What Does A Chorister Do When The Met Is On Break?

The Metropolitan Opera has a loooooong season. We start rehearsal in the end of July, open our first production during the third week of September, and close 8 months later in mid-May; that means the Met chorus and all the other amazing artists and artisans who make the operatic magic happen are rehearsing, performing and creating for 9 ½ months each year!

So what does a member of the Met Opera Chorus do during their 2 ½ months not in the opera house? First and foremost, it’s a time of rest and recovery. A time to let the voice recuperate after a long and sometimes grueling season, to spend time with family and friends, and to travel. But it’s also a time to try new things, experiment, and expand our performing horizons! Choristers travel all over the world in search of new experiences and artistic opportunities. We wanted to take a moment to highlight a few of the exciting summers our choristers had.

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by Ned Hanlon

First up, Alexa Jarvis! Seattle native Alexa is a soprano in her second year as a full time member of the chorus. She took some time off from the Big Apple to head to the Windy City to perform with The Ravinia Festival in Bernstein’s Mass. Kevin Newbury directed this “mass”-ive [editor’s note: yay puns!] orchestral theater piece and Alexa performed as part of the 22-voice “Street Chorus,” alongside Paulo Szot who played the “Celebrant.” Happily for all those of us who missed it, the production was filmed for a national broadcast scheduled for 2020.

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Bass chorister Ned Hanlon traveled further away from New York than Alexa’s Chicago! During the month of July, Ned served as Assistant Cruise Director aboard the Azamara Journey as the ship cruised the Norwegian coast (including three nights above the arctic circle in the land of the midnight sun) and the British Isles. Responsibilities ranged from performing a solo cabaret show, managing and scheduling all onboard activities, ship-wide announcements, and even calling Bingo! Of course, as a bass voice, he brought more “low C’s” than “high C’s” to the high seas. Still, he created a solo show that told his life story through a combination of opera, operetta, and musical theater. Most importantly, he is now trained to fend off pirate attacks which, presumably, will come in handy the next time the Met performs Bellini’s Il pirata!

Is that Sharpless? No… just chorister Ned Hanlon in uniform as Assistant Cruise Director of the Azamara Journey.

Safety Advisory: do not look directly at the green sequin tuxedo jacket. Blindness may occur.

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First year soprano Rachele Schmiege had a big summer: she moved to New York and prepared to begin her career as a member of the Met Opera Chorus. But that didn’t mean she was going to take a break from performing! Her busy summer included back-to-back-to-back performances of A Handmaid’s Tale with Boston Lyric Opera, Elijah with Cambridge Community Chorus (extra fun because the tenor soloist was her husband), and La belle Helene with Odyssey Opera. After a summer so packed with music, joining the Met chorus might feel like a vacation (even with our 7 show weeks!).

La belle Helene with Odyssey Opera

Bows for The Handmaid’s Tale at Boston Lyric Opera with the great Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, at center.

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That’s just a few of the exciting summers that members of the Met Opera Chorus enjoyed. Other highlights included tenor Gregory Warren performing the role of Andres in Des Moines Metro Opera’s production of Lulu, soprano Marie Te Hapuku teaching voice for the Summer Academy of Orvieto, and soprano Lianne Coble-Dispensa singing in New York City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

With opening night of the 2019-20 season just a few days away it’s fun to look back even while we look forward! Here’s to a wonderful summer and a wonderful season!

A Day In The Life Of A Met Chorus Parent

The whole Anderson family!

The Metropolitan Opera Chorus works long hours, 6 days a week. Despite the often grueling schedule, many members of the chorus have the fulfilling, yet herculean task of being responsible for children and families that also require their time, energy, and love. It’s helpful when spouses have jobs outside of the Met, but imagine how complicated it gets if BOTH parents are members of the chorus! How would they manage?

Well, let us introduce you to mezzo-soprano Christina Thomson Anderson and tenor Brian Anderson, two beloved members of the Met Chorus. Christina has been a full-time chorister for 12 years, and Brian was a member of the extra chorus for 8 years, until he was hired full-time 2 seasons ago. Despite the obvious challenges, the two of them are a well-oiled machine, working in tandem to raise their beautiful children and provide a loving home while working one of the hardest jobs in the business! Lianne Coble-Dispensa sat down with Christina last summer to get a glimpse of what their experience is like.

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An early shot of a tired-but-fulfilled Christina with wee bairns Oliver & Annika.

When did you start your family? Was it before or after you were a full-time member of the Met Chorus?
I got the Met chorus job before I started a family. Brian and I actually got married one week before I started at the Met, and by October of that same year, our son Oliver was on his way. (He was a surprise!) Our daughter Annika came along during my fourth season. For seven years of our marriage, Brian was a freelance opera singer, taking gigs, working part-time in the Extra chorus, and also spending time at home with our children. Two years ago, he was hired full-time in the chorus for a one-year position as a sabbatical cover. This gave us a “trial run” of sorts, to see what it was like to have both of us working the chorus job full-time with kids. I was not sure how it would go, but I was so happy to see that we really were able to do it, with the kids thriving as well. The following year, Brian was back to part-time work in the Extra chorus, but this past season he was offered the full-time job, and he happily accepted, knowing we had a good blueprint on how to make it work.

Brian & Christina, with their beautiful children Annika & Oliver.

Where do you live, and what is your commute like?
We live in Inwood, and have been in the same neighborhood for 12 years. Our commute is 50 minutes by train each way, and we make the round trip at least twice each day. During the day we usually take subway to Lincoln Center, but at night we will often drive in. We still allow 50 minutes, but it usually takes 30.

How many children do you have?
We have four children! Quinlan and Arthur are my wonderful college-aged step-sons, and Oliver and Annika are our two children together. They are 10 and 7, respectively.

What is an average day like for you and Brian?
Each morning, Brian gets up at 6:30am to make coffee and a hot breakfast for us all. At 7:00am, he brings me a cup of coffee in bed, so I can wake-up for a few minutes before the kids get up. At 7:10am, we wake the kids, and by 7:40am, he’s driving them both to school on the Upper West Side. He’ll then head back home for a quick shower, and we leave for work between 9-9:30am, depending on our call for rehearsal. If rehearsals end by 2:00pm, well have the time to head uptown on the subway to pick the kids up at school. We then take them to their activities, which might be music lessons, hockey, dance, or a play date. At least one of us can usually head home and make dinner. We all meet back at home for a quick dinner (which we try to do as often as possible during the week) and then by 6:00pm we are back out the door for the evening’s show. The babysitter will have already arrived at 5:30pm to help for the evening. They’ll help finish up homework or music lessons with the kids and then get them get ready for bed. Brian and I will get back from our show between 11:00-11:30pm, make lunches for the next day, check the kid’s back packs and hopefully we are in bed before midnight. The next morning, we start the whole thing over again!

With juggling such a packed schedule, what are your family priorities?
Togetherness, as much as possible. We try to be as involved as we can in the mornings and afternoons with the kids. Brian is a coach for Oliver’s hockey team. They are on the ice 3-4 times a week in the winter. On Sundays they practice at 7:00am, and Brian is on the ice with them, even if he has had two shows the day before. I am a class parent for my kids because It allows me to be a bigger presence in their classrooms. We feel we need to do these things to stay connected to our kids lives when are schedules are particularly busy. This is how we stay close.

Brian & Christina, taking a well-deserved camping vacation (with the kids, of course).

But it means Brian and I have very little down time. We have to be really organized with our schedule, and use down time at work to do things like order groceries and schedule child care. When we are really busy at work, it can be exhausting. But for us, family is so important and being close and connected is a top priority, even when we are busy. We do whatever we can.

What are some of the struggles you face?
Our two main struggles are exhaustion and lack of personal time.

Brian and I have to really support one another as parents and co-workers. We have to be a team. Our kids miss us when we are gone in the evenings during those 7-show weeks, and sometimes there are tears. I struggle in these times with guilt as a working mom. We will FaceTime before bed while at work, and set up family calendars showing when we’ll be spending quality time together as a family. We have to be creative! And sometimes, we just have to cut ourselves some slack. It’s not perfect, but we do our best.

There is also the struggle to just find time for Brian & I to be together as a couple. When we are home, we are with the kids. When we are working, we are with our Met family. So we try to grab those precious “stolen moments”. I remember one particular afternoon from last season. We finished our work day earlier than expected and the kids were already with our sitter. We took that time and went to our favorite wine bar for an hour or so, and just enjoyed some time together. It is important to try to stay connected to each other, outside the minutiae of kids, work, and laundry.

How do you deal with the Met Chorus schedule and raising a family at the same time?
Brian & I are a team. We both cook, do laundry, bathe kids, scoop cat litter, wash dishes, shop for groceries, and help with homework. He keeps the car gassed up. I schedule the child care. He makes coffee. I make lunches. We work together. For seven years, Brian was a mostly at-home parent and this was such a gift to our young children. When the kids were babies, he would bring them to the Met on my breaks so I could nurse them. He made sure I saw them as much as possible, which was good for me and for them. I am so grateful. And now I am grateful he is with us full-time at the Met and we have been provided the resources and people to help us continue to thrive as a family.

We have also tried to make choices in our lives that allow for the most time together during the season. When our kids were babies, we allowed them to co-sleep with us, so we could get extra cuddles at night. We still live in Manhattan so we can be closer to their schools and activities. We try to have dinners together 4-5 times a week, either at home or in a restaurant. When we have meals together, screens are not allowed at the table. So, we make time and space to talk. But as I said, we don’t get a lot of time for ourselves. We live with less sleep. We are extremely busy most of the week. On Sundays, we finally slow down. We like to go to church, or sometimes we just spend a restful day at home involving a movie and a meal together. We try to have one family day that is slower paced. 

We also could never do it alone. These past three years we have had an amazing “Manny”, Scott Tomlinson (editor’s note: a valued colleague and long-time member of the Extra Chorus), who has really become a part of our family. He helps us with after-school and evening times when we are working. If one of our kids is home sick, he will come and be with them. He is very parental and the kids love him and trust him. And as a fellow singer, he really understands what we do. Without his care and assistance, our journey as a family would be so much more difficult. It really does take a village to raise a family, and Scott is a big part of ours.

What does the Met Chorus job mean to you both?
I will never forget the moment when Maestro Palumbo called me and offered me the full-time chorus job. It was a dream come true. It really was. And I will never forget when he called Brian and offered the same job to him. Another dream, hoped and prayed for for many years, delivered. 

The Met can be a challenging place to work. It’s a complicated work environment, and we work so hard with such crazy hours.

Christina, Maestro Palumbo, and Brian, on the opening night of Samson et Dalilah, which was Brian’s first opening production as a full-timer!

But I have never known this job with out children. I am not sure how that would feel. But I can tell you that after 12 years, I am still so proud of being a member of this world class group. Some days I might wake up and wonder if I have the energy to start my day, but I never wake up dreading going into work. I still love my job. It still feels like a dream come true. I am glad to work hard in my life doing this thing that I believe in and that I am good at, and I feel blessed to make a good living for my family while singing in this amazing house with so many talented people. It is not easy, but it still feels right and it still seems worth all the effort. I am grateful.

Is there any advice you’d like to give a young singer who is concerned about the work-family balance of being an opera singer? This is a difficult question. It took me a long time to settle into motherhood, as well as into my career, and I was doing both at the same time when I had my first child. I would say, though, that raising my family has made my career at the Met more full, and I am blessed to come home to my kids at the end of a long day. They have taught me to have a more measured perspective on the highs and lows that have come with my singing career.

