Shoreline Community College announces 2017 opera workshop auditions

Shoreline Community College is proud to announce its annual Opera Workshop, with performances scheduled for February 24, 25 and 26, 2017.

For the past four decades this opera workshop program has been an important training ground for aspiring singers and actors who wish to explore the operatic repertoire.

Amy Beach

This year’s Opera Workshop features an important West Coast premiere – Amy Beach’s one-act opera, Cabildo. 

Amy Beach, arguably America’s most famous and celebrated female composer, composed her only opera in 1932. Never published, the work was not performed during the composer’s lifetime, and has only received a handful of performances since 1946.

Shoreline’s production will be the West Coast premiere of this miniature masterpiece. Set in late-nineteenth century New Orleans, Cabildo tells the mysterious story of the notorious pirate, Pierre LaFitte and his lover, Lady Valerie. The story is set in the governor’s palace and jail of the Cabildo, and features a cast of singers, chorus and narrator, accompanied by piano trio. Performance of this rare work is made possible by the MacDowell Colony of New Hampshire.

Peter Winkler

Peter Winkler’s delightful trio of one-act operas, Fox Tales, will complement Beach’s opera.

Winkler, composer emeritus at SUNY Stony Brook, based his operatic trilogy on the fables of Aesop – the fable of the Fox and the Grapes; the Fox and the Hen; and the Lion and the Fox.

Developed in collaboration with librettist Rhonda Levine, Fox Fables was the 2011 winner in the Contemporary American Festival competition sponsored by the Boston Metro Opera. This splendid trio of operatic gems will both delight and entertain.

Auditions for the opera workshop 2017 will be held at Shoreline Community College on November 2 and 3, and November 9 and 10, from 3 pm to 6 pm in the Campus Theater (1600 Building).

Those interested in auditioning should prepare a short classical song or operatic aria to sing. A pianist will be provided. Audition times can be selected at the Shoreline Theater website. 

All participants in the opera workshop are required to register for credit through the college. Credits are available for musical theater and drama performance, as well as technical credits.

For further information, contact either the director, Dr. Charles Enlow, or Theater Manager, John Nold.