Boheme Brings Opera Back!

Boheme Opera NJ started its journey as a musician’s guild in 1981. Between 1981 and 1989, the group evolved into a professional production company. In its first eight years, Boheme Opera NJ staged outdoor operas and held dinner operas and concerts – all in local venues. 1989 was the inaugural season of Boheme as a local producer of opera theater with their first production, La Traviata.

Since the beginning, one of Boheme Opera NJ’s aims has been to provide an accessible art form to its audiences; let’s face it, it’s a little overwhelming to see a show that’s in a different language, is 3 hours long, or both! Featuring pre-curtain talks, English supertitles during performances, and showcasing a multitude of operas, Boheme made a name for themselves in the local and regional spectrum.

Educating audiences has always been important to the company. Backstage tours and a High School Apprenticeship Program have allowed the everyday audience member a close up look at what a 21^st century opera company looks like. I had the opportunity to be an apprentice for Boheme for 4 seasons and it was a really great experience. The apprentices make up the “chorus” in the operas, starting with rehearsals twice a week for about a month. Then the chorus meets up with the principals in the cast to block the show, giving the apprentices the amazing experience of being on stage with the professionals.

It has been very encouraging to see people firsthand doing what I hope to do in a few years. Being an apprentice has been a great opportunity because there are not many openings for young singers such as myself to perform at this level. Companies usually require all of their performers have a music degree or some pre-professional experience, so it’s a great feeling to be treated the same as the principals in the cast. Being in the chorus is also a lot of fun because you get to watch all of the parts of the opera that you aren’t in; it’s like seeing the show for free!

Many productions by the company have included regional and national opera stars as lead and supporting lead roles. The traditional opera repertoire is performed on a rotating basis, but Boheme Opera NJ has been unafraid to premiere some contemporary works as well. Some of the traditional shows that are very popular with the company are: La Traviata, Tosca, I Pagliacci, Carmen, La Boheme, and more. The Pirates of Penzance, West Side Story, and Susanna are examples of the more contemporary shows (not necessarily considered “operatic”) that Boheme has produced over the years.

Boheme Opera NJ’s main goal is to prove that opera is not a dying art form, that it is very much alive and thriving locally and around the world. There are many things to love about seeing an opera, such as remembering its place in history as the original Broadway. Without La Boheme, there would be no RENT. The fully staged shows include costumes, sets, “Acts” and “Intermissions.” The plot is usually either of love, tragedy, or comedy – or sometimes a combination of all three! It is much like watching a movie or a Broadway show. Boheme Opera NJ, despite economic circumstances, hopes to show that opera can have the same glitz and appeal as any Broadway show.

Opera is a wonderful art form, and Boheme Opera NJ continues to strive for growing audiences by making it accessible and enjoyable for all.

Female Conductors: Is There Still a Taboo?

When asked to think about great conductors throughout history, many names come to mind: Leonard Bernstein, Gustavo Dudamel, Herbert von Karajan, Sir Simon Rattle, and Gustav Mahler, just to name a few. While this is an impressive list, there is one thing lacking about it: there are no female names. Why? How come when you think of great composers and conductors, very few females come to mind? Women fought hard for their equal rights, yet they seem to stay clear of the podium.

The music industry is male dominated, especially in conducting. According to the League of American Orchestras, the ratio of male to female conductors across US orchestras is 80% male to 20% female. This includes assistant conductor positions. In the 103 US orchestras with the highest budgets, ninety-one conductors are male while only twelve are female; if you shrink that list to the top 22, twenty-one composers are male, and there is one female.

This should make you think: why are there so few female conductors? Are they thought to be less effective because of their gender? In late August, Russian born conductor Vasily Petrenko was asked about female conductors in an interview with the Norwegian paper, Aftenposten. Petrenko, the principal conductor of the National Youth Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and the Oslo Philharmonic, gave a response that caused an outrage:

“[Orchestra musicians] respond better to men at the podium. They have less sexual energy and can better focus on the music. A sweet girl on the podium makes them think of other things… when women have families, it becomes difficult to be as dedicated as is demanded in the business.”

In my experience, I have had a variety of male and female conductors in school, so it never crossed my mind that women are not represented in major symphony orchestras until I first read the Petrenko interview in late September (At this time, I had just concluded performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Kimmel Center with the Westminster Choir College’s Symphonic choir, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and under the baton of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin. This was a life changing experience, and the maestro is absolutely brilliant). The paper with his interview came out before the last night of “Proms”–short for promenade concert–refers to the BBC Proms. This is an eight-week summer season of daily classical music concerts presented in Royal Albert Hall. This season’s Proms was especially important, because for the first time in 118 years, the last night featured a female conductor.

