WELCOME TO OUR NEW SMC ARTISTS!
Happy March, everyone!! Spring is hopefully just around the corner, and spring means new beginnings. We have a lot of exciting news and things to look forward to! If you haven’t seen the shining new faces we are welcoming for 2017, you are seriously missing out. Check them out HERE. We couldn’t be more anxious for June to get here, and not just because we’re sick of snow! It’s going to be a wonderful season, and we’re thrilled to have all of our 2017 artists lighting up the hill.
So, what comes first; choosing the artists, or choosing the season repertoire? It’s a bit of a puzzle to put together. Some of the things we consider when choosing the next season are:
- Which of last year’s artists will probably be returning? We know this by asking each individual artist in their exit interview. And we want to be able to feature as many returning artists as possible in roles that are a good fit for them.
- What would be a good, balanced combination of shows? We always choose two operas and two musicals, to keep things fun and interesting, as well as to help our artists be versatile! These shows must have enough parts to feature each of the 32 Young Artists in at least one role, particularly between the two middle shows of the season and the children’s opera – we want everyone to have something in one of those three shows and typically do full company shows at the beginning and the end.
- What shows can we choose that we know our audience will like, or at least appreciate? Of course in recent years we’ve also tried hard to incorporate new or recently premiered late 20th or 21st century operas and will continue that in the future, because new opera is something we have a certain love for, and believe in.
So, to answer the above question — the repertoire is indeed chosen before we start recruiting singers.
Would that make the repertoire the chicken or the egg? Hmmmm. Well, we definitely don’t think any of our singers are chicken — they have so much courage! [Read more…] about News, News, News