As far as practical advice on how to do it, I’ll say that everyone’s journey is different, and I am still continually learning and growing from the process. But I’ll say this: first, think about your support system and make it as strong as possible. It really does take a village to raise a child, and cultivating that village for your family will help ease anxiety, offer much needed support, and bring joy and encouragement to you and to your kids.

My second bit of advice is to learn to compartmentalize. When you are at work, try to be all there. Invest in the music, enjoy the break from motherhood, talk with adults, and make the best music you can. And when you finish with your work for the day, leave it behind. Go home, be with your family, and be there 100%. And the next day, do it again. Being fully where you are builds deeper, stronger relationships and allows you to wear more hats, and wear them well. But you won’t be perfect, and in those difficult moments, find a fellow working mom friend and lean in. We are each other’s village. And we don’t need to do it alone.

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Saying Goodbye To Aida: A Chorister’s Perspective

Aida’s triumpmphal scene, in all its glory. (Photo Credit: Marty Sohl/Met Opera)

contributions by Lianne Coble-Dispensa and Annette Spann Lewis

It’s always bittersweet when a beloved production sees its final performance on the Met stage. Recently, the company bid farewell to Sonja Frisell’s iconic Aida that has been a beloved staple of many Met seasons since it first graced the stage in 1988.

Mezzo-soprano Annette Spann-Lewis, a long-time member of the Met Chorus, has been present for all 247 performances of Frisell’s Aida, and was asked by the Met to give a chorister’s perspective on the evening of the production’s closing night. Here are Annette’s takeaways, in her own words:

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I’m Annette Spann Lewis, a well-seasoned artist with the Met Opera Chorus for over 25 years! So, I have witnessed many great performances of Aida.

I am truly privileged and blessed to perform with the world’s greatest and best, and, I must say, that the chorus always has the best seat in the house!

Some of my Aida highlights?

Annette Spann Lewis and one of the many giant Aida set pieces.

A gaggle of chorus Court Ladies (including Annette, top right) are all smiles in their fancy costumes!

• The riveting farewell performance of Leontyne Price in the John Dexter production, which erupted into a 25 minute standing ovation.

• The great Placido Domingo as Radames, now conducting tonight’s farewell Aida. Truly an amazing feat!

• The legendary performances of Luciano Pavorotti, Fiorenza Cossotto, Leona Mitchell, Aprile Millo, Dolora Zajick; more recently,  Anna Netrebko, Anita Rachvelishvili and tonight’s stellar diva, Sondra Radvanovsky, to name a few!

• Ladies and gentlemen, the Triumphal Scene in this production alone is the ‘zenith’ of Verdi’s grand opera.

Yes, Sonja Frisell’s Production of Aida has had an amazing run for many years, but the opera Aida can be equated with “The Phoenix”  - and it will rise again!

Above, you can view Annette’s video, which was posted on the Met Opera’s Instagram story on March 7th, which was the closing night of Aida!

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Though we will miss Sonja’s Aida, the entire company is looking forward to seeing what director Michael Mayer’s creative team will dream up for Verdi’s towering triumph. Our new Aida is set to open the ‘20-’21 season, and we hope to see all of you there!

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Outreach Corner: The Met Chorus Artists Head Upstate!

by Sara Heaton

Most opera fans vividly remember their first encounter with opera. Heck, even most non-opera fans remember their first encounter with opera! It’s not something one easily forgets. In addition to the grandness of it all, there’s that visceral experience of hearing the human voice create a sound so powerful, so emotional, and so beyond anything you could have imagined that sticks with you. It’s usually a make-or-break moment, the turning point when you either dive headfirst into opera obsession, or do a 180 and opt for alternate musical genres.

Judging by what I do now, that moment was clearly of the former variety. I was five when I attended my first opera, my parents having the genius intuition that their young daughter would a) be able to quietly sit through a whole opera, and b) that Carmen would make a good first impression. Right they were. The story goes that I walked out of the opera and claimed, “I want to be Carmen when I grow up!” Mission accomplished.

From Left to Right: Carol Wong, Ross Benoliel, Greg Warren, Nathan Carlisle, Sara Heaton, and Lianne Coble.

It was thrilling to be on the other side of that equation a few months ago in a concert designed to introduce opera to young kids. The Met Chorus Artists were invited by the Howland Chamber Music Circle in Beacon, NY to present a concert on their Classics for Kids series. Four times a year, the chamber series brings world-renowned classical musicians to perform family-centered concerts for Hudson Valley residents in the beautiful and historic Howland Cultural Center, an 1872 Richard Morris Hunt building originally used as a circulating library, now a center for cultural enrichment in the City of Beacon, a thriving town in the Hudson Valley. The wood-domed ceiling lends itself perfectly to chamber music and, as we found, operatic voices.

On a Sunday afternoon in February, five members of The Met Chorus Artists, accompanied by pianist Carol Wong, played to a packed house with audience members ranging in age from less than one to over sixty. The theme of the concert was the operatic voice and what it can do. We entered singing the Act IV opening chorus of Carmen, an easily recognizable tune with an exciting finale. Chorister Nathan Carlisle served double duty as both performer and Master of Ceremonies, seamlessly moving the program along while connecting with the audience in a genuine and personable way.

We gave them examples of the extremes of the operatic voice. We showed how sometimes we sing really high (soprano Lianne Coble-Dispensa belted out a super-loud high note)! Sometimes we sing super fast (baritone Ross Benoliel wowed them with “Figaro la, Figaro qua …”)! We gave examples of arias, explaining the different voice types, and of what it sounds like when we sing all together, giving a rendition of the finale from Le Nozze di Figaro.

Ross Benoliel, presenting a “sad” emoji, with good-natured encouragement from Lianne Coble-Dispensa and Nathan Carlisle.

The goal of the performance was to help the audience understand how opera conveys emotion through the music, allowing us to understand what the character is experiencing even if we don’t understand their words. To help with this task, we brought along something every opera singer loves -- props! Ours were emoji faces (oh-so-very au courant) that depicted three emotions: sad, happy, and in love. The kids loved guessing which emoji the singer was experiencing. Then Nathan picked a few kids to pick an emoji out of hat, and whichever emotion they picked, we sang a corresponding aria. To finish off the performance, we blew their socks off with the final chorus from Candide, “Make Our Garden Grow.”

By far the most gratifying part of the day was seeing the reactions across the kids faces in the audience -- awe, fascination, bright smiles, and, in some cases, hands over the ears. Several piped up to ask questions, or share their experiences with opera or singing in general. We had the pleasure to speak with many of them after the performance, posing for photos with budding opera fans, or talking to their parents about their appreciation of what we had brought to Beacon that day. Akiko Sasaki, board member of the Howland Chamber Music Circle, had this to say about the performance: “The Met Chorus Artists presented a spectacular concert at Classics for Kids! This concert was an introduction to opera for many kids and families. It was so thrilling to see everyone enchanted and enraptured by their performance. Everyone left the concert wanting to hear more opera!”

For those in attendance that day, it certainly wasn’t everyone’s first operatic experience (there were even some adults that came without children just to hear some opera)!. But for those kids and adults who got their first taste of opera, who knows? It could have planted a seed that will grow into a lifelong love of the art form. In the meantime, we’re all thankful for our fulfilling experience in Beacon, and look forward to future outreach opportunities!

The gang’s all here: from L to R, Greg Warren, Carol Wong (accompanist), Nathan Carlisle, Ross Benoliel, Lianne Coble-Dispensa, and Sara Heaton.

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Sara Heaton began her Met career in 2014 in the Extra Chorus, and joined as a full time member in 2016. When not singing, Sara enjoys cooking, gardening, exploring the outdoors, and tasting her husband’s cocktail creations. They’re proud to make their home in Beacon, NY in the beautiful Hudson Valley.

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Put On Your Sunday Best: Met Choristers With Church Jobs

by Lianne Coble-Dispensa

Opera singers don’t accept a job with the Metropolitan Opera Chorus because they’ve heard it’s a walk in the park. People aren’t applying for auditions by the thousands because they believe they’ll have copious amounts of time to put their feet up and eat Chinese takeout while watching Netflix. They sign on to the Met Chorus lifestyle knowing full well that the hours are long, the memorization work is fierce, and the toll on the body (both physically and vocally) can be considerable. Once the Met season opens at the end of September, Met choristers work 6 days a week without fail, with the one sweet promise of Sunday to spend with their family, to tend to mountains of accumulating laundry, and maybe, just maybe, to catch up on the sleep they’ve missed all week.

So it may surprise you that, after singing Monday through Saturday, many members of the Met Chorus wake up early on Sundays to sing again! If you haven’t spent time in a major urban area, or if you never experienced the kaleidoscopic miscellany of a freelance singer’s career, you may not even be aware that the idea of a “church job” exists. But in most major cities, when you mix a strong music scene with high-profile places of worship, you will find that churches and synagogues have the budget to hire talented professional musicians to improve the quality of their music ministry. Whether acting as soloists, members of a professional choir, or both, these Met choristers truly enjoy their Sunday morning church jobs because of how artistically and spiritually fulfilling the experience is for them, and relish the opportunity to share their gifts with a new and different community.

The choir of Brick Presbyterian Church performing for a Sunday service. Met chorister Jeremy Little (front row, second from the right) sings regularly with the group. In the back row, second from the right, one might spy Dan Hoy, the Met's Chorus Administrator!

If you happen upon Redeemer Presbyterian Church on a Sunday morning, you may well be treated to a choir filled with Met opera singers, or even a stirring solo from a member of the Met chorus. Soprano Belinda Oswald enjoys joining the church’s professional chorus for holiday services, and sings solos during services many times throughout the liturgical year. “I love to use my gift”, she says, and enjoys singing on Sundays at Redeemer for a number of reasons. Besides her deep commitment to her faith, she also loves singing arrangements written by Redeemer’s music director Tom Jennings, and enjoys the freedom of singing in a setting where there is less scrutiny and one can “produce the sound more freely”. She’s often joined by mezzo-sopranos Patricia Steiner and Catherine Choi Steckmeyer, who have been singing with the choir for years and enjoy soloing from time to time.

Other choristers, such as tenor Jeremy Little, baritone Scott Dispensa, and soprano Lianne Coble-Dispensa (who, if you didn’t catch the byline, wrote this article), are actually on the full-time rosters of their respective churches. Jeremy rounds out the 17 singers of the professional core of the choir at Brick Presbyterian Church (at 91st Street and Park Avenue). For Jeremy, performing sacred music at Brick Church holds a deep personal significance for him. “Sacred choral music is what brought me to music as a vocation in the first place, [and it] speaks to my desire for approaching and encountering something bigger than myself and the mundane. One may argue that non-sacred music offers the same- and I would certainly agree- but for me, sacred choral music resonates in its own special spot.” 

The professional choir of St. John the Divine during an Evensong service. Lianne Coble-Dispensa (front row, far right, in glasses, hiding behind the candelabra) and Scott Dispensa (second row, second from the left) are full-time members of the choir, on top of being full-time members of the Met Chorus.

