Susanne Mentzer writes for Huffington Post

While in town rehearsing to sing the role of Despina in the upcoming production of Cosi fan tutte for the Lyric Opera, Susanne Mentzer also took some time out of her day to teach a Master Class for some of the 2011-2012 Lyric Opera Apprentices.  One topic that was covered was covers, or understudies, and Ms. Mentzer wrote about some of her experiences being a cover in a piece posted yesterday on the Huffington Post.

Read Ms. Mentzer’s article.

See “The Rake’s Progress” at KU Opera

The University of Kansas Opera is presenting a production of The Rake’s Progress, opening this weekend, and members of the Lyric Opera family are involved with all aspects of the production.

Lyric Opera Apprentice Amy Cahill

Current Lyric Opera Apprentices Amy Cahill and Robert McNichols, Jr. both have principal roles in the production.  Amy has sung in the chorus for every production since La Traviata (Spring 2009) and is making her official Lyric Opera debut in the upcoming production of Rigoletto as Countess Ceprano.  In The Rake’s Progress she will be singing Anne Trulove in select performances.   Robert, who made his Lyric Opera debut in John Brown (Spring 2008) in the dual role of Jim/Daniel, has sung a number of roles on the Lyric Opera stage and will play the role of Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress.  Very soon he will be appearing on the Lyric Opera stage in Rigoletto as Marullo and again in April in Don Giovanni as Masetto.  Robert has been deeply involved in Lyric Opera Education Programs, including Lyric Opera Summer Camp.

Also on stage as principals in The Rake’s Progress will be a number of current Lyric Opera chorusters .  Charlie Martinez, as Tom Rakewell; Michael Austin as Father Trulove; Benjamin Cleveland as Sellem; and Kristee Haney as Baba the Turk in select performances.

Mark Ferrell

Not all of the Lyric Opera family members involved in The Rake’s Progress will be on stage.  Mark Ferrell, who was the guest conductor of the hit H.M.S. Pinafore (Fall 2009), is the Music Director for The Rake’s Progress.  Kathleen Belcher is Director of The Rake’s Progress.  She last worked with the Lyric Opera as director of the wonderfully reviewed La Traviata.  Other notables include  Megan Turek, a past wig assistant at the Lyric Opera, as the Costume Designer and Matthew Haney, who is in the Lyric Opera chorus this season, in a backstage role as the Assistant Director.

If your a fan of opera don’t miss this chance to see young opera singers shine with help for some talented people like Mark and Kathleen.

The Rake’s Progress performance dates are February, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 23, 2010.  All performances will be in the Robert Baustian Theater in Murphy Hall on the KU campus in Lawrence.  Ticket prices are $10 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors.  For tickets call 785-864-3436.

Lyric Opera apprentice stars in Civic Opera production

Lyric Opera of Kansas City apprentice Benjamin Hilgert is starring in the Kansas City Civic Opera production of Don Pasquale, opening this week. Break a leg, Ben!

Apprentices in the news

Lyric Opera apprentices from UMKC

The University of Missouri-Kansas City University News posted a nice feature about the apprentice program run in partnership with the University. Click here to read it.

Lyric Opera apprentice competes in China

Robert McNichols, Jr., assistant education director for the Lyric Opera and an apprentice from KU, is in China this week competing in the Fourth China International Vocal Competition.

The China (Ningbo) International Vocal Competition (CIVC) is one of the major China International Music Competition events under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the PRC, which include the competition for singers, pianists and violinists. The CIVC is held every three years and sponsored by Ningbo Municipal People’s Government, Zhejiang Province.

The Competition consists of three rounds, the Preliminary, the Semi-Final and the Final. There will be four prizewinners for the male and female voice groups respectively, and two prizewinners for the best performance of Chinese art songs (one of which is only awarded to non-Chinese foreign contestants). The remaining finalists will get honorary diplomas.

Robert is blogging about his experience on his MySpace page. Below is an excerpt from his most recent entry:

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to fine tune arias, technique, and languages for my songs and arias in the competition. One of the hardest was my Chinese Lyric Song called I Live at the Source of the Yangtze River. It is very beautiful, but having never sung in Chinese, there are obvious difficulties of the song. To help me prepare I worked with the KU Accompanying Apprentice Kwok Liu from China. I also ran through the pronunciation with the Lyric’s Marketing Intern CK. CK let me know that the song is a very popular Chinese song who’s melody almost everyone knows. Thanks CK! No pressure to do this song correct at all! After working with both of them I now feel a lot more comfortable with it.

