Most traditional operas are written for professional singers with male dominant casts. However, the make-up of most small college or university opera workshops is predominately undergraduate female singers. What can a director do to give students experience in some type of quality production during their time in school with both contemporary and traditional operas and operettas? There are many strategies to explore beyond the standard scenes program. A little “rule-breaking” may be in order, but it does not have to be a taboo! This session will present ideas for good “rule-breaking” based on research and frank discussions with opera director colleagues experiencing their own struggles to bring opera to young students and examine pedagogically appropriate solutions to not only accommodate, but celebrate the female voice.

The buzz around Seattle Opera’s 2017 production of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly initiated a culture-shifting conversation in which Seattle’s Asian-American community decried the racist stereotypes and cultural appropriation at the core of the opera. Rather than shying away from the controversy, how must we (the producers, directors, and performers of the art form), address the presentation of such works, if they are to be presented at all? In an effort to preserve the integrity of the operatic canon, one must carefully navigate any controversy associated with the material. In this session, we’ll discuss the dos and don’ts, the shoulds and shouldn’ts, and address a user-friendly systematic plan that can be tailored to any artistic process.

Massage helps us perform tasks with greater longevity and comfort. Muscles can become short and tight with use. Adhesions develop in soft tissue throughout our bodies, including in the throat, neck, shoulders, arms and hips. Massage can improve and alleviate tight muscles, adhesions, increasing blood flow, reducing recovery time. It helps expel waste material from the blood and interstitial fluid and tissue, improving efficiency of bodily functions. Pre-event massage can increase flexibility, lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety. My goal with this session is to draw musicians’ attention to the value of massage as ongoing maintenance for the musical athlete to the rising rate of poverty in America.

Universities are where new opera of the highest caliber should be created – in programs that can take the necessary risk that new art demands. We will detail Samford University’s four-year process of commissioning, creating, funding, producing, and touring the new American opera The Ghosts of Gatsby by Evan Mack and Joshua McGuire. When challenged with the question, “What is the biggest dream you have for your opera program,” an obvious answer is creating the space for new opera to be written, and to inspire the students in your program with roles that are tailored to them.

Creation of a Hip Hop Opera for Youth  (William McCrary, Jourdan Laine Howell) William Shakespeare – just mentioning his name can be intimidating. How then do we make his works and the language of his time palatable and interesting to elementary school students? This session will focus on the creation of a new hip hop opera based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This 35-minute opera for youth will be presented the 17th year of The University of Texas at San Antonio’s outreach program, Opera on the Run, in a collaborative effort with the San Antonio Symphony and the Opera Guild of San Antonio.

The shows of Ivor Novello were the mainstay of the British stage from the 1920s through the 1950s, yet most of them have now “disappeared without a trace.” The music of Ivor Novello is as varied and successful as his own career as film star, popular songwriter, director, stage actor and operetta composer. While Ivor Novello’s music could be successfully refashioned for contemporary opera theater, why is it we cannot go “Back to Before” to produce the “Novello Shows”?