Lianne Coble-Dispensa, now in her 4th full-time year at the Met, was a busy freelance singer before she joined the chorus, and has sung with the 16-member professional choir at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for 6 years. Her husband Scott, who has sung full-time with the Met Chorus for 9 years, joined the St. John the Divine roster when a baritone spot opened up for two reasons: to see Lianne more often (Sunday is the chorus’s only day off), and to return to some of his favorite sacred choral repertoire. Scott was a sought-after professional choral freelancer before he joined the Met, and like Jeremy, sacred choral music and early renaissance and Renaissance polyphony are near and dear to his heart. He also made many lifelong friendships as a freelancer (as did Lianne), and their time at St. John’s offers them the opportunity to connect with their friends outside of the Met, as well as enjoy the benefits of sight-reading challenging polyphonic sacred choral repertoire and chant. St. John the Divine has two services on Sundays: a Choral Eucharist at 11:00am, and Choral Evensong at 4:00pm, with a rehearsal before each service. So their Sundays are not necessarily relaxed, but they are filled with rewarding musical experiences and fellowship, as well as the obligatory choir brunch between services.

Ned Hanlon (left) and Jeremy Little (right), soloing at Brick Presbyterian Church in John Stainer's Crucifixion Mass.

As if this wasn’t enough, the Met chorus boasts many other talented musicians who commit their time and efforts to performing at church. Twice a month, tenor Stephen Paynter acts as a worship leader for his church, which brings in over 500 congregants. Baritone Yohan Yi and tenor Christian Jeong both conduct their church choirs. And even bass Edward Hanlon, who is the Met Chorus Committee Chair (and rarely has a minute of free time on his hands), often subs in the choirs of various churches around the five boroughs.

So, as the holidays approach, keep your eye out for some joyful Met choristers who are grateful for the opportunity to bring you beautiful vocal music both on and off the opera stage!

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Lianne Coble-Dispensa joined the Metropolitan Opera as a member of the extra chorus in 2010, and went full time in 2015. She is the Editor-in-Chief for the Met Artists Newsletter, and is a member of the Met Chorus Artists executive board. When she's not singing opera or furiously copy editing this month's newsletter, she enjoys spending the lion's share of her free time cooking various delights in the kitchen, reading non-fiction, Crossfitting, and running moderately impressive distances. She is married to fellow chorister (and ultramarathoner) Scott Dispensa, and they live in Teaneck, NJ with two ostentatiously named cats (Maximilien de Robespierre and Charles Hubert Hastings Parry).

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Love Grows in the Corn Belt

Tenor Greg Warren has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus for 5 years, but prior to his tenure here, he was a wildly successful solo artist in Europe and the United States. While he loves his job in the chorus, he still enjoys taking solo work during the Met’s summer hiatus. This allows him to spend quality time with his talented wife Hester Warren-Steijn, a freelance stage manager sought-after by opera companies all over the world. The Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO) hired Greg for their production of Rusalka this past summer, and Rosa Gude from DMMO’s marketing and PR department wrote a charming piece about the two operatic lovebirds.

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by Rosa Gude

Opera brings people together – be it patrons, communities or a couple separated by the Atlantic Ocean.

Gregory Warren and Hester Warren-Steijn met overseas through their careers in opera and now live in two different countries. Opera keeps the married couple connected and brings them here to Indianola two months out of the year to be together, face to face.

Living in two different places is difficult, but Hester says their relationship survives the long distance through FaceTime. “We see each other at least once a day, depending on schedules and time difference, either to say good morning or good night. So one of the perks of working at DMMO is that we get so see each other for real during breakfast,” she said.

Hester & Greg being adorable.

The pair is based out of New York City where Gregory sings in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, but they also have an apartment in Amsterdam which they say allows Hester to continue traveling as a stage manager and director as well as stay connected with her family.

Their travel in the opera industry continues still after meeting eight years ago while working with the Dutch National Opera in Berlioz’s Les Troyens. Hester was stage managing and Greg sang Iopas – the court poet. “I was wearing a golden dress – a Samurai outfit – in the performance,” Gregory said. “Hester could not resist.”

Hester (stage managing) and Greg (performing Fernando in Cosi fan tutte) in Tokyo (2011).

The Summer Festival Season at Des Moines Metro Opera allows them to live together and spend some quality time touring around to some of their favorite spots in the state. They also visited the Bridges of Madison County and the Dutch town of Pella. Top contenders for delicious delicacies continue to be Hester’s favorite, The Strudl House, with their Dutch letter pastries, and Gregory’s favorites, MishMash and the Outside Scoop.

“I don’t enjoy the diet I have to go on after a summer in Des Moines,” Gregory said.

Hester and Greg taking a selfie in front of the Bridges of Madison County!

The couple returns this summer for their second season, as they both made their debuts in the 45th Summer Festival.

“This is a wonderful company to work for as well as the quiet disposition of the community. This company offers a stellar work ethic and produces amazing productions with an fantastic atmosphere. We made many friends and feel lucky to be part of the DMMO family”, they said.

This season, Hester is stage managing for the company’s new production of Rusalka, and Greg is singing the role of the Gamekeeper; they even get to spend rehearsals together.

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Originally posted on the Des Moines Metro Opera Blog on July 12, 2018. You can find the original post here. Many thanks to DMMO for allowing us to repost this charming article!

Outreach Corner: Laura Fries Fosters KITTENS!

In these fraught days of political upheaval and polarization, it’s nice to know there’s something in this world that most people can agree on, and it is the following two statements: kittens are cute, and helping homeless animals is a good thing. Soprano Laura Fries of the Met Chorus has been fostering homeless cats and kittens at her home in upstate NY for 16 years, and there’s no stopping her! Lianne Coble-Dispensa recently spoke with Laura to get the skinny on all things cat-related (spoiler alert: fostering animals is not a walk in the park, but the rewards are multitudinous).

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Laura Fries, with one of her tiny foster babies.

LCD: What inspired you to start fostering kittens?

LF: I have always loved animals. I would be late to kindergarten most days because I would have to make the rounds of all my neighborhood animal friends before getting there! When I moved into Manhattan (into a ‘no pets’ building, no less), I was watching a TV show that mentioned how much it meant that people would step up as foster homes for homeless pets. When I saw what some of the innocent animals endured, I had to act. The building found out after about 8 months of fostering and I decided to move to a house in order to give me more room for the babies and to take them in ‘legally’.

LCD: Do you work through a pet adoption organization or a shelter?

LF: I have been affiliated with multiple rescues and shelters, and have also taken in cats discovered by neighbors. Once people find out you do rescue, you are the go-to person for any animal in need!

LCD: Tell me about the work that goes into fostering cats and kittens.

LF: It depends on the situation. The best situation is a litter of kittens with their mother. The mother does all the work with the kittens and my job is mostly to take care of her and to socialize the babies. Socializing them is the fun part – basically playing with them, cuddling them, just getting them used to be handled. Once the kittens are old enough, I help the mother teach them how to eat solid food and drink out of the water dish. The mother teaches them how to use the litter box.

The worst case scenario is that I get very young kittens (still nursing and sometimes sick) without the mother. Then I have a lot of challenges to keep them going. I bottle feed them every 2 hours around the clock, have to monitor constantly to keep them warm and clean, stimulate them to urinate and defecate – basically do everything their mother should be doing.

One time, I had five litters (yes, mamas AND kittens) at once! It was both crazy AND crazy fun.

LCD: How long do the fosters stay with you? 

LF: The kittens generally stay with me until 8–10 weeks of age or longer, depending on their adoption. I make sure they’re okay with eating solid food, drinking water from the dish, and using the litter box. The rescue/shelter is responsible for getting homes for them. Thankfully, the kittens are so darn cute that adopters are pretty easy to find!

LCD: What is a typical day like taking care of little kittens?

Three sweet foster faces.

LF: A typical day starts with a major clean-up! I remove the bedding, food and water dishes, and completely sanitize their area. The dirty bedding, food and water dishes are replaced. The rest of the day I am constantly switching out toys and kitten trees to stimulate their activity, and cleaning up messes, etc. I play with them and watch how they’re developing. Sometimes I’ll have kittens who need to be bottle-fed, and this requires a lot of time and attention to detail (tracking their milk intake and weight, among other things). It helps that I took a small animal care course in high school. Beyond that, I basically learned everything else from other foster families, shelter workers, and my veterinarian.

LCD: This sounds like an enormous amount of work! Do you have pets of your own?

LF: I currently have five cats, mostly older. My oldest is 15.  At my highest point, I had twelve.

LCD: Do they get along with their kitten visitors?

LF: I don’t integrate my guys with my fosters so they’re not exposed to diseases. However, I don’t bring any new cat into my house without a thorough vet visit, which includes testing for infectious diseases. But there’s no guarantee that the cat I’m fostering doesn’t have a problem, so I don’t chance it.

LCD: What are the things you love most about being a foster cat mom?

LF: Kittens are so darned adorable, and they’re pretty hilarious, too! They all have their own personalities and wonderful behaviors. I remember every one!

It’s so amazing to watch them develop. They start out not being able to track toys very fast with their eyes and in no time they’re chasing them at top speed! They barely climb at a few weeks old and by 7 weeks they’re at the top of a 6’ tall cat tree!

It’s also very gratifying to take in a very sick kitten and nurse it back to full health. And of course, watching the kittens go to wonderful homes is a big payoff.

LCD: What are the challenges of fostering kittens?

More temporary tenants at Laura’s foster kitty home: a sweet mama and her kittens.

LF: The only real challenges are when they have special needs. I had a kitten that looked like a baby bird that fell out of a nest, she was so tiny and delicate. It was worrisome. She ended up fine, after a lot of attention and effort, and she’s a beautiful cat now.

But there is always the possibility that something will go wrong, so the level of watchfulness is intense for the first few weeks.

I had a pregnant feral mother that I brought home from a shelter so that she could have a peaceful, less stressful place to give birth. I was anxious about her, so I slept in the room with her in a crate and one night I was awakened to the sound of little kittens! The challenge after that was to socialize the babies without annoying the mother. I had put her whole carrier in the crate when I got her, so I would use a kitchen spatula to push her door shut when she went inside, hold it closed while I opened the crate and locked her in. Then I could let the babies roam for awhile without worrying about the mother charging at me! She turned out to be a great mother and the two of us worked together pretty well to get the babies ready for adoption.

LCD: What have I left out that you think the public should know?

LF: We have a pretty big problem with overcrowded shelters. There is a constant stream of homeless pets that need to be fostered. You can approach any rescue and offer to be a foster for them. It gives a rescue group a big boost to be able to take in higher numbers of deserving, wonderful animals that need help.

 Also, consider volunteering at a shelter! They need dog walkers, kitten and puppy cuddlers, general workers, you name it.

Cats of all ages need fostering. When tiny kittens are in shelters, they don’t tend to survive because of the level of contamination and illness that their little bodies have to battle, so they are especially in need of fostering. And it is especially heart rending to see elderly cats in shelters. They make wonderful fosters and are incredibly grateful to be out of the shelter situation. When I retire, I intend to become a haven for senior cats, so that they can live out their days in a comfortable home situation.

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Looking for more deserving organizations for your charitable donations?

Well, look no further! Laura is currently working with a very deserving local non-profit called Cat Assistance. They would love your help, be it monetary or in the form of a foster family!

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Staff Performer Spotlight: Frank Colardo's Illustrious Met Career

Frank as the casino bartender., with George Gagnidze as Rigoletto. (Photo: Richard Termine)

All of us here at the Met Artists Newsletter love profiling our hard-working friends in other departments. A few issues ago, we all got to see how busy a staff performer’s life can be through the eyes of Anne Dyas. Now you get an even closer look at one of the Met’s most accomplished staff performers. Frank Colardo has been with the company since the 90’s, and is famously known for being the cowboy in La Fanciulla del West who takes a tumble off the balcony during a bar brawl, among many other important non-singing roles.