After a 50 minute flight to Chicago, 13 hour and 33 minute flight to Shanghai, and a 3 hour bus ride I am now safely and soundly in a beautiful little city called Ningbo, China. It’s a very business filled city with lots of traffic, high rise business buildings, and beautiful landscaping. My wife and I were met at the airport by several volunteers of the competition who were English majors at the Ningbo University. They are all very kind and eager to be helpful. I also met several other contestants who traveled with us from the airport to the hotel as well. Two American Soprani, Audi from the Washington Opera Young Artist Program, and Lis from Philadelphia. I also met Korean Bariton Il Hun, Hungarian Baritone Janos, and Slovenian Soprano Irena. All were very nice and excited to be here as well.

Today is Thursday and I’ve had a chance to run through my preliminary round pieces with my accompanist Long Wu. He is very nice and quite skilled as a pianist. He had to sight read two of my songs, but had not real trouble with either of them. My preliminary round songs are Hai gia vinta la causa, Harlekin’s Aria, and Mein herz ist Schwer. I’m feeling very strong vocally and comfortable with my songs. Tonight we draw lots to see what order we will compete in. The singing begins Friday night at 7 p.m. I’ll be sure to keep you all informed on my progress and when I’m singing.

We all wish Robert good luck. If you would like to leave messages for Robert, click on the link below to respond to this post. We’ll forward your messages along to Robert daily!

Rising star: Jonathan Stinson

The Lyric Opera of Kansas City apprentice program prepares exceptional young singers for professional operatic careers while they are enrolled in masters and doctoral level study. Through partnerships with the UMKC Conservatory of Music and the University of Kansas Voice and Opera Department, apprentices appear in Lyric Opera productions, and have the opportunity to audition for principal roles with the Company.

The Company is pleased to welcome five UMKC apprentices and three KU apprentices during the 2008-2009 season.

Recently we had a chance to catch up with UMKC apprentice Jonathan Stinson, having just completed a successful run as Schaunard in the successful Lyric Opera production of La boheme.

Jonathan Stinson in La boheme

Introduce yourself to us. Where do you come from? Where is home? How did you find yourself studying opera in Kansas City?

I was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and lived there through high school.  I then went to Oberlin Conservatory for my undergraduate degree, and continued on to Indiana University for my master’s degree.  As for how I ending up studying opera in Kansas City, we can thank fellow apprentice Ben Hilgert.  Ben and I were singing together at Central City Opera, and he told me that the baritone position at LOKC was still open.  So I contacted the company, sent in a DVD of three arias, and moved to Kansas City three weeks later.

What does it mean to you to be a Lyric Opera apprentice?

This has been the biggest step towards establishing a career so far.  Maestro Holmquist and LOKC have given me wonderful opportunities to build my resume and work along side wonderful colleagues.  I have learned so much not only from the training at both LOKC and UMKC, but from the soloists in each production.

How did you spend your summer?

I spent my summer singing the role of Douphol in La traviata (a role that I reprise here at LOKC in March) for Opera New Jersey, which is located in Princeton. I was a young artist with ONJ in the summer of 2006 so it was exciting to be invited back!

How did you learn about being cast in La boheme? What does performing in this role mean for you?

This is a funny story.  In late January of 2008, I was rehearsing two roles at the same time: the title role of Gianni Schicchi and Pilate in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.  During the last few days of January, the apprentices were scheduled to have individual coachings with Maestro Holmquist.  I knew that I was double-booked with an hour coaching and a three-hour Passion rehearsal.  So I received permission from UMKC to leave the Passion rehearsal early to sing my coaching.  Well….I forgot to leave the rehearsal, and received a phone call [Lyric Opera director of production] Tracy Davis wondering why I missed my coaching.  I ran upstairs to the coaching room (it was now Ben’s coaching time) and apologized to Maestro and explained what had happened.  Maestro looked at me and said, “well, I WAS going to offer you the role of Schaunard….but….”  Luckily for me, his joke turned out to be a serious offer of the role.

Performing the role has meant a lot to me because the role fits my voice perfectly, and the character’s personality is similar to my own.  Schaunard may be the role that I am most marketable to be hired for right now, so to have the role on my resume at a very well-respected opera company may open up several doors in the future.

Describe the rehearsal process for La boheme. Was it like working with production director Ellen Douglas Schlaeffer? With your fellow castmates?

The rehearsal process was wonderful.  Ellen was funny, yet very efficient and professional.  The castmates really got along great.  There were a few dinners where the chemistry between the four guys resembled that of the characters we were playing.

What are the next roles for you to take on?

I am currently in Springfield, MO singing the role of Monterone for Springfield Regional Opera, and then I sing Sid in Albert Herring in November at UMKC.

The Lyric Opera of Kansas City Apprentice Program is made possible by many generous donors. Jonathan Stinson is a recipient of support from the Helen and Sam Kaplan Charitable Trust Fund, Country Club Bank, trustee.