5196105735

Nancv Irwin in Bride

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coordinate casting and to teach dic-tion.

Makeup & movement

Rehearsals for the end-of-the-road pcrformances were like classes, and morę often than not, the classes were like rehearsals. Culpepper ze-roed in on inhibitions and how to deal with them onstage; McGhce taught wordless expression through movementsof the body; Feist madę it elear how a recitative from a Czech opera differs from that in an English opera, even when both are sung in English; Harrower showed the ways in which makeup can enhance the personality of a given character; and Callaway worked on projecting the text in any language to the back rows of the theater, at the same time cop-ing with and solving the minor personality frictions that such close work makes unavoidable.

/\n early audition-recital en-abled the faculty to assess each par-ticipant’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, the five sessions per week be-gan at 3 p.m., running until 9 or 10 ai night. This Schedule allowed those with aaytime jobs to participate. Feist s lecturesor coaching sessions set the mood, followed by body move-ment and acting class. Rehearsals of specific groups, diction, and stage-craft rounded out each day. Breaks were short to discourage overeating and subsequent sluggishness.

Opera sccnes

At the end of the third week, two . different programs of opera scenes were presented, giving every singer a chance to put his or her learning to the test. The scenes were taken from The Magie FI u te, Ceneren-tola, Albert Her ring, The Bar ter ed Bride, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Suor Angelica, and Falstaff. Many performers madę their own costumes, and a few audi-lors ended up with valuable training as stage managers.

Each scene was double-cast, and although only cne singer ac-tually performed the role, the under-study usually had equal coaching time. Initial plans for an orchestra did not materialize, but the piano ac-compamments in no way stinted the excitement and often-impressive competence of the hard-working stu-dents. A narrator set the context of each scene with verbal program notes, and the audience reaction was consistently enthusiastic.

The unanimous hope is that the workshop's obvious success will make it an annual afTair, attracting morę young singers from the southeast who aspire to perform with the growing number of regional opera companies in the U.S. Stuart Culpepper seemed to be speaking for faculty and stu-dents alike when he said: “It was the most rewarding three weeks I can re-niember!” MA

MASTER COURSES CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC BERN-SWITZERLAND

PROF. HERMANN BAUMANN

Mastercourse for Horn

August 13th to 22nd 1982

Information and brochures:

Sekretariat Meisterkurse des Konservatoriums

Kramgasse 36 CH-3011 Bern