opera, Opera Omaha, New York City Opera, and others. Her new productions have been featured at Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Tulsa Opera, Finger Lakes Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Lyrique-en-mer Festival International de Belle-Ile, Curtis Institute of Music, and Carnegie Mellon University. She has also been a member of the staging staff at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and The Santa Fe Opera.
Timothy LeFebvre is associate professor of voice at the conservatory and teaches private voice and oratorio repertoire for singers. A nationally acclaimed baritone, his musical experiences range from the operatic stage to the concert hall. He has performed extensively as a soloist, and in concerts with such groups as the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Vermont Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, and others.
Soprano Katherine Jolly, associate professor of voice, emphasizes physical and mental well-being in her teaching, principles instilled in her as a young dancer and through years of yoga and mindfulness studies. An avid performer in a wide range of settings, Jolly was a winner of the 2006 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals. She has enjoyed leading coloratura and soubrette roles with companies including Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, New York City Opera, and American Lyric Theater.
Christopher Mirto is assistant professor of Opera Theater at the conservatory, has worked as a freelance actor, director, and producer. His career highlights include performing in two of Richard Foreman's plays at the Ontological-Hysteric Theatre in New York City and directing a revival of Dionysus in 69 at the Performing Garage. Mirto has directed operas at Manhattan School of Music, Curtis Institute, and with the Longfellow Chorus in Portland, Maine.
Kelly Mollnow Wilson is a licensed member of Andover Educators, Inc., a consortium of music educators dedicated to preserving and enhancing the careers of musicians through accurate anatomical information and somatic awareness as applied to music-making. Through a unique and powerful tool called Body Mapping, Ms. Wilson helps students in all disciplines avoid injury and become better musicians. She teaches a semester long class, Body Mapping for Musicians, at Oberlin Conservatory. As a Neurokinetic Therapy (NKT) Practitioner and Licensed Massage Therapist, she uses manual therapy and movement education to help musicians with pain and discomfort.
Sarah Weiss, MA, LMT, CLE, is a Medical Intuitive, Certified Licensed Empath Coach, and Spiritual Teacher in private practice in Northeast Ohio. She is the Director and Creator of The SpiritHeal Institute for Intuition and Healing, The Enlightened Empath Training Program, and of Light Journey Training, host of the EARTH LOVE SPIRIT podcast, and a feature writer for The Sedona Journal of Emergence.