This conductor was Marin Alsop, the conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. Alsop is the lone female conductor to lead one of the 22 US orchestras with the highest budgets, and she has developed a huge name for herself and a large following. Marin Alsop is in a relationship with her partner, Kristin Jurksheit, and they have a 10 year old son, so obviously it is not too hard to have a family and be successful. There are plenty of female performers, so the question is, do women not want to conduct major orchestras, or is society keeping them down? In response to Petrenko’s statement, she said:

“…there is no logical reason to stop women from conducting. The baton isn’t heavy. It weighs about an ounce. No superhuman strength is required. Good musicianship is all that counts. As a society we have a lack of comfort in seeing women in these ultimate authority roles. Still none of the “big five” orchestras has had a female music director.”

After reading Petrenko’s article, I reflected on the experience and thought about the members of the orchestra and the maestro. There were men and women in the orchestra, underneath the baton of a man. If Petrenko claimed that men wouldn’t be able to “focus” with a woman on the podium, then theoretically, wouldn’t it be the same for women? If there is a man on the podium, then women could be “distracted” by them as well. I also wondered whether or not women have ever applied to direct this orchestra. I believe that if a woman is a good musician, then she should be able to conduct anywhere she pleases. In any situation, the person most qualified should be the recipient of the job they apply for. Gender should not factor into the equation. I feel that there are many capable female conductors, so hopefully more women will follow in Marin Alsop’s shoes and try to conduct major orchestras in the future.

Recently, I interviewed Patricia Joyce, musical director of the New Jersey Youth Chorus. I asked her if she has seen sexism throughout her career, and she said that she hasn’t. She told me that she has never been the “only woman in the room,” and that she doesn’t feel that she needs to work any harder to gain respect because of her gender. This interview made me feel better about the future of conducting for women. I hope that more women decide to become more of a presence in major orchestras, and that their gender will not hinder them. Women fought hard for their equal rights, and I predict that the passing of time will show an increase of female conductors leading major symphony orchestras.

West Windsor-Plainsboro South: Teaching Music in Princeton

During freshman year of high school I attended West Windsor-Plainsboro (WW-P) High School South in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. It is located just a few miles from Princeton, college town of Princeton University since 1756. WW-P South is surrounded by many academic institutions including the Institute for Advanced Study, Westminster Choir College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Educational Testing Service (ETS), along with other top ranking public and private schools in the nation.

One of the few things I distinctly remember is that my fellow students were some of the most academically driven and motivated people I have ever known. In 2013, WW-P South was ranked eighth in the state–and first in New Jersey– among non-magnet school by U.S. News & World Report. They have reported that 70% of student body participate in the AP® exams and above 93% of student body are classified proficient or above proficient on both mathematics and language arts literacy. And although it’s only a stereotype that Asians are more academically driven, I wasn’t surprised when I found out that 45% of student body is composed of Asians.

Choirs and Orchestras of WW-P high school South and North performing together at Ocean Grove Great Auditorium in 2008

I still keep in touch with many people from the school,  and many now attend either Ivy Leagues or other top ranking colleges in the states. This might be a result of the extra-curricular activities offered at WW-P South. Most students were part of one or multiple clubs and extra-curricular groups. There was a club for everyone, from sports clubs such as fencing and indoor/outdoor running clubs to multi-cultural clubs such as Chinese and Korean clubs.

Also, out of three high schools I attended, WW-P South had the most diverse and affluent music program. In terms of choirs, there were two large ensembles: Chorale, a non-auditioned freshman ensemble, and Concert Choir, an auditioned ensemble for sophomores and upperclassmen. There were also three extracurricular ensembles open to non-freshmen: Out of the Blue, a mixed a cappella ensemble, Tickled Pink, female a cappella ensemble, and Noteworthy, male a cappella ensemble. The year I was there, I was the tenor section leader of the Chorale, so I led sectionals to prepare for seasonal concerts and performances such as the annual silent auction concert and the biennial abroad tour. Although I was at WW-P South for a short period, I got to perform major works such as R.V. William’s Dona Nobis Pacem and Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore. Ever since I left school, the Concert Choir has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Schloss Esterházy and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In short, the music program at WW-P South is upscale.

With this in mind, as a student currently majoring in Music Education, I’m curious to learn more about the music curriculum at WW-P South and the advantages or difficulties of teaching at such an academically and financially affluent school. Since 2002, Mrs. Janice Chapin, an alumnus of Westminster Choir College, has been the director of choirs at WW-P South.  I will be interviewing her to discuss the music curriculum of the school and her hopes and goals as a music educator.