Article: Opera New Jersey"Opera Theater Raises its Voice"Star-Ledger (Willa Conrad) In the quick-brewing world that is Princeton’s rejuvenating summer opera market, the once tiny New Jersey Opera Theater is now looking like the 800-pound gorilla. Its budget going into its third summer season this week is around $400,000 – a good 25 percent increase over last year’s $300,000. The company has added three performances to its repertory season at McCarter Theatre’s smaller Berlind Theater, yet is already four weeks ahead of where it was last year in terms of advance ticket sales. Most importantly, NJOT has taken the risky step of eliminating tuition fees for its casts of apprentice singers, instead taking the bold step of hiring up and coming professionals for major roles and offering lesser forms of compensation – like subsidized housing – to the entire 40-singer company. “The majority of singers you’ll see on stage this summer are not paying us a penny, and we’re not paying them,” says founding artistic director Scott Altman. “We are very much in the Wolf Trap scenario now. The pool of talent has expanded beyond my wildest expectations. In the first couple seasons I heard maybe 150 singers from around the world (at auditions). This year I listened to 425 singers in Philadelphia, Memphis and New York, and next year we’re adding Chicago. Those I heard this year were those who want to sing major roles on stage in a world class facility.” For instance...bass-baritone Matthew Curran, a Princeton native who sang with the company last year and returns again this season as Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. Or Michael Fabiano, who will be NJOT’s Nemorino in a new production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love,) updated to Midwest rural America in the ‘50s by Director David Grabarkewitz. Fabiano is a tenor who has won several recent competitions and is a singer in residence at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. Altman has restructured the company to accommodate two levels of singers. Festival artists, like Condy, come just to sing major roles. Studio artists are younger singers who attend master classes, sing in the company’s separate evenings of arias, ensembles, and musical theater, and act as chorus members in the main productions. The shift in status suits soprano Margaret Jensen, 24, who understudied some roles last year but this summer returns to sing the Lauretta roles in Gianni Schicchi and then complementary contemporary opera Buoso’s Ghost by Michael Ching, who has also been in residence for master classes and coaching. “It’s more professional; I’m singing a role this year,” says Jensen, a Californian. “So many programs for young singers, you sing a lot of chorus and do scenes, but for me, there’s nothing like being on stage and working things out for myself.” Altman’s hands-on approach is an added benefit, Jensen says. “I think he’s a lot more involved than other artistic directors of programs like this. He’s really interested in everyone’s stories, and if he can lead you to contacts for other work, he does.” …Back in Princeton, Altman is building the financial backing he needs to continue to grow his young company into a major regional opera player. Each summer, he says, his company and staff get more efficient and experienced, and major funders, like the Dodge Foundation and Edward T. Cone Foundation, have begun to support them. “A lot has to do with word of mouth,” Altman says. “In this extremely small industry, word that you’re doing good work spreads like wildfire. |
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