Boston Singers' Resource News Bulletin August 30, 2004

This month BSR introduces you to a new, exciting and unique organization for emerging artists co-founded by five BSR subscribers. Their production of REGINA, by Marc Blitzstein, opens September 10 in the BU School of Music Concert Hall.

Within the passed year five talented, Boston-trained musicians have found for themselves a solution to an ever-present problem confronting young professionals: How do you find opportunities to display the full range of your talent doing interesting and challenging work? Their answer is the Boston Opera Project, which will be presenting its premier performance of Marc Blitzstein's 'Regina' on September 10 and 11, at Boston University's Concert Hall. According to co-founder Noelle Nordstrom the Boston Opera Project will seek "emerging Boston-based talent, ideally not under management". Its mission is "to offer emerging regional opera singers opportunities to enhance their skills and to explore alternative, as well as mainstream, opera repertoire". The mission statement goes on to state that BOP "provides a supportive and creative atmosphere through a structure of singers working for singers". The idea of singers working for singers is what makes BOP unique.

The germ of the idea for Boston Opera Project came from an article in the March, 2004, issue of Classical Singer by Allen Riberdy entitled 'Starting a Singer Audition Club'. Riberdy tells of Danielle Nice of Los Angeles who began a series of 'Singer Sessions'. The sessions, which are underwritten by the singers who attend (to cover the cost of an accompanist), were developed to provide singers with a no-pressure environment where they can try out new material, work through stage fright or improve their focus during critical auditions. This combination of self-help master class and open mike cabaret, says Ms. Nordstrom, suggested to her the possibility of producing larger works, where the singers run the show and where all aspects of the production are provided by the performers themselves.

To begin, then, the co-founders of BOP (all BSR subscribers) took on business roles. Although the five of them have had strong musical training and are having some success as performers they also, of necessity, have developed business expertise along the way. "We need day jobs to pay the bills", says Nordstrom. So, with Noelle Nordstrom as Business Administrator, Jacque Wilson as Assistant Treasurer, Stephanie Mann as Artist Liaison, Rebekah Skirball as Chief Financial Officer and Ja-nae Duane as Marketing Director, and with 'Regina' tapped as their first production, they got to work on casting and fund raising.

As explained by Ms. Nordstrom "the casting auditions began with ourselves". Each of the five presented an audition piece for the other four, for specific roles in 'Regina' (which calls for 3 sopranos and a mezzo-soprano). Then a secret ballot was held. The result, for this production, is that four them were assigned parts in the opera and the fifth will be the Assistant Stage Director. It's expected that, with future productions, the results will be different and that non-singing responsibilities will be taken up by any of the five who are not cast in roles. The remaining cast was gathered together after a search that included advertising on the BostonSingersResource Message Board and in Classical Singers magazine as well as via numerous person networks. The effort garnered them 60 auditionees who were heard in a single day. The audition requirement was for a single song, in English. This allowed the auditing to be focused on interpretive skills. "We are very pleased with the results", says Nordstrom. "All of the cast are strong singers as well as actors. We had hoped for that combination". And, although there are a few exceptions, the majority of the cast is, indeed, not under management and is just beginning to emerge as exciting, new talent.

In order to offer the most opportunities to the greatest number of people, the show has been double-cast for the two-night run. But being a singer and actor with Boston Opera Project is only part of the job. Just as the original five have taken on functional roles so, too, is the cast involved in fund raising. This year being BOP's first (the group has only been in existence since March, 2004) the main source of income has been yard sales, all conducted by the cast, with donations from them as well as friends and family.

The choice of 'Regina' for BOP's first production is both unusual and obvious. The opera takes its story line from the 1939 play 'The Little Foxes' by Lillian Hellman, which was a vehicle for Bette Davis (as Regina) in the 1941 movie of the same name. The story, with its themes of greed and family strife gone murderously awry, has a notable absence of a love story. Its appeal, Ms. Nordstrom feels, is in the music itself. Blitzstein's score, written in 1949, combines ragtime, jazz, blues, spirituals, waltz and popular songs. No less a judge than Aaron Copland once commented that "with 'Regina' Mr. Blitzstein has created a milestone in the theater". Also, says Nordstrom, "we wanted to do something where English was the original language, to make it appealing to the audience". This latter idea is in keeping with the third portion of BOP's mission statement: "to reach out and broaden the knowledge of opera within the greater Boston community as well as enrich the experience of audiences familiar with traditional opera".

