INTRODUCTION
What do Plácido Domingo, Roberta Peters, Patrice Munsel, Adelina Patti, Manuel Garcia, and a host of other great names from the annals of operatic history potentially have in common with your high-school aged student, son or daughter? All were active singers in operatic productions during their teen years, a time when most of today's youth have not even heard of opera. Here in New York City, we have so many musical resources available to prepare our young artists for future careers but few for the youngest singers wishing to undertake serious study of the greatest of the performing arts, grand opera.
While many of our city's great opera companies use and train children and teens in their choruses, there have been fewer opportunities for these young singers to explore what goes into preparation of a leading or supporting role in grand opera. Once a certain age has been reached, many of these kids must leave those institutions, having to wait up to ten years to resume further operatic studies.
Citywide Youth Opera, Inc. (CYOp), a not-for-profit, 501c3 tax exempt organization launched in the Fall of 2005, seeks to remedy this situation. This program offers young singers in-depth musical, dramatic and interpretive training, culminating in a public performance of legitimate operatic works by the great composers of music history. The program is open to students ages 14 to 21.
Attention to repertoire is what makes CYOp unique. While other programs have been created to coach teen singers in individual arias, art songs or in the process of creating an original opera, CYOp teaches skills to bring forth a polished performance of established repertoire, in addition to also offering aria study geared to the individual performer's needs.
AMONG THE STAFF AT CYOp
CYOp's founder and Artistic Director, Andrés Andrade is currently on the faculty at Queens College and maintains a busy private studio in addition to expanding duties at Citywide Youth Opera. A graduate of New England Conservatory, he has performed over thirty roles in operatic, operetta and zarzuela repertoire, and has taught voice since 1988. He spent five years on the vocal faculty and as director of the Opera Theatre at LaGuardia Arts High School, where among his productions, Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice was the feature of a news segment on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. Several of his students have been accepted to top college and conservatory vocal departments, including the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College of Music and New England Conservatory. He is author of the book Absolute Beginners Voice.
Stage Director Jennifer Griesbach has directed a varied repertory of opera encompassing old and new works. She has directed productions ranging from the very earliest operas (Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Poppea, as well as works by Cavalieri, Francesca Caccini, and Cavalli) and standard repertory (Handel, Mozart, Offenbach, Puccini), to contemporary works by Lee Hoiby, Domenick Argento, and David Del Tredici. Jennifer has been closely associated with The Wooster Group over the last few years and assisted director Elizabeth LeCompte in the creation of La Didone, a production commissioned by the Kunstenfestival des Arts in Brussels that combined the Wooster Group’s experimental techniques and film source work with extensive work in baroque gesture. Subsequently, La Didone toured Europe (including the Edinburgh Festival) and had extended runs in New York and Los Angeles.
Robert Rogers (Collaborative Pianist) holds degrees from the University of Tampa, the University of South Florida, and the University of Illinois. He has concertized throughout the US, Canada, and the West Indies with numerous operatic and concert stars, and with the male quartet Songfellows. Critics claim he “makes accompanying an art unto itself… playing even the most difficult passages with ease” and demonstrating sensitivity in the realms of both opera and art song. He is the former music director of the New York Opera Ensemble and was assistant conductor and chorus master for the Illinois Opera Theatre and the Lake George Opera Festival. He is currently organist and choirmaster of the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew in Brooklyn. Mr. Rogers has recorded on the RCA, Concord, and RUA record labels and is currently on the staff of the LaGuardia Arts High School.