This article is a transcription of a live interview on the Met Opera Sirius Channel (Channel 75, to be exact), which was originally broadcast on December 22nd, 2010. Many thanks to Sara Heaton and Liz Sciblo for their transcription skills, and to Daniel Clark Smith and Anne Dyas for their photo assistance.

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Frank flinging himself from the rafters in Fanciulla del West. (Photo: Ken Howard)

Interviewer: Frank Colardo has been a supernumerary at The Metropolitan Opera since the 1990’s. Now, a supernumerary is the operatic equivalent of an extra but Frank certainly does a whole lot more. Audiences will recognize his cameo appearance in recent seasons as The Nose in Shostakovich’s opera of the same title. He was the police commissioner in Berg’s Lulu, he has been the dead (narcoleptic man), Buoso Donati, in Gianni Schicchi, has been the photographer in the sextet from Lucia, he’s been a dresser for Dmitri Hvorostovsky during Eugene Onegin, and as soon as he walked in the door I said you were one of the servants in Don Pasquale, the funny guy who had the wig on that Don Pasquale pulled off! Now, this season here at The Met he is featured doing stunts in La Fanciulla del West and he will be seen as a central focus of the new Willy Decker production of La Traviata that opens Friday. We want to welcome Frank Colardo to Met Opera radio. Hi!

Frank: Hi! Thank you.

I: Tell us what you did in the scene in the act that we were just listening to.

F: Well, I’m on the balcony and I get in a little ruckus with one of the guys, and he throws a punch at me which sends me into the banister. The banister breaks and I lose my balance and of course he wants to push me off. And I leap into the air and hopefully get caught before I hit the ground.

I: Are you a stunt man, actually?

F: No, I’ve never done stunts before.

I: Before this time?

F: Before this time. B.H. Barry, who put together this fight, is a terrific, terrific teacher so he actually got me to do it.

I: Was it hard to make yourself jump off?

F: Well, there’s definitely a fear factor, oh yes. Besides just jumping off it’s also the feeling of flying, the feeling of falling, not many people are used to that and I’m actually falling probably about 10 feet because I have to jump up which is higher than the balcony. So, it’s those two things, plus what you do just before you jump. The music is frantic and you have to stay calm and listen to the music to know when to scream so the guys down there know they have to catch me. It’s all timed and you have to stay relaxed and then you just have to go! It’s a leap of faith.

I: And really count on them to be there to catch you!

F: Oh, definitely. They’re great guys and I know they’ll be there.

I: Do you like doing it now?

F: It’s getting to be a lot more fun. At first it was scary and exhilarating at the same time. I mean, really at the same time.

I: So you are not really just a walk-on, walk-off type of a super. Have you ever done that kind of spear carrying before?

F:  Oh, sure. My first opera here was Aida and that’s spear carrying. [laughs]

Mr. Colardo as the recently deceased Buoso Donati in this year’s production of Gianni Schicci. (Photo: Ken Howard)

I: On the highest order! And several times! You go around and around in the Triumphal scene. Tell us about some of the other scenes you‘ve done. Donati, lying dead in the bed?

F: You have to be dead for 40 minutes! You pray you don’t need to cough or sneeze or itch because that would be deadly. Most people think that you can just fall asleep, which you can’t. If you fall asleep you could involuntarily move. So, you have to stay with it. But it’s great because they’re all singing around you and it’s wonderful to hear all the voices going crazy all around you. I mean, it’s fun, but you have to be focused and do what you have to do.

I: But there must be some sort of technique that you have to employ to get yourself so relaxed that you really aren’t going to be moving in any way.

F: I tell people this: As far as doing that part, it’s like when you’re on the beach and you’re starting to doze but you’re still awake so you are in control, it’s that feeling. Then they pick me up and take me into the tub and I’m there for another 10-15 minutes.

I: But we don’t see you in the tub! You get to go get a cup of coffee or something.

F: You see my leg hanging out!

As the photographer in Lucia di Lammermoor. (Photo: Ken Howard)

I: Oh, okay! [laughs] So you were also the photographer in the sextet of Lucia. That was a sort of a controversial staging, the Mary Zimmerman staging. Did anyone come up to you and have anything to say to you about that?

F: Well, no they didn’t.

I: I loved it; I thought it was great!

F: I think they know that I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do. I think it’s interesting that something is actually happening during the sextet. Everybody wants them to stand there and sing but there’s something going on! That makes sense, I think.

I: In Don Pasquale, you were the servant who came walking in and Pasquale is sort of fussing and fuming. You come in with a powdered, white wig and Pasquale is all dressed to meet Sophronia. It’s not until he grabs the wig off of your head and puts it on his own head that we realize that that was not your hair at all!

F: That’s his wig, yes!

I: That gets a real laugh every single time. Do you have fun doing this sort of thing?

F:  Yes, yes I do! That’s fun. There’s really no stress for that. That’s really just having fun and being right there. I am hearing the singers! Anna [Netrebko], I hear her all the time. I’m 2 feet away from her. It’s great!

I:  So tell me about this: have you just loved working in opera? You’re a stage man. You love being in opera?

F: Oh, yes. I’ve become an opera fan, of course, and I appreciate all that’s around me when I’m in these productions. I know they’re world-class voices and I’ve learned all of the operas. Typical American, before I came here never saw an opera, never wanted to. Aida blew me away! Big sets, lots of animals, lots of people, really nice music. You know, that sold me.

Interesting about Traviata that I found out with stage rehearsals this week is that, normally, at the end of Act 1, when Violetta’s singing her famous aria, she’s the only one on stage. This time, I actually get to be on stage with her but you don’t know I’m there. I’m behind the clock.

Photo: Mary Sohl

I: Okay, now let’s explain what you’re going to be doing with Traviata. This is the Willy Decker production.

F: Yes. The clock moves. There’s a great big clock and it moves, it has a life, and it’s to represent how much time she has left. At parts it starts racing and it freaks her out, but I have to move the clock for the entire first act and the second half of Act Two. So I’m on that stage when she’s singing her solos and all that and, like I said, at the end of Act One, when no one’s on stage except her, I’m feet away from her and just the sound is glorious and I’m loving it.

I: I find it hard to believe that there’s a person controlling that clock in this age of such high technology that there isn’t some sort of mechanism being controlled by somebody off stage. Why are you doing it?

F: Well it’s stage time, the clock is running twice as fast as real time. And then it speeds up during the stretta section, which she then runs over to stop because she wants to stop time from racing ahead because she knows there’s only so much. And then also in the second act, the clock becomes a gambling table, like a roulette wheel. So you have to be aware and know the cues when someone’s going to spin the hand, and I have to know when to stop it at certain points. You have to finesse it. And also they want the winners to be different each time so the chorus can be excited and more into it. There are times when it has to point to Alfredo so that’s a given because you know he wins. So that’s how it works and I think that’s why they want a person to do it.

I: We’re talking with Frank Colardo who is a supernumerary here at the Metropolitan Opera. You were also referred to as “Staff Performer”, so that means you’re on staff; you’re not hired from show to show?

F: No, I’m full time. This is my way of making a living.

I: Of the Willy Decker production of Traviata, this is a production that got its start at the Salzburg Festival and people had loved it. I think it was 2005 when it first showed up. What’s it like working and rehearsing this production with Mr. Decker?

F: Well he doesn’t deal with me at all, actually I’ve learned everything from Meisje Hummel, his assistant who was here before he arrived, and she’s terrific. So I learned what’s required of me and then they pretty much let me go and do what I have to do. Willy’s busy with everybody else.

I: How many shows are you in at one time?

F: I can be here every night, week after week after week. As of right now though, none of us are in [The Magic] Flute. We used to do the old Flute which was a lot of fun being the animals, but now in the new Flute the dancers are doing it, so it’s a night off.

I: What animals were you in Flute?

F: I was the lion-bear kind of thing which he actually pets, and then, [Tamino] did something to me, but I was in a suit and I can’t remember what it was now. He hit me and something else ….

I: [laughing] You can’t tell from underneath that suit!

F: He hit me with the flute I think!

I: How’d you get started doing this? How’d you get started with Aida, I mean, were you an actor before that?

F: Yes, I was a song and dance man. I did concert dance and then I moved to Broadway musicals. I was bartending, which is a fill-in survival job between gigs, and one of the bartenders I worked with was a tumbler in Aida. When he found out that I had stage experience he said “Would you like to come to the opera one night?”, because a friend of his was going to be out. And I thought, “oh, that would be a kick”, and I thought I was really going to be here one night. And now, years and years later, here I am.

I: You’re taking flying leaps and audiences can see from the world over Frank Colardo take one of those leaps in La Fanciulla del West. On January 8th (2010) we’re going to be broadcasting the performance in movie theaters as part of our live in HD series. That won’t be your first time will it, in the HD?

F: No.

I: Fantastic. It’s been great talking to you.

F: You too! Thank you.

Frank’s nose is running in The Nose. (Photo: Ken Howard)

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Note from the Editor: Check out the wildly entertaining Met Opera Supers Instagram account at @metoperasupers. You’ll get a lot more Frank action, including a new favorite, the #frankdance, which should not be missed.

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Where Are They Now, Volume 2: From Children's Chorus to Queen of the Night

Melanie Spector (center) enjoying the parade in a production of "Carmen". (Photo: Susan Spector)

by Daniel Clark Smith

When Melanie Spector was 8 years old, she had no idea that one day she'd be singing a pinnacle of operatic repertoire, the high-flying role of the Queen of the Night, in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Back then, as she played a little Sicilian girl in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Metropolitan Opera, she marveled: "How are they singing in those other languages?" Fast forward to present day: Melanie, now 20 years old, studies voice with baritone Mark Oswald (one of the most sought-after voice teachers in New York) at the Manhattan School of Music. Last summer she participated in Mark's workshop designed to teach young singers how to study and learn operatic roles. She was assigned the roles of the first and second Spirits (on different evenings) and covered the role of the Queen of the Night, never thinking she'd be required to sing it. Sure enough, when the scheduled Queen got sick, Melanie stepped up and sang the role, and her performance serves as inspiration for any number of tasks -- "now everything seems really easy compared to that!"

Her introduction to opera started at age 5, with Melanie's father Garry listening to Wagner's Siegfried. She credits hearing "all the banging" in Siegfried's “Forging Song” as the spark that led her down this operatic path. She asked her Dad what it was all about, and she decided she needed to see a DVD. She and her father watched the Met’s entire Ring Cycle production (directed by Otto Schenk), and as luck would have it, the Met performed it the next year. She saw the whole cycle live, and that was it: "Wagner kind of did it for me."

It's possible that Melanie has opera in her genes. Her mother Susan Laney Spector is an oboist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and opera is an active endeavor for the entire family. As a young child, Melanie wanted to audition for the Met's Children's Chorus, but was paranoid she didn't know "opera language." At 8 years old, she mustered up the courage to audition, and was given an opportunity to appear as a super in Cavalleria Rusticana. As an introduction to the stage, prospective Children's Chorus members are sometimes asked to perform non-singing acting roles (called ‘supers’, or more commonly ‘stage performers’) to see if the opera world is right for them. They are subjected to the usual haphazard opera schedule: daytime rehearsals, late night performances, stage lighting, costumes, and what can sometimes be the over-stimulation of all the music around them. Most opera singers know that the first instinct of many kids upon hearing opera for the first time is to plug their ears -- great opera makes the ears buzz!

