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On the Road with The Wolf Trap Opera Company: 2010 Season Audition Tour Returns Home After Visiting Six Cities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Melissa Chotiner, melissac@wolftrap.org; 703-255-4096
Vienna, VA—The Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announced today the final leg of its 2010 season multi-market audition tour by the Wolf Trap Opera Company (WTOC), to discover and encourage the finest emerging talent in the field. The tour returns home to Vienna next week for the final round of auditions after visiting six other cities since the first week of November. WTOC staff traveled across the country to hear hundreds of up-and-coming opera performers for its 2010 summer productions, holding auditions in Los Angeles, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, New York, and Philadelphia.
An estimated 1,000 people from around the country apply to
the WTOC each year, from which only 25-35 are selected to join the company.
WTOC features two tiers: –the Filene Young Artists, emerging professional
singers who assume the leading roles of the performances, have typically completed
advanced degrees from the top music schools in the country, and, have participated
in other young artist programs or apprenticeships; and the Studio Artists, who sing
supporting roles, and are current undergraduates or making the transition
between undergraduate and graduate study.
Unlike any other opera company, WTOC auditions and selects artists prior to choosing the opera, so as to tailor the repertoire to the strengths of each year’s applicant pool rather than vice versa.
“Our top priority is the artist, and our entire operation is singer-driven,” said Kim Pensinger Witman, Director of the Wolf Trap Opera Company. “We choose our repertoire to fit the best singers we hear. To use a restaurant analogy–it’s like a chef creating a gourmet meal based on the best ingredients available! This artist-focused approach sets WTOC apart from other companies.”
The WTOC paid, performance-oriented summer residency has served as an important training ground for generations of artists. More than 90% of WTOC alumni are professionals in the opera industry, including many internationally and nationally acclaimed singers such as Nathan Gunn, Stephanie Blythe, Dawn Upshaw, Lawrence Brownlee, Alan Held, Denyce Graves, Eric Owens, Elizabeth Futral, and Jennifer Larmore. Each year, the Metropolitan Opera features an average of 50 WTOC alumni on its roster, and WTOC alums perform with virtually every major opera company in the world each season.
The Wolf Trap Opera Company was
started in 1971 as part of Wolf Trap founder Catherine Filene Shouse’s vision
to give young people a chance to experience the demands of a professional
career in the performing arts. To date, more than 500 singers have performed
with the Company in 136 productions, including an original commissioned work, Volpone in 2004. All WTOC productions are professionally conducted, directed,
coached, and designed; and are performed in the original language with full
orchestra. The Wolf Trap Opera Company has been featured in national and industry media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Opera News for its important contributions to the field.
About The Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
The Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts is a non-profit organization founded by Catherine Filene Shouse (1896-1994) that presents and produces a full-range of performance and education programs in the Greater Washington area, as well as nationally and internationally. Wolf Trap is home to two performance venues, the Filene Center—America’s National Park for the Performing Arts, and The Barns, which operates year-round; as well as the Wolf Trap Opera Company, one of America’s outstanding resident ensemble programs for young opera singers; and Wolf Trap’s education programs, which include the nationally acclaimed Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, scholarships, master classes, and internships. The Filene Center, operated in partnership with the National Park Service, is a 7,028-seat outdoor pavilion that showcases an extensive list of diverse artists, ranging from pop, country, folk, and blues to orchestra, dance, theater, and opera, as well as innovative performance art and multimedia presentations from May through September each year. Visit the Wolf Trap Web site at www.wolftrap.org for more information. Terrence D. Jones is president and CEO of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.
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