Private lessons, coaching, & workshops for singers & actors in the Pioneer Valley
Today’s theme in our Week of Teen Opera was “Opera Misconceptions,” for which our teens (and a couple of grownup cameos) submitted videos debunking common ideas about opera. For those who might have missed them, we compiled a YouTube playlist which makes it easy to catch them all in one place! Check it out below, and please consider supporting us during this fundraising week! CLICK TO DONATE.
Those of you who follow us on social media will already know that the Workshop is currently in the running to receive a small business grant from FedEx, including the top amount of $25,000, and the first step is for us to make it to the top 100 businesses. To do that, we need your vote! Please CLICK HERE to cast your vote. You can vote again every 24 hours between now and April 5th!
A grant like this would really take the strain off of our next summer opera production—an ambitious re-imagining of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte for a modern audience, with new chamber orchestrations and a new English adaptation—including production costs (costumes, props, creative staff, musicians, rehearsal and performance space), and provide much-needed support for future programming, as well as making our growing catalogue of opera adaptations available for production by other like-minded programs for young singers. We are also beginning to seek our own space, which would be greatly helped by a financial boost like this! Please consider casting a vote now!
As the air cools, we’re already deep into the year’s Opera Workshop projects! Our students are already working on music for their spring scene night AND for the summer Monteverdi project, which is growing more exciting by the minute!
We raised nearly $8000 in 2015, in online, check, and cash donations, to fund our spring scene night and 2015’s summer opera, The Medium, which was a stunning success for us, both artistically and in its reception by the community.
We’re so grateful to everyone whose generous donations helped make 2015’s program happen. Now heading into 2016, we need to do it all again, plus some!
WHAT ARE WE DOING?
This year, as you may know, with the assistance of classical radio host and early music expert James David Jacobs, we’ll be assembling a collection of Monteverdi madrigals and opera fragments to create a new narrative of our own (tentatively named Il sogno d’Arianna), in our own new edition with new English translations adapted specifically for our singers. We’re very grateful to have James on board, and are especially looking forward to him working with our students to deepen their understanding of material.
This is an incredibly ambitious project, and we have all hands on deck as we work to have our new editions ready for our students to work on by the beginning of 2016. Cast members are already learning some pieces in the original Italian to aid the project along. The production will also be utilizing ballet to tell its story, led by Workshop alumna Anna Plummer, which is extremely exciting, and will be the perfect companion to Monteverdi’s sublime score.
We’re currently working on booking the production into the Academy of Music, which will be the ideal venue for its mix of beautiful music and ballet. But we need your support to keep these projects afloat!
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
For the first time, we’ll be seeking business sponsors for our program, specifically to help us obtain the on-site expertise that will make our summer production truly shine (if your business or a business you are connected with is open to sponsoring local arts programs, please get in touch!), but we still rely on individual donations as the program’s bread and butter. This year, we’ll need pianists for our rehearsals, fall recital, and scene night. We’ll need rehearsal space for the summer opera. We’ll need to pay for our time (and technical staff) at the Academy. We’ll need choreographers, musicians, costumes, and set pieces. Our teens are grateful for any help that you can give!
Every dollar counts! And if you can’t contribute monetarily, consider showing your support by sharing this post with your friends!
WHERE CAN YOU DONATE?
You can make your tax-deductible donation by credit card online here:
Act Too Studio Opera Workshop
If you prefer, you can also donate by check. Checks should be made payable to Fractured Atlas, with “Act Too Studio Opera Workshop” in the memo line. Please contact us for our mailing address.
[Read more…] about ATS Fall fundraising appeal!