A vital part of this first production is Director, Dorie Bryan, who is from Stoughton. To this production, her first in the genre of opera, Ms. Bryan brings a wealth of experience and imagination. "We are thrilled and so lucky to have the chance to work with her", says Nordstrom. Because 'Regina' is being presented as a concertized version, rather than as a full production, Ms. Bryan has had to be creative with the sets. For instance, during a death scene near the end of the opera, one of the characters must climb a staircase. The already hard-working cast serves in this additional, un-credited role.


BOSTON OPERA PROJECT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Artistic Administrator
Soprano Stephanie Mann received her M. M. from the Boston Conservatory and her B. A. from Brandeis University. Some of her past productions include 'Four Saints in Three Acts,' 'Alice in Wonderland,' 'L'Egisto,' 'The Sorcerer,' 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood,' 'Master Class', 'The Secret Garden,' 'Iolanthe', and 'Follies.' In the fall she will be covering the performance of Richard Strauss‚ 'Vier Letzte Lieder' with the Brockton Orchestra and performing the role of Ruth in 'Ruddigore' with the Raylynmor Opera.

Chief Financial Officer
Rebekah Skirball, Mezzo-soprano, Bachelors of Professional Music, Berklee College of Music, Masters of Music in Opera Performance, Boston Conservatory of Music. Originally born in New York and raised in Israel, Rebekah has performed Jazz, Classical, Opera, Musical Theater, Contemporary and Liturgical music idioms on both continents. She has been a teacher in the private sector for over a decade, and will be heading the pre-K department at OperaTunity in Stoughton Massachusetts in September 2004. In Israel she made several appearances on national television and sang at numerous Jazz venues with the "Sea of Blues" quartet, and was a cast member in "Entebbe, the Musical" awarded First Place in International Theater Festival 1993. In the United States she has performed opera with The Boston Conservatory, Lowell Opera and Longwood Opera. She was also the solo vocalist on the recording and the live performance of "the Altis" performed by the Boston Ballet. She recently has become a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

Business Administrator
Noelle R. Nordstrom, soprano, from Boston, Massachusetts where she is currently studying with Monique Phinney. Ms. Nordstrom received her Bachelor's degree from The Boston Conservatory, where she performed, Mrs. Ford, 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' and Ariadne 'Ariadne auf Naxos'. Ms. Nordstrom was chosen for two successive years to participate in the Crittenden Opera Studio, achieving acclaim with such roles as Leonora '(La Forza del Destino', Nedda 'I Pagliacci' and Donna Elvira 'Don Giovanni'.

Assistant Stage Director/Assistant Financial Officer
Mezzo, Jacque Wilson Jacque Wilson received her Master's Degree in Opera from The Boston Conservatory in 2001. During her time at there she played Amor in 'L'Egisto', Susanna in' Fatal Song', and Little Red in Seymour Barab's 'Little Red Riding Hood'. Since graduating from the conservatory, she has performed as a soloist with Metrowest Symphony Orchestra, Parkway Concert Orchestra, and with theTanglewood Festival Chorus.

Marketing Director
Ja-Naé Duane, mezzo-soprano, actress, poet and composer, has been lighting stages since childhood. Equally comfortable performing opera as jazz and musical theater, she has performed in such places as the White House, Boston's Esplanade, Jordan Hall, Woolsey Hall and the Fleet Center. She has just completed Boston University's prestigious Opera Institute, where she was a member (and still is) of Sharon Daniel's studio. A natural "go-getter," Ja-Naé pioneered an undergraduate major in Opera Performance at Northeastern University and New EnglandConservatory, then went on to complete her graduate work at Carnegie Mellon University.Duane's recent engagements include the role of the Third Lady in 'The Magic Flute' with Granite State Opera, Carmen in 'La Tragédie de Carmen', Hermia in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', and Baba in 'The Medium', all with the Opera Institute. In May 2003, she performed in concert in St. Petersburg, Russia in collaboration with young artists from the Mariinsky Opera. She is also featured on a recording of 'Hamlet' due in 2005. Ms. Duane has been previously engaged with the Boston Pops, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Boston University‚s Opera Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, BASOTI, Tuesday Music Club and Naxos-London. In addition to her busy performance schedule, Ja-Naé is much sought-after as a public speaker, and is founder of the National Artistic Effort; a volunteer organization which unites artists in order to facilitate positive change within our communities. She won the NATS competition, is a recipient of "Who's Who Among American College Students," Carnegie Mellon's Award for "Graduate Vocal Excellence" and the "GUSH Award." Ms. Duane's long term plans are to perform extensively, breaking the barriers of genre, go on to win an Academy Award, and retire as a ghostbuster.

For more information about Boston Opera Project or their performance of REGINA on September 10 and 11, please email BosOpera@yahoo.com.