Guests may not be gracing Wolf Trap’s lawn for summer concerts this year, but that doesn’t mean the organization is slowing down. Recently, the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts welcomed its summer 2020 Wolf Trap Opera residency program cohort.
Consisting of 18 Filene Artists, 17 studio artists and five fellows, they all come from across the country and world, and are currently in the midst of the six-week program, learning operatic study and training. Note that for safety reasons, most traveled to Vienna and entered into a two-week quarantine period before beginning in-person rehearsals, and a few have joined virtually as well.
This year, each artist is focusing on the Wolf Trap Opera training model principles to further their professional development in a concentrated manner. Professional music staff and guest directors are leading the efforts, and students are studying the craft of performance, exploring historical context, learning about character development and refining their diction and translation for language skills needed in opera performances.
In addition to all that coaching and learning, the artists are working in small groups to perform and record new shows, to be streamed over the summer season. These projects include Love: Surrender, scenes from La bohème and Eugene Onegin; The Orpheus Project; Into The Woods, Aria Jukebox, the audience gets to choose!, a Master Class with Denyce Graves and the annual Studio Spotlight. These can be viewed at Wolf Trap’s streaming feature, titled Wolf Trap Sessions.
To find out more about the program, visit wolftrap.org.
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