She passed the test of those first performances, and Elena Doria, the Children's Chorus Director at the time, fittingly cast her in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The Children's Chorus only appears in Act III of Wagner's 6-hour opera, so Melanie would attend the opera's first two acts with her father (Mom was playing in the pit) and show up for her costume call at 10:45pm. Watching the beginning of the opera with her Dad "made it even more special."

Melanie (in green jumper) in a production of Hansel & Gretel. (Photo: Beth Bergman)

Overall, Melanie sang in eleven different Met productions by the time she "graduated" from the Children’s Chorus in 2013. Anthony Piccolo replaced Elena Doria in 2009, so Melanie had the opportunity to work with both directors.

Melanie says Mr. Piccolo maintained a very clear system for the kids to grow and flourish. Children are first chosen for “Beginner’s Class”, where they learn the basics and their talent is cultivated. Mr. Piccolo teaches the children lyrical singing, with a concentration on musical details, language diction and a legato sound. The Intermediate Class continues to build their skill set, and only when Mr. Piccolo thinks you're ready to sing in an opera do you graduate to the Advanced Class. From there, the children audition in groups of four for a particular opera, and parents are sent a confirmation email the next day letting them know whether their child has been selected.

Melanie gives a lot of credit to her early days at the Met. Her work in the Children's Chorus developed her musical "ear" -- the kids learn everything by ear, and she learns music very quickly to this day because of that early training. She also credits her work with providing her a direction for her professional life: "Singing in the Children’s Chorus and watching operas all my life, I figured out this is what I wanted to do — become an opera singer."

But it wasn't always easy. Melanie says, "For some reason, La Bohème is considered an easy opera to do, even though musically it's so hard. I remember my first rehearsal, and I was in with other kids who already knew it. I went home crying. Listening to a recording, it goes by so fast." But her hard work paid off. Melanie considers La Bohème and Carmen the "bread and butter" of Children's Chorus operas. She says jokingly, "If you hadn’t done at least 30 performances, were you really in the Children’s Chorus?"

Photo: Ashley Chui

The perky, affable soprano uses her knowledge of opera in various ways. You may hear Melanie as a guest on the Toll Brothers Metropolitan Opera Quiz, an assignment she's done a few times now. And keep an eye out on Instagram, where she ran Opera News' feed for their annual Awards Ceremony.

Melanie uses concepts learned in the Children's Chorus in her present-day musical endeavors. She says, "always memorize what you're working on -- just bite the bullet and do it." It makes working on the following steps of phrasing, musicality and character so much easier. And the most important thing she learned at the Met? "Always be impeccably prepared." She was clearly prepared when she was called at the last minute to sing the high Fs in "Der Hölle Rache" last summer for Die Zauberflöte, and we look forward to her continued success on and off the operatic stage.

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Daniel Clark Smith, born in Barrington, IL, has degrees in Music Ed. and Choral Conducting from The University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music, and has loved singing in ensembles all his life. In concert, he particularly enjoys performing the Evangelist roles in J.S. Bach’s Passions. At the Met, favorite roles include a Lackey in Der Rosenkavalier, a soldier in Wozzeck and Parpignol in La Bohème, a role he has performed 100 times with the company. Daniel is a member of the Chorus Committee and serves as the Mens’ Chorus Safety Delegate. Daniel has been with his husband, fellow musician Michael S. Caldwell, for 26 years. Follow him on Twitter: @dclarksmith and Instagram: @danielclarksmith.

A Day In The Life: Anne Dyas, Staff Performer and Superheroine

There is a group of performers in the Metropolitan Opera that are often overlooked and underappreciated, and those people are the staff performers (also known as supernumeraries). Staff performers are the non-speaking characters in an opera, and their presence and participation is fundamental to the success of any production on the Met stage. (Think of the clowns in Pagliacci, the myriad soldiers in the Aida triumphal scene, the warriors and female druids in Norma, and the men hammering anvils in Il Trovatore, to name only a few of the countless roles supernumeraries play.)  Anne Dyas, the ONLY female full-time member of the staff performers roster (and a 10-year veteran!) has seen her fair share of stage time. Here, she'll give you a taste of how crazy a day in the life of a staff performer can get!

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Photo: Leslie Hassler

I had only been back in NYC from The Midsummer in Oxford Shakespeare Program for a few months when I heard about auditions to be a full-time actor at the Met. This job came along at just the right time for me. I was young enough to make that kind of commitment, but old enough to know what such a commitment entailed. I have since been in over 81 productions and over 1,400 performances at the Met. When I was graduating with my BFA in Acting from Texas State University, I had never given a career in opera a single thought. After attending The Circle in The Square conservatory, and being trained by B.H. Barry in stage combat for two years, a role in Franco Zeffirelli’s Carmen opened up, and I got to “fight” my way into the company.

The girl with the Q-tip earring.

I usually get up around 7:30am, and I need about 15 minutes of pretending to be awake to function. I always get in the shower before my husband (Met Chorus tenor Jeremy Little), while he makes coffee for me (he’s so good to me). We typically need to be at the Met at the same time every morning (leave at 9:15, arrive by 10:00am), so we have a whole routine worked out combining a little relaxation with planning out a part of the day where we get to connect.

A brief moment of calm before the storm.

Morning dress rehearsals begin at 10:00am, while the show from the night before often ends around 11:30pm, so there's usually only a 10-11 hour break between the time I leave the stage to the time I return to the exact same place! I have about 30 minutes to pin-curl my hair, put on my wig, do a full face of makeup, and get into costume (with the help one of our fabulous dressers: corsets don’t lace themselves!). I’ve got it down to a science now, so I usually shovel in some breakfast and check emails simultaneously (a must since our schedules change quite frequently).

Sometimes any chair will do for a quick sit!

On any given day at the Met, there are rehearsals for different shows going on in different rooms throughout the building, and I can be called to all of them at the same time. I often fantasize that the directors fight behind closed doors to see who gets to have me that day! Rehearsals on the Main Stage take priority, but this means that as soon as I’m released from the Main Stage, I get out of costume and am running to the next thing.

Semiramide glam.

A sample day in February saw me rehearsing Semiramide from 10:00am-2:30pm, (running downstairs for a concurrent Elektra rehearsal from 11:00am-1:30pm), and La Bohème from 2:30pm-5:30pm, followed by the evening performance of L’Elisir d’Amore from 7:00pm-10:15pm. A rehearsal in the 5th Floor Studio is 9 stories away from a rehearsal in one of the three C-Level studios. According to my fitness tracker app, on average I walk 3.5 miles a day just in the building!

Anne makes the poster outside of the Met fairly frequently. :-)

Lunch is usually something that I grab from the Met Cafeteria. Broccoli cheddar soup day is my favorite! I also drink a ton of water with lemons. There are water coolers in essentially every room in the building, so it’s easy to stay hydrated.

Boheme bonnet action.

I think it takes a lot of muscle memory to do this job. It also takes a lot of brainpower to switch gears between Rossini, Strauss, Puccini, and Donizetti in one day. I’m frequently counting bars at the beginning of a rehearsal process, and within a few days I intuitively know when to move.

Or, with a show like La Bohème, which I’ve been in for ten years, I can carry on a whole conversation with Colline and move him out of the path of a horse and carriage without blinking, all while drinking “vino da tavola” and wearing 4-inch heels.

Rehearsals last until 5:30pm, and after 7.5 hours of rehearsals I run down to Columbus Circle and take a Pure Barre class. I’ve found that with this job, carving out time for myself is essential. Discovering Pure Barre (especially since it’s close to Lincoln Center) has been a game changer for me. It keeps me in shape and limber for all the different roles and physical characters I play. Plus, my mind gets a dose of modern music for 50 minutes! After class, Jeremy and I grab a quick bite and a smooch before our dress call for the evening performance. I’m so glad we work together, or we’d probably never see each other!

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The many looks of L'Elisir d'Amore.

At 7:00pm, I’m back in the 3rd Floor dressing room to begin the process of getting ready all over again: adding more makeup, curling my hair for an up-do, or getting into another wig. Plus, more corsets! Three in L’Elisir, to be exact. At 7:23pm, the call to stage comes, and moments later the show is underway. Two intermissions, an offstage quick-change, a coffee/snack, and three costumes later, the curtains close on another exciting performance!

I change back into my street clothes (as we call them) and meet Jeremy to catch the uptown 1 train, so we can go home, watch an episode of Seinfeld, and hit the hay before getting up and doing it all over again the next day!

Be sure to follow ALL the activities of the Met Opera Supers on Instagram @metoperasupers

Outreach Corner: ArtSmart, Run By Met Artists!

Anyone who thinks that opera singers are self-interested divas should take a peek at ArtSmart, an educational outreach organization started by Met favorite Michael Fabiano, and maintained with joy and commitment by Met Opera Extra Choristers Megan Pachecano & Tom Mulder. The Met Artists Newsletter sat down with Megan & Tom to find out more about the amazing work they're doing with some very talented young adults who go to school right here in the New York metro area.

Some excited students of ArtSmart's East Side High School pilot program, after a performance.

by Megan Pachecano, Tom Mulder, with contributions by Lianne Coble-Dispensa

How did you get involved with ArtSmart? 

Tom: I got an email in the spring of 2016 from Michael Fabiano saying he was interested in speaking about a teaching opportunity for the coming school year. I chatted with him and Co-Founder John Viscardi about their new organization ArtSmart, and their vision for changing the landscape of arts education in underserved communities, and I was immediately hooked. I started teaching at our Pilot Program at East Side High School in Newark that fall, and picked up some of the administrative duties for the organization because I felt so passionately about the cause.

Megan: I've been working with ArtSmart for a little over a year. Tom recommended me for the Marketing & Communications position because he knew that I had past experience at a digital advertising agency. I think it's a testament to the versatility of artists (and a prime example of the education and opportunities we're trying to give our students) that Tom and I have come full circle from singing together in regional opera productions and a young artist program, to working together to help build a new nonprofit arts organization, and now back again to being artistic colleagues at the Met!

What attracted you to the organization, and why did you want to work there?

Megan: ArtSmart is doing something completely different than a lot of other organizations out there, and on a larger scale too. We are giving weekly private lessons (which are usually a cost-prohibitive educational extracurricular) to talented students who deserve access to these teachers just as much as the next kid. As someone who was fortunate to have piano and voice lessons as a child, I know firsthand what a significant impact that had on my life. What about the many talented, deserving kids out there whose families just can't afford it? I take immense pride in working for an organization that is striving to close that privilege gap.

Tom: I had been teaching at a wonderful private school in New Jersey and looked forward to engaging a different kind of student and growing as a teacher and a person. But the thing that I found most attractive about ArtSmart was that they wanted to use data to create a powerful argument for stopping the cuts in arts education. We track absences, tardies, disciplinary actions, and GPAs, and monitor whether those areas improve when students are involved in the ArtSmart program. So far the results have been staggering even within in our small sample.

What inspires you about the organization?

Megan: The people who work for ArtSmart all care so much. The mentors can't stop talking about their amazing students. When I talk to John on the phone, I hear the excitement in his voice about the work we're doing and the dreams he has for the organization. I see Michael posting on Instagram from a dressing room across the world and then five minutes later I get an email in my inbox about something he remembered we need to do for the organization. This is a team who is ready to make a difference, and they inspire me.

Tom Mulder, working his magic at ArtSmart.

What is ArtSmart's mission, and how does it differ from other non-profit arts organizations? What need does it fill in the community that was not being filled? 

