Faculty of the Indiana Wesleyan University Division of Music will act as hosts for the 2016 National Opera Association 61st Annual National Convention and The National Association of Teachers of Singing Winter Workshop, a joint event to be held in Indianapolis. This year’s convention, titled “Heritage & Hope: Celebrating Diversity in Performance and Pedagogy,” will feature performances, panel discussions, workshops, and other continuing-education opportunities for opera educators, professionals, and students. The voice faculty of IWU has been working diligently on logistical aspects of this convention, including securing venues for the various events, which will be primarily held at the Conrad Hilton in Indianapolis.
One of the many performance highlights of the convention will be The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret, by Leanna Kirchoff. The opera will be presented entirely by IWU faculty and students. Doctors Keith Brautigam and Lisa Dawson will co-direct the cast, featuring IWU students Morgan Pay, Mickey Simpkins, Gabrielle Foreman, and Abigail Dawson; Dr. Jason Thompson will conduct the performance, accompanied by the IWU Chamber Orchestra. Bethany Caraotta, Dominique Clements, Mara Wallace, and Nicole Leis will serve as understudies. Both casts will present the opera on IWU’s campus the weekend following the convention.
Other IWU participants include Dr. Isai Jess Muñoz who will coordinate the performance of excerpts from a new sacred opera, Hagar, by William David Cooper, with a libretto by Will Dunlap. This performance is a part of NOA’s Sacred in Opera Initiative and will be presented at the historic Christ Church Cathedral Episcopal.
Dr. Keith Brautigam will present “Recital story Telling: Merging Compelling Stories With the Music of Great Composers Through Drama/Narration and the Visual Arts,” accompanied by illustrations from IWU art faculty, Ronald Mazellan, IWU staff accompanist Debbie Myers, IWU student narrator Luke Brautigam, and IWU viola student Caleb Brautigam.
Doctors Lisa Dawson, Tammie Huntington, and Phoenix Park-Kim, who together make up the ensemble Soprani Compagni, will present “Portraits of Women in Contemporary Soprano Duet” showcasing works composed specifically for soprano duet by award-winning, contemporary American composers.
Dr. Isai Jess Muñoz will also present “Latin American Sacred Protestant Song,” with the aid of Dr. Daniel Duarte, from Indiana University Bloomington, on guitar. This lecture recital will illuminate a waning sacred musical practice in Latin America that was spurred by the spread of Protestantism over the last one hundred years.
We are excited to have such a strong voice and presence at this meeting of such great talent from around the country. It is our sincere hope as a Division of Music that through the presentations, lectures, performances, collaborations, and other networking opportunities, we will continue to build relationships with the musical community as well as the greater Indianapolis community. You can find more information about the National Opera Association and their convention at www.noa.org.
