Have you ever wondered what it takes to become an opera singer? Opera Santa Barbara’s popular “Opera on the Go!” series will present Sheri Greenawald, director of the San Francisco Opera Center, at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 6 in the McCune Founder’s Room at The Granada, 1214 State St. in Santa Barbara.
Greenawald will discuss the rigorous preparation involved in “Training the Operatic Voice.”
As director of one of the most prestigious young artist institutes in the world, operatic training is a subject that Greenawald knows intimately: The San Francisco Opera Center has been cultivating and nurturing the finest in emerging operatic talent for the past 34 years through its Adler Fellowships program, which provides performance-oriented residencies for the most advanced young singers and coach/accompanists, offering intensive individual training and roles in San Francisco Opera’s main-stage season.
Six of this year’s Adler Fellows are appearing in featured roles in Opera Santa Barbara’s upcoming production of La serva padrona/Trouble in Tahiti on April 8 and April 10 in the Lobero Theatre.
Greenawald has had a distinguished international operatic singing career. A soprano, she has been noted in particular for her enormous range of roles, including the part of Dede in the premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s full-length opera A Quiet Place at Houston Opera in 1983. A Quiet Place incorporated his one-act opera, Trouble in Tahiti, of increasing importance in San Francisco revisiting the characters some twenty years later.
Tickets for “Training the Operatic Voice,” available at the door, are $15 for general admission, $12 for season subscribers and $5 for students. For information, click here or call 805.898.3890.
— Marylove Thralls is a marketing coordinator for Opera Santa Barbara.