Megan: We are an organization that empowers students in underserved communities to develop their skills as musicians and artists through high-level technical training and cultural immersion. But the key difference in our organization is the importance we place on mentorship. In meeting with their voice teachers each week, students benefit socially, developmentally, and academically from consistent one-on-one guidance. There is also an incredible amount of research available about the effect of music on child development. The inaugural class of the 2016-17 pilot year showed a significant decrease in disciplinary action and absenteeism compared to their previous school years, and the average GPA of our ArtSmart students jumped 0.9 points over the course of the year. As a group, they also reported a marked increase in desire to pursue a college education. There's just no denying results like these, and it propels us forward.

Tom: We call our teachers mentors because our primary goal for our students is to prepare them for life after high school, no matter what career path they choose. We do not expect all of our students to apply to Juilliard (though some of them will), but we do expect them to learn responsibility, how to communicate, and the skills to learn and research what they are passionate about. Our hope is that whether our kids become doctors or electricians or musicians, that they will be strong learners and communicators.

From left to right: Michael Fabiano, Megan Pachecano, and Tom Mulder. All of them work for ArtSmart, and all of them performed at the Metropolitan Opera 50th Anniversary Gala (where this picture was taken!).

The two of you, and co-founders of ArtSmart Michael Fabiano and John Viscardi, are professional singers.  Does working as a performer help you with ArtSmart?

Megan: Absolutely! Actually everyone in the organization is a performer. Michael, John, and percussionist Brian Levor co-founded the organization with the help of our general counsel, Liz Letak, who is a pianist. All of the mentors they then hired are professional singers in their own right who perform all around the world in many capacities. We take so much of what we are experiencing on stage and in our own artistic endeavors and give it back to our students. Creating art with people across the country gives me a "big picture" outlook and helps me realize what's actually important to focus on in my own personal teaching.

What is the future of the organization? What do you hope to accomplish in the next few years?

Megan: For the 2018-19 school year, ArtSmart is on track to more than triple our number of programs and serve ten schools. We'll also launch our group program, "Amplify - Youth Voices for Positive Change," as well as a multi-week master class series with Michael at the Ruth Asawa School for the Arts in San Francisco.

Tom: We hope to expand to over 100 schools within five years and create a strong statistical argument based on what many of us know anecdotally: when students are engaged in an area about which they are passionate, they are not only more excited to come to school, but perform better when they are there.

Is there anything else you'd like us to know about ArtSmart?

Megan: We are a very young, but growing organization. We can only offer these lessons and continue expanding our program to more schools with the help of fellow music lovers and supporters of arts education. Some choose to give a monthly donation through our Patreon page, some give a one-time donation through our website, and some give through our social media channels like facebook. Every little bit helps to give these students quality music education that they would not otherwise have access to. And it is a joy to see just how much they are thriving because of it!

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Megan Pachecano and Tom Mulder are Extra Choristers at the Metropolitan Opera. Both are graduates of the Masters program at the Manhattan School of Music, and they work together for the nonprofit organization ArtSmart, which provides free weekly voice lessons to students in Newark, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and soon, New York City. Tom is the VP of Operations as well as one of the Newark voice teachers, and Megan handles Marketing and Communications for the organization.

Remembering Roger Andrews

Roger Andrews with his wife, violinist Marilyn Reynolds.

Saturday night, the Met Opera Chorus lost one of its own. Roger Andrews, who sang in the chorus for over 2,000 performances and performed solo roles 152 times at The Metropolitan Opera before retiring 4 years ago, passed away suddenly at the age of 67 of an apparent heart attack. Fellow chorister Rebecca Carvin writes:

I first met Roger when I was a new chorister during a List Hall rehearsal. I was carrying a book by Robertson Davies, a favorite author of mine, and as it turns out, one of Roger’s too. Thus commenced a long conversation about books, music, food, travel, family and personalities. Roger was often my partner on stage, and the conversation continued during breaks in the action. Funny, articulate, with a wealth of knowledge, Roger was a wonderful conversationalist. Our conversation was picked up over the years, never skipping a beat, and when he retired, it continued via the occasional email. Our last conversation was over dinner in Montreal, where my husband and I took a mini-vacation a few years back. We picked right up where we had left off, with Roger full of information about the joys of retirement, encouraging me to do it as soon as was reasonably possible. To Roger, life was full of fun and possibility. He is sadly missed, fondly remembered, and gone way too soon.

Roger (on the left) during a curtain call for La fille du regiment.

From Roger's bio:

Roger was trained in theory and composition at Queens College (NY), graduating cum laude with highest departmental honors. He has appeared as a baritone soloist in the opera houses of New York, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Caracas, Venezuela. While a professor at Kenyon College, he founded the Opera Program and honed his skills as a lecturer on a variety of musical topics. He has written program notes for orchestras and chamber groups around the country. A stage director as well, he was completing a doctorate at NYC in Theatre History when he was invited to join the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, where he performed over 2,000 performances, both as a chorister and as a soloist. After retiring from the Metropolitan Opera he began began working as a stage director and piano accompanist, in Northern New York State and Montreal. 

Choristers Jason Hendrix and Dustin Lucas with Roger Andrews.

Choristers Mary Hughes and Rebecca Carvin with Roger Andrews.

He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, and his son, Rory. Rest in peace Roger.

The Met Opera Chorus Goes Back to School!

The Met Chorus Artists got out of the opera house and into the schoolhouse twice in February to interact with their youngest fans!

Met Chorister Karen Dixon, Met Orchestra Musicians Kari Docter, Dov Scheindlin, Katherine Fong, and Bruno Eicher, and NYC Council Member Helen Rosenthal enthralling a group of Kindergartners at PS 166.

 By Edward Hanlon

     This month, members of the Met Opera Chorus had a couple performances.  Nothing unusual there: we perform up to seven times a week! But these were different; for one, they were in the morning (and I can count the number of musicians who are morning people on one hand) but, more importantly, the average audience was younger… much younger. As you can probably guess, this was not a performance in the Met Opera House. In one, we went to Castle Bridge Elemementary for an Opera Ambush, and, for the other, members of the chorus and orchestra teamed up at The Richard Rodgers School of Arts and Technology, P.S. 166, to perform a “Musical Read-Aloud” — an original score composed to accompany Buzzard and Wren Have a Race, a story from the book A Ring of Tricksters, by Virginia Hamilton. The music was composed by Robert Miller, husband of violinist Elena Barere, and the story was read aloud to children and teachers by New York City Council Member Helen Rosenthal and chorus soprano Karen Dixon.

    I’m happy to report that the Musical Read-Aloud was a huge success!  It was a joy to give these children a chance to see how words and music come together to tell a story, and show how musicians listen to each other and work together to create something beautiful! “We’re very excited to play for these young students at PS166!” said cellist Kari Docter. “Countless studies have shown a strong link between music and a strong education. As musicians, parents and teachers, we are committed to strengthening the role music plays in the education of our children, as well as the role the arts play as part of a healthy, inclusive and positive society.”

The Opera Ambush at Castle Bridge Elementary School, up on 169th and St. Nicholas Avenue, was also a huge success with yet another group of kids. Chorister Mary Hughes organized the event, inviting members of the full-time chorus (and some of the extra chorus) to sneak up on a room of students during their regularly scheduled music class with a rousing rendition of "Libiamo" from La Traviata. They have plans to come back later in the season to teach the kids another opera chorus favorite, "Va, Pensiero" from Nabucco.

The teachers seemed to enjoy it as much as their students did! Music teacher Sally Cleaver raved: 

"My fave was hearing Miguery (Grade 1) singing in the bathroom a Dominican, child version of the song...it was so moving and so wonderful and we could have listened to you all day.  More than one teacher told me they 'teared up' when the chorus swelled from behind the kids.  Simeon high fiving one of your singers at the end, Quyen scaring the stitches out of a chorus member her neighbor, Thomas nearly passing out, all day hearing the song sung in various ways in various places. What you guys gave us had and continues to have endless ripples."

She even offers this adorable exchange between a student and teacher during the performance: 

Kindergartner: (turning to teacher after the singing started) "Look!  They are singing Mariachi!"

Teacher:  "I know..so exciting...but it's called opera!" 

Members of the Met Opera Chorus with teachers from Castle Bridge Elementary School.

Why Dancer Bradley Shelver Wrote A Book

by Bradley Shelver

I have always believed the mark of a successful artist is versatility. At least, this is how I have always approached dance. I believe dance picked me, at the tender age of 4 years old, born in South Africa during the apartheid era. The possibilities for us internationally were all but none, and thanks to an observant and incredibly supportive father, my flare for movement was noticed and it was arranged for me to audition for the newly established Performing Arts Workshop, founded by a deeply passionate American by the name of Jeff Corey. The workshop was a gateway to everything artistic, from Ballet, Jazz, Tap and Contemporary dance, to singing, theater arts, stage crafts and lighting: a playground for talent and an overly energetic 4 year old.

I loved every minute and soon went on to audition for the National School of the Arts, the preeminent Performing Arts High School based in Johannesburg. This journey, and exposure, to all manner of glorious and dedicated youngsters from every race, creed and background instilled in me the importance and gift of the arts to the human condition.

My final year in high school offered me the possibility to take a Modern Dance class from (and audition for) the inspiring dancers of the prestigious Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. I thought I already had my trajectory since, the previous year, I was offered a position with the Netherlands Dance Theater 2, and I asked them to hold my spot until I graduated. However, after seeing the Ailey Company perform, I knew New York City was where I wanted to be.

I arrived in New York City in January of 1998, two weeks after graduating high school, scared, excited and slightly overwhelmed by all that I experienced.

After spending 5 months studying under full scholarship, I was asked to join Ailey 2, a young and vivacious company that toured extensively and further opened my eyes to a world with dance in it; this world was a much better place.

During my time with the Ailey organization (of which I am now a full time faculty member and choreographer) I was submerged in a technique called Horton, a precise and codified way to train dancers in the shortest amount of time. With exercises for every part of the body, from the face to the feet, I trained under the guidance of master teachers Milton Myers and Ana-Marie Forsythe. Under their mentorship, I started to investigate and develop my own teaching style and principles using this technique.

After leaving the Ailey organization as a dancer, I went on to perform with companies like Elisa Monte Dance, Ballet Hispanico, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Limon Dance Company, Phoenix Dance Theater in the U.K., and as a guest artist with Mark Morris Dance, Universal Ballet and Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane. I am now in my tenth season with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, being constantly fed by all styles and genres, and I continue to develop my own thoughts and ideas for how to teach and train with the Horton Technique. As a choreographer, however, my style and vocabulary is not derived from Horton, but instead my ideas feed and evolve the technique.

I started to teach workshops and classes throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the U.S., and was approached by the University of Rome to write a book on the technique as part of a series on Modern Dance they were working on. I was living in the U.K. at the time and decided to delve more into putting my thoughts on paper, finding a way to make the physical elements verbal. This was not an easy task, and took me two years to write and photograph. After a severe economic crisis in Italy, the publishing of the series was delayed indefinitely, even though two of the books had already been translated into Italian. I managed to get out of my publishing contract with the international L’Epos publishers and decided to publish the book in English, under the title, “Performance Through The Dance Technique Of Lester Horton.”

As of January 2018, my book is available in almost every county worldwide, and has been requested by universities and conservatories to include it in their teaching curriculum.

Being one of only three books published on the topic of Horton, my book seeks to connect the prior two texts, and shine a light on how to carry the ideas forward in an ever-changing and versatile dance world.

