Pacific Opera Institute

July 19 - August 9

In association with the Bear Valley Music Festival

A new young artist program unique to the West Coast combines three levels of artists into one intensive three-week program.

Advanced levels of stage direction, diction, and audition techniques under the tutelage of a world renowned faculty in the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountain range.

The three week session concludes with a full production of Nicolai's, The Merry Wives of Windsor at The Bear Valley Music Festival

Phase 1: July 19 - July 29

On the scenic campus of the University of the Pacific

Classes in:

diction
music theory (for pre-collegiate artists)
stage training
aria preparation
cover staging rehearsals
chorus rehearsals

Phase 2: July 29 - August 9

In the scenic mountains of the Sierra Nevada at the Bear Valley Music Festival

Staging rehearsals in final preparation for Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor
Aria preparation
Master class with Sheri Greenawald director, San Francisco Opera Center

Distinguished Faculty

Sheri Greenawald - San Francisco Opera Center

Sheri Greenawald, San Francisco Opera Center Director, has had a distinguished international operatic singing career as a soprano, noted in particular for her enormous range of roles. She has sung featured roles with (among others) San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Venice’s La Fenice, the Munich State Opera, Paris’s Ch_telet Theater, Welsh National Opera, Seattle Opera Company, Houston Grand Opera, the Netherlands Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Naples’s Teatro San Carlos and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She has worked with most of opera’s great conductors and directors, and she is featured on several recordings, including singing the title role of Blitztein’s Regina conducted by John Mauceri and recorded on Decca. A graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, Greenawald completed the Professional Studies Program at the Juilliard School of Music and has received a Rockefeller Grant, NEA Grant, and was Seattle Opera Association’s Artist of the Year in 1998. She has taught privately, was a visiting artist at the University of Charleston, an Artist in Residence at the University of Northern Iowa, was the vocal coach of the Santa Fe Apprentice Program in 1999 and opera director of the program in 2000, and has given master classes the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She recently was engaged as a professor of voice and opera at the Boston Conservatory, with a full vocal studio, coursework on English and American Song Repertory, and directed for the Opera Studio.

Jerold Siena - Stage Director

A tenor of international acclaim who has appeared regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, and the world's leading opera houses, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Monnaie in Brussels, The Bayerische Staatsoper, Rome Opera, New York City Opera and Teatro di San Carlo of Naples. He has appeared under such conductors as James Levine, Daniel Barenboim, Andre Previn, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Robert Shaw, James Conlon, George Szell, and Erich Leinsdorf. Stage directors with whom Professor Siena has collaborated include Franco Zeffirelli, Harold Prince, Jonathan Miller, Frank Corsaro and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. In concert and oratorio he has appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Oratorio Society of New York, the Bach Festivals of Carmel, Bethlehem and Baldwin Wallace and with the National Symphony of Washington. He has performed over 30 different recital programs and has sung important premiers of works by Benjamin Britten, Ned Rorem and Dominick Argento. Before coming to the University of Illinois, Jerold Siena held professorships at the University of Arizona and the Yale School of Music. As Professor of Voice at the University of Illinois Siena is recognized internationally as a master teacher who teaches each summer in Salzburg, Austria and Urbania, Italy. He is much in demand for master classes, which he has presented for the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program, the American Opera Center of Chicago Lyric Opera and Westminster Choir College. Several of his students have appeared regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera and major opera and concert venues around the world. Professor Siena is a 2004 recipient of a University of Illinois College of Fine and Applied Arts Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. Most recently, he participated as a Master Teacher in the national NATS Internship Program held at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

In addition to his busy performing and teaching career, Mr. Siena is founder and former director of the University of Illinois Opera Studio, an intensive training program for young singers. At Illinois he has also created and directed the Jerry Hadley Memorial Concert as well as Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. He is also scheduled for The Barber of Seville for the 2010 season.

With Arizona Opera, Siena has created productions of Lohengrin, La Traviata, and Prokofieff’s Love for Three Oranges. He has also directed Il Tabarro, The Old Maid and the Thief, Acis and Galatea, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the Church Parables of Benjamin Britten.

Danielle Siena - Diction Coach

Born in Florence, Italy, Ms. Siena’s credits include the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and the Curtis Institute of Music. She is known as one of the foremost experts in the sung language of Italian. She has worked with many stars of opera including Frederica Von Stade, Carol Vaness, and Vinson Cole. She is currently on staff at the Los Angeles Opera as the Italian diction coach for the young artists program.

Carter Nice Conductor and Music Director

Maestro Nice returns as the Music Director and Conductor for his 26th season with the Bear Valley Music Festival. Carter began his professional career at age 12 as a violinist with the Jacksonville Symphony. He holds music degrees from both the Manhattan and the Eastman Schools of Music. Mr. Nice served as the Concert Master for the Florida Symphony Orchestra, as well as the New Orleans Philharmonic, then from 1979 to 1992 as the Music Director for the Sacramento Symphony. Carter is currently the Music Director for the Sacramento Metropolitan Orchestra.

Auditions

To obtain an application email or obtain any information regarding the Pacific Opera Institute, contact Daniel Ebbers, debbers@pacific.edu, call 209-946-2833, or visit http://web.pacific.edu/x8853.xml

The audition dates have past, however, the Institute still has openings for low male voice singers.

Tuition

Scholarships are Available
Cost, Total Three-Week Session
Tuition: $950
Room and Board: $864