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Yoga Helps Opera Students
Christa Lawler, Duluth News Tribune, Minn.
Posted Aug 30, 2010
About two dozen students, hopeful opera careerists, were sprawled on yoga mats
in the lobby of UMD's Marshall Performing Arts Center on Monday for a
45-minute session with instructor Molly McManus.
She led the class through core-strengthening techniques and breathing
exercises, including one where they used a bendy straw to work on lengthening
exhales. So what does downward dog to a Ty Burhoe soundtrack have to do with
opera training? Plenty, McManus said. Relaxation, getting grounded.
"Yoga is great for singers," the administrative director of Yoga North
said. "It helps with essential breathing and helps them be connected to the
body."
Yoga is just one of the class offerings for the 35 select students from
all over North America in this summer's Sieur Du Luth Opera Training Program
through the University of Minnesota Duluth. The five-week course is an
intensive look at the business of opera, which includes four performances of
Mozart's "Don Giovanni" -- which opens tonight -- one-on-one voice lessons
with professionals and sessions on stage combat, courtly dance, the Alexander
technique and audition tips.
The intent of the program is to mimic the intensity of being a
professional in the opera world -- several rehearsals every day, coaching and
lessons, performances for donors, education and outreach, said program
director Regina Zona, who is also the head of UMD's opera program.
World-renowned voice teachers including Kelly Anderson and Alison Feldt
join UMD's Rachel Inselman from UMD. Cindy Sadler, a professional opera
singer, has a two-day workshop on the business of singing.
Auditions were held in Duluth, Minneapolis, Chicago and New York, and
Zona cast "Don Giovanni" and selected the program's class based on those
performances. Tuition, including housing, is $1,350. Some students received
outside grants to attend.
"When they are in the opera world and doing apprentice programs, for a
while they are going to be working nonstop as an opera slave," Zona said.
"What this program does is show them what that world is like, and forces them
to get in gear quickly."
The schedule has been effective, according to students who said it was
more intense than their routines during the school year.
"A lot of what she says and what I've learned is about the intensity of
learning a role and the intensity of training," said St. Olaf College senior
Anna Christofaro, "This is so fast-paced, and you have to learn quickly. Going
back to school and having five times as long will seem like so much time to
prepare."
Michael Binkowski, who will be a senior at UMD and was seen in the
university's production of "Falstaff," is one of two students cast in the lead
role of "Don Giovanni." He said the program appealed to him because of the
opportunity to tackle a role of this magnitude and to meet outside faculty.
On a session on acting techniques, Zona gave the class a talk on the
transition from student to artist and how, in order to be successful, the
singers needed a passion to sing wherever and whenever, even if that is just
in a church.
She coached Evangelia Leontis, a student from Bowling Green, Ohio, as she
sang "Caro Nome," an aria from Verdi's "Rigoletto."
"First of all, you have a gorgeous voice," Zona said. Then she quizzed
Leontis on the character's motivation and worked with her on taking the sound
from womanly to that of a breathless girl.
The workshop ended in applause from her classmates and Leontis nodding as
if she noticed a difference.
Zona, who is directing "Don Giovanni," has taken the 18th century opera
from Spain and reimagined it as 1940s film noir set on a sound stage in
Hollywood. She likened the Don Juan-ian lead to someone like Burt Lancaster, a
rogue actor sort; his conquest Donna Elvira, a temperamental diva similar to
Ava Gardner. It is the story of a big-time player and his ultimate downfall.
-----
To see more of the Duluth News Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go
to http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/.
Copyright © 2010, Duluth News Tribune, Minn.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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