This is the artist's way; this is why I love what I do, and love to teach. If it wasn’t for that modern dance class with the Alvin Ailey dancers back in Johannesburg all those years ago, I never would have come to live the dream that I do today. As Alvin Ailey once said, “Dance came from the people, and should always be given back to the people," so I wrote a book.

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If you are interested in purchasing Bradley's book, you can check it out here and here.

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Meet Dan Hoy, Chorus Administrator

The Met Chorus's schedule is, in a word, a nightmare for administrators. Between musical rehearsals, staging rehearsals, solo coachings, costume fittings, and the fact that at any given time we're rehearsing (and performing) no fewer than 6 shows at once, you might wonder how we keep it all together? Well, meet Dan Hoy, who performs the unsung role of Chorus Administrator with aplomb (thanks, in part, to his experience in the extra chorus!). 

Photo: Miles Davis

by Sara Heaton

Seeing a high school performance of Annie Get Your Gun was what did it. Daniel Hoy was only in kindergarten, but he walked out of that show knowing he was destined for a life in the theater. He developed his baritone voice and built an impressive singing career in both opera and musical theater. But he never could have imagined that his pursuits would land him his current role as the Administrator of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus.

Met audiences have heard Dan in the Extra Chorus for the past 11 years. His first performance was Lohengrin in 2006, and he has joined the chorus for countless others since then, including the Japan Tour in the summer of 2011, which he called, “one of the best three weeks of my life. I never thought I would get to Asia or have that opportunity.”

This might not be a particularly exciting picture until you realize where it was taken! Dan's caption states: "With some fellow Met Choristers the first morning in Japan – and we went to Denny’s! It was close to the hotel, don’t judge…" (from 2011)

Then, last spring, a new opportunity at The Met presented itself. Former administrator Steve Losito was soon to retire, and Dan decided to throw his hat in the ring for the position. Given his love for the stage, Dan surprised even himself by considering a job that would take him behind the scenes, but soon realized that it was meant to be.

“I thought about it and decided to take a leap of faith. It was an opportunity I never, ever considered. But I love helping. I really enjoy being around people. It can be a stressful environment here, and I like to be able to keep it calm, keep things in perspective.”

Dan's first week at work. His name is on the door and everything!

One of his strongest deciding factors was the chance to work with Chorus Master Donald Palumbo. “I have huge respect for him, and to work with him everyday is a true pleasure. He really cares so much and works so hard, it’s kind of unbelievable. I’ve learned a lot.”

In less than a year, Dan has proven himself more than fit for the monstrous role of Chorus Administrator. Every week he coordinates with the Rehearsal Department, Maestro Palumbo, and the two chorus managers (Kurt Phinney and Stephen Paynter, who are also members of the chorus) to solidify the following week’s schedule. Once that is finalized, he builds the document that will be distributed to the choristers so everyone knows where, and when, they need to be (I would bet that every chorister carries a copy of this with them at all times!). He also communicates and schedules all fittings with the costume department, and communicates daily with stage managers and directors regarding chorus attendance. Dan manages the yearly chorus auditions, fielding submissions from over 500 singers at a time, and is the auditioners’ main contact. If that wasn’t enough, he also builds and maintains most of the supporting documents for the upcoming season schedule (which is already in the works!), and disseminates all relevant information to the Regular and Extra Chorus.

All this work that Dan is in charge of is just one small part of the inner workings at the Met. There can be six operas being rehearsed in the building at any one time, each one with sets, costumes, props, technical requirements, stage directors, stage managers, and more. “The amount of planning to coordinate all those schedules is mind-melting. There are so many moving parts, it’s like a Swiss watch.”

No, this isn't a picture of Dan after a particularly grueling day of chorister-herding (though it could be). It's his costume from the opera "The Wreckers", performed at the Bard College Summerscape Opera in 2015.

He continues singing as his busy schedule allows, but there is no denying that taking on this job was a huge transition from his past life as solely a freelance singer. Yet, it has yielded some unexpected and profound realizations. “I feel like I have a much bigger impact on the Met as an institution in this role than I ever would as a chorister. In the chorus, you obviously have an incredible legacy and what you do is highly important, but I didn’t expect this opportunity to have an impact on the institution in this way, and that’s very exciting.”

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Sara Heaton began her Met career in 2014 in the Extra Chorus, and joined as a full time member in 2016. When not singing, Sara enjoys cooking, gardening, exploring the outdoors, and tasting her husband’s cocktail creations. They’re proud to make their home in Beacon, NY in the beautiful Hudson Valley.

Staff Performer Spotlight: Mike Gomborone the Globe-Trotter

by Mike Gomborone

Mike's Mediterranean sunset.

"Mike! You have so many stories! You should write them down."

"Ah, yes," I thought, "I missed the ship once, Mom came to visit me, I've hit a third of the world's countries...I could write a book."

Before becoming a full-time supernumerary at the Metropolitan Opera, I sailed for three years all over the world as a singer/dancer on cruise ships. I worked for several years based in New York as a musical theater actor, and one of my gigs happened to be as a part-time supernumerary while I was in-between musical theater jobs. Finally, after a whole year under contract at sea, I had had enough time afloat and longed for some solid ground again under my feet. Plus, the Met Opera welcomed me back after the year away, and I was longing for something more permanent in my life.

Mike, on top of Mt. Juneau in Alaska.

By luck, I landed my job as a unionized member of the Metropolitan Opera, but after a while, I started to long again for my carefree, adventurous days at sea. But how could I give up my amazing job at the Met? I get to wear fantastic costumes! I listen to the best singers and musicians in the world on a daily basis! I have DENTAL coverage! These are the things you just don't appreciate as an eager 20-something, freshly-graduated-out-of-college lad. My next best option was to go back and relive all of my photos, videos, and journal entries from my numerous ship days. I realized I had plenty of stories (75 chapters' worth, in fact!), and I figured I could put them all into a book!

Well, that's a really cute idea until you realize just how much work goes into something like this. Who's going to help me edit this monster? How do I make it interesting enough for people to want to read? And how am I going to sell this thing, my baby??

The project took close to an entire decade to pull off and I'm still learning as I go, but my Met Opera family has been very supportive, as well as my many other generous friends. I had several people read my manuscript and offer their suggestions over the years, and one friend encouraged me to add maps to my chapters so that my readers know where they are in the world for those few pages! That added so much to my book because I ended up drawing those in cartoon form, adding a bit more humor into the mix. Then, I discovered the world of self-publishing. Before I knew it, I held all of my tales in one neat little bound book.

Who knew that I would end up as an actor in an opera company? Who knew that I'd be able to relive my wonderful years on ships in book form? Who knew that I would get so much joy from the support of friends, and the experience of learning a new craft? My book and I have just begun our adventure together (I was even reviewed in the local paper back home!), and I think we are in for a fun ride.

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Mike Gomborone is originally from Rochester, NY and got a BFA in Musical Theater from Syracuse University before moving to New York City. Besides his work entertaining on ships, he toured around the country for a year in the musical GREASE and did a lot of regional and summer stock contracts before settling permanently at the Metropolitan Opera as a full-time supernumerary in 2006.

If you would like to order Mike's book, SINGING MY WAY AROUND THE WORLD: An Entertainer's Life at Sea, click here. It is also available as an e-book and audiobook.

Photo: Dan Demetriad

Outreach Spotlight: Patricia Steiner's Global Mission

Pat and the 5Cees kids taking some quality selfie time!

by Lianne Coble-Dispensa

On a random Sunday in the spring of 2017, Mezzo-soprano Patricia Steiner attended church, as she often does, at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. That particular morning, an organization called Christ Church Christian Care Center (more commonly known as 5Cees) made a presentation and appealed to the congregation for volunteers to travel to their compound in Johannesburg, South Africa for short-term mission trips.

Pat has been a member of the full-time chorus for 26 years, and it may be no surprise to hear that the rigorous, demanding rehearsal and performance schedule often makes it very difficult to find time to volunteer. For years, she had been interested in giving back on a larger scale, and up until recently, her volunteer experiences had mainly been local, serving Thanksgiving dinners in soup kitchens, and performing recitals in nursing homes. Now she felt a tug to give back on an international level, and was particularly interested in working with children.

The mission of 5cees fit with Pat’s volunteering desires: on its website, 5Cees states it was founded with the goal of “providing hope, help, health, [and] home to hopeless, homeless, hungry, hurting children from previously disadvantaged black communities in South Africa.”

While she had some reservations about traveling to Johannesburg (mainly due to safety concerns), she was inspired by the work of the organization, and was compelled further to make the trip after hearing that her niece was moving to Johannesburg to teach.

After completing the application process, which included a background check, a meet-and-greet with the US-based portion of the 5Cees team, and some fundraising, Pat, joined by 3 other congregants from Redeemer Presbyterian, was on a flight to Johannesburg.

Pat Steiner, tutoring 5Cees children in math and English.

Christ Church Christian Care Center, located in the Hillbrow area of Johannesburg, provides housing, education, medical care, and socialization to children from Johnannesburg and the surrounding townships. Social workers from 5Cees would go out into these underserved communities to identify children in high-risk situations, many of whom were homeless, orphaned or fleeing from abusive families, HIV positive, and living in unimaginable poverty. Currently, 65 children between the ages of 6 and 18 live on the compound, and the organization has plans (with the help of generous donations) to expand that number to 90. 

Before departing for her 10-day mission trip over the summer, Pat was warned by the staff that “you can’t make plans, and you can’t be rigid with your schedule or your expectations. You have to be totally open to change.” So she wasn’t surprised when her responsibilities varied on a daily basis. She would often act as one of the chaperones to the kids when they went off-campus for field trips to the Apartheid museum, to the park, and to Johannesburg. “Some of the kids had never been on an elevator or escalator, never used money or bought anything themselves, and had never seen a tall building”, Pat said, and it was amazing to observe the kids’ excitement during trips outside the compound. She even was roped into tutoring the 4th and 5th graders in math and English, which she described as “scary” since she didn’t feel prepared for the task, but “the kids were really bright, and could pick things up well.” Besides these special daily assignments, she spent much of her time playing with the kids in the yard, drawing pictures, doing art projects with them, and even singing in talent shows! (Pat, of course, was begged to participate, since they all knew she was an opera singer and loved hearing her sing.)

Nail painting with the girls!

Incidentally, Pat’s niece ended up moving to Johannesburg the week AFTER Pat left, but Pat was nonetheless thankful she had made the choice to volunteer with 5Cees, and hopes to continue her work with them in future summers (with the option of staying for longer periods after she retires from the Met Chorus). She loved being involved in the lives of those bright, magnetic kids (“I think I got more out of the experience than they did!”) and was astounded by their strength and indomitable spirits. “We have so many things that we take for granted, and this level of poverty is something we don’t understand. Their happiness with nothing is incredibly humbling.”

For more information, or to donate to 5Cees, please visit http://www.5cees.co.za.

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Lianne Coble-Dispensa joined the Metropolitan Opera as a member of the extra chorus in 2010, and went full time in 2015. She is the Editor-in-Chief for the Met Artists Newsletter, and is a member of the Met Chorus Artists executive board. When she's not singing opera or furiously copy editing this month's newsletter, she enjoys spending the lion's share of her free time cooking various delights in the kitchen, reading non-fiction, Crossfitting, and running (you may see her in this year's NYC Half Marathon). She is married to fellow chorister (and ultramarathoner) Scott Dispensa, and they live in Teaneck, NJ with two ostentatiously named cats (Maximilien de Robespierre and Charles Hubert Hastings Parry).

Photo: Joshua South Photography

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Chorister Spotlight: Liz Brooks Wentworth, Spreading Joy One Pomeranian at a Time

by Liz Brooks Wentworth

“Ok Sandy, this is it! This is what we’ve been waiting for!”

This was the moment my pomeranian Sandy and I had trained for for weeks and weeks. We were about to participate in our first pet therapy visit to the New Jewish Home in Manhattan.  Though Sandy wasn’t nervous, I sure was. What if, after all the time we spent working with the Good Dog Foundation, something went wrong? We would be devastated.

Fortunately, the visit went off without a hitch. Sandy was absolutely wonderful, and the residents of the New Jewish Home were smitten with her. I have never been so proud of my sweet panda bear (our ‘pet name’ for Miss Sandy. Doesn’t she look like a red panda?) and I was thankful for the opportunity to share her sweetness with so many lovely people.

I have always been a huge lover of animals, especially dogs. I grew up with at least three dogs (and a rabbit) and loved every minute of my pet-filled childhood. I truly believe in the healing powers of animals, and have wanted to be a part of a pet therapy program for a long time. It takes a special dog to be able to train and participate in a pet therapy program. When my husband, Nathan, and I adopted Sandy from Bideawee in Manhattan, we knew that we had found that special dog. Sandy makes everyone around her smile. She’s filled with love and shares that love willingly and profoundly. We make friends on every walk, every subway ride, and every adventure we go on. I knew that she would be a great therapy dog, so the next step was to find a program that would correspond with my hectic (and often unpredictable!) work schedule. I did a bunch of research online and discovered the Good Dog Foundation. They offer a five week training program in various locations around New York City. The first step is to bring your dog in for an evaluation to make sure that she, and you, have the right temperament. The next step is to choose a corresponding five week course, where you and your dog are taught how to provide a fun and safe therapeutic visit to the facility of your choice.  Once you have graduated from the training course, you are free to schedule therapy visits.

Along with my work through the Good Dog Foundation, Nathan and I have fostered dogs through Rescue City and adopted other dogs through Bideawee. Currently, we have three dogs: Sandy, our sweet panda bear; Mojo, a senior papillon/pomeranian mix; and Sally, a feisty senior pomeranian. (Yes, we are the maniacs with three dogs in New York City.) But I have to say, I would have it no other way. Sandy, Mojo, and Sally bring us so much joy and love everyday, and we give it back to them in return. Sharing our home and lives with them are the best decisions we’ve made. There are so many animals in need of a home, and we are so happy to help that process in any way.

If you are interested in pet therapy, fostering, or animal adoption, check out these links:

The Good Dog Foundation: http://thegooddogfoundation.org/overview/

Rescue City: https://www.rescuecity.nyc/

Bideawee: https://www.bideawee.org/

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Liz Brooks Wentworth is originally from Dallas, TX, and joined the Metropolitan Opera Chorus in 2013.

She received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and her Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. Ms. Brooks has performed with many wonderful opera companies including Opera Colorado, Des Moines Metro Opera, Utah Festival Opera, and Baltimore Concert Opera. In her spare time, you can find her volunteering with her adorable brood of animals, spending time with her husband, Nathan, or sweating it out at Pure Barre! 

Spotlight on Chorister Marc Persing

Marc Persing, tenor in the Metropolitan Opera Chorus

by Marie Te Hapuku

Marc Persing grew up in the little town of Lewisburg, PA, right on the Susquehanna River. His childhood was spent as a boy soprano with the Lewisburg Men and Boys Choir. He loved playing Atari and Pac-Man in his spare time, and watching reruns of The Brady Bunch. Although he started as a pre-med major in college, his first voice teacher encouraged him to pursue his vocal studies - which he did, initiating a transfer to The Hartt School of Music to major in opera.

He continued with graduate studies at Westminster Choir College. Marc has been with the Met Opera Chorus since 2002, and made his debut in Les Troyens. A lifelong Beatles fan, Marc sings 2nd tenor.

What is your favorite word?

Hysterical

Which opera stars do you believe are the most influential?

Fritz Wunderlich, Alfredo Kraus, Pavarotti

Are you a bathroom singer?

Not always, but if I do sing it's usually my Beatles!

If I gave you an elephant where would you hide it?

Maybe I could teach it to cook & just put a big chef's hat on it. :)

Two things you refuse to eat?

Cold pizza & Jello

What do you do when you're not working?

Like to travel & plan family trips. Especially love to visit the National Parks and being surrounded by nature.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

I guess I do. I met my wife in Middle School & thought she was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. We've been married for 25 years!

Which famous person would you most like to see play you in a film?

Probably Jim Carey. I think he would get a kick out of what we do here at the Met day in & day out.

If I came to your home and looked inside the refrigerator, what would I find?

Hmm...A pretty good smorgasbord of leftovers (my wife's a good cook!), lots of dairy (I LOVE cheese & yogurts GO CHOBANI!), Friendly's ice cream (Mint Chip Rocks!)

Tell me your favorite joke.

Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana! Banana who? Banana Banana! Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana! Banana who? Banana Banana! Knock Knock! Who's there? Orange! Orange who? "Orange" you glad I didn't say banana!

If you were an opera character, who would it be?

Probably Rodolfo. I'm just a sucker for a good love story and Bohème is one of the most touching and endearing stories in all of opera.

Where is your most favorite place in the world?

Antigua! My wife & I just celebrated our 25th Anniversary at an awesome all-inclusive resort there this past summer. The water was warm & the sun reflected its gorgeous turquoise hues. Wish I was there right now!

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional. with whom would it be?

Paul McCartney. He's just the coolest songwriting dude ever! To actually hear tunes in my head like he does and then fully realize them with the right chords, lyrics, and instruments? Amazing!

Five all-time greatest singers you’ve ever heard?

Paul McCartney, Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Sherrill Milnes, David Bowie.

From Physics Lab to Opera House to Bookstore Near You

A profile of the Metropolitan Opera’s own C. A. Higgins, production assistant and author of the Lightless trilogy.

By Edward Hanlon

       The first three rules of singing in chorus are (a) Keep your eyes on the conductor, (b) Keep your eyes on the conductor and (c) Review rules 1 and 2! ¹ No matter what happens on stage ² , a chorister must maintain a symbiotic understanding of the conductor’s intentions. But sometimes even the mighty Metropolitan Opera Chorus can be distracted; so who is disrupting the laser-like focus of the chorus this month?

       Meet C. A. Higgins, costume production assistant ³ at the Metropolitan Opera. She spends her days making sure that all costumes (and there are many, many costumes at the Met), get to the all the people that need to wear them when they need them. But that’s just her day job; she is also the author of Lightless, released in May of 2015 by Penguin Random House and named one of the best books of the year by Buzzfeed and Kirkus Reviews. Supernova, book two of the trilogy, was released this summer and the third and final entry, Radiate, is scheduled for May 23rd, 2017.

Lightless & Supernova, books one and two of the Lightless Trilogy by C.A. Higgins

       C. A. Higgins grew up a storyteller. Her earliest efforts were illustrated flip-books of happy unicorns jumping over waterfalls ⁴ . Those evolved into fantasy fiction she is happily reports are “mercifully not published”. But while she always wanted to be a writer, a love of science led her to a distinctly non-writerly degree in physics at Cornell University. Science and physics have become her muses. One of the core concepts of Lightless was born in a theoretical physics class: “we were talking about the inevitable thermodynamic end of the universe” and she has infused her writing style with a scientific approach. She deals with her characters “in an isolated system the same way she treats particles”. This might sound a bit dry, but the story-teller in Higgins never succumbs to the researcher. There is a tension and claustrophobia to the book that lends it much more the feeling of thriller than science textbook.

       The story is set in a future when a ruthless earth-based shadow-government dominates the solar system. This government, called the System, has launched an experimental military spacecraft (Ananke). Althea, a computer scientist on board, developed a deeply personal understanding and relationship with her ship’s computer throughout its development, launch and voyage. But when a pair of fugitives gain access to Ananke, they throw the mission, the crew, and the computer into ever-escalating chaos. Althea is cut adrift from friends she knew, the world-order she accepted, and even the rules of reality she understood ⁵ .

       So where does a person find time to write three books while working a full-time job making sure everyone on stage looks beautiful? Higgins is at the Met all day during the week so “I write on weekends” she said. “I can sit and get it done and not be up until midnight” like when she tries to write after a full day at the opera house. She is also aided by the Met’s seasonal schedule; during the offseason the costume shop is closed for five weeks (after storing all the costumes from the previous season and before starting the monumental task of preparing for the next season). This is the time when Higgins can really dig in and devote some real time to writing. When opera season ends, writing season begins!

       But this is, after all, an opera website so I would be remiss if I didn’t insert something gratuitously operatic ⁶ into the conversation. Therefore, I will ask the question on no one’s lips; the question that literally not one person has wondered after reading the book: if Lightless was an opera, who would be the composer? The author has a clear answer: Puccini. She’s biased though, “I always have to choose Puccini because he’s my favorite!”. Chorister Rebecca Carvin respectfully disagrees. She wants Nico Muhly (composer of Two Boys, performed at the Met in 2013, and currently working on Marnie, to be premiered in the 2019-20 season) to write the opera. Higgins’ colleague in the costume shop, Vicki Jo DeRocker can’t quite decide but comes in somewhere between the two: either Richard Wagner for his grandeur and drama or Philip Glass for his “futuristic, mesmerizing effect”. I’m not going to give an opinion (journalistic integrity and all that) but that doesn't mean I don't have one ⁷ . What I think we can all agree on is that it would make a fantastic opera! So, if you like opera, give the Lightless Trilogy a try… and if you like the Lightless Trilogy, then why don’t you stop by the Metropolitan Opera and give it a try? It’s a match made in heaven ⁸ .

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Photo: © © Lisa Verge-Higgins

C. A. Higgins is the author of the novels Lightless and Supernova and numerous short stories. She was a runner-up in the 2013 Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing and has a B.A. in physics from Cornell University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her third novel, Radiate, is scheduled for release by Penguin Random House on the 23rd of May, 2017. For more information on the Lightless Trilogy check out her website or follower her on Facebook or Twitter.

1. Maestro Palumbo, chorus master of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, would definitely agree with this statement. ↩

1. … and pretty some crazy things have happened on stage at the Metropolitan Opera! ↩

1. … she prefers the title “Costume Production Empress”. ↩

1. Higgins is in good company on the literary unicorn front:
   "This is a child!" Haigha replied eagerly, coming in front of Alice to introduce her, and spreading out both his hands toward her in an Anglo-Saxon attitude. "We only found it to-day. It's as large as life, and twice as natural!"
   "I always thought they were fabulous monsters!" said the Unicorn. "Is it alive?"
   "It can talk," said Haigha, solemnly,
   The Unicorn looked dreamily at Alice, and said "Talk, child."
   Alice could not help her lips curling up into a smile as she began: "Do you know, I always thought Unicorns were fabulous monsters, too! I never saw one alive before!"
   "Well, now that we have seen each other," said the Unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you. Is that a bargain?"
   - Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass ↩

1. I assure you that Higgins is much better at writing novels than I am at writing synopses. So, if you don’t find yourself thrilled by the paragraph you just read, blame me, not the author! ↩

1. Gratuitously Operatic: my next opera aria CD title! ↩

1. cough (Mozart) cough. ↩

1. ... or at least the outer reaches of the solar system! ↩