June 22 – July 12, 2008
Singers chosen to participate in the Summer Vocal Workshop spend three intensive weeks of study in a music conservatory environment. Students experience coaching in a variety of musical styles , including Classical Art Song, Opera, and Musical Theater, with an emphasis on learning appropriate repertoire that will assist them in future auditions. Curriculum includes daily Voice Classes, a Private Lesson, Master Classes, Acting, Musical Coaching, Movement, Sight Singing, and Alexander Technique. Special topic classes include Auditioning 101 and Vocal Health. Students are presented with many evening recital performances given by Summer Music Faculty, which give them exposure to music of other disciplines as well as to singing. The Workshop concludes with a demonstration of the Voice Class and Scenes Projects, held in NCSA’s acoustically-rich Crawford Hall.
Vocal Workshop
9:00 Movement Class
10:00 Sight Singing for Singers
11:00 Group Voice Class
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Acting Class
2:00 Music Rehearsal
3:00 Master Class
4:00 Rehearsal or Special Topics workshop
5:30 Dinner
7:30 Evviva! faculty concert or
Student concer
Cristy Lynn Brown (mezzo-soprano, Workshop Coordinator) has performed with opera companies throughout the United States. Her comic and dramatic character interpretations have been enjoyed at Dayton Opera, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Opera Carolina, and Piedmont Opera. She is also well known as a concert singer throughout the Midwest and South performing with orchestras in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Indiana and Ohio in such works as Verdi’s “Requiem”, Handel’s Messiah, and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah”. Miss Brown has taught at Indiana University, North Carolina School of the Arts, and High Point University.
Marion Pratnicki (mezzo-soprano) made her operatic debut in the 1982 Opera Theatre of Rochester production of The Barber of Seville as Berta. Since then, the Long Island native has appeared with over thirty opera companies throughout the United States and Canada, most frequently in her specialty, a variety of over 45 character roles. In 2007, Miss Pratnicki celebrated her 25th year as an opera singer, appearing most recently as Alisa in Louisville Opera's Lucia di Lammermoor, and as a soloist with Grand Rapids Symphony for Mahler's Second Resurrection Symphony. Miss Pratnicki is an artist-faculty member at The North Carolina School of the Arts and has served as a member of the voice faculty at both Indiana University, from which she received her Master of Music degree, and at Western Michigan University where she was Artist in Residence from 1987-1990.
Jonathan Sidden (tenor) recently performed the role of the Stage Manager in the Southeastern premiere of Ned Rorem’s opera Our Town. He sang the role of King Kaspar in last season’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors with Piedmont Opera. Mr. Sidden was a resident artist and New Century Fellow at the famed Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. While at the Academy of Vocal Arts he worked with Christofer Macatsoris, Bill Schuman, Danielle Orlando, Tom Krause, and Laura Ward, and with Metropolitan Opera coaches Howard Watkins and the late Walter Taussig. He is currently a semi-finalist in the International Wagner Competition. Mr. Sidden was a Regional Finalist in the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeastern Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Mr. Sidden, a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, was recently honored by Yale University as a Distinguished Music Educator for his work with the public schools.
John Mark Swink, a native of Rockingham, North Carolina, graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1993 with a Master of Music in Opera Performance degree. Swink performed many operatic roles in regional houses across the country including: Des Moines Metro Opera, Pamiro Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera Carolina, and Piedmont Opera. In 1994, he turned his attention to musical theatre. After moving to New York, Swink was cast in several leading roles: Tommy (Brigadoon), Lancelot (Camelot), Frank (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers), Freddy (My Fair Lady), Gerald (Me and My Girl), Cratchitt (A Christmas Carol), James (Shenandoah), Joe (Most Happy Fella), and Cable (South Pacific). His credits also include a live NPR broadcast of the American premiere of Paul McCartney’s oratorio, Standing Stone, at Carnegie Hall. Since returning to North Carolina in 2004, Swink has served as a voice instructor at High Point University, and currently heads the Theatre Arts department at Parkland Magnet High School.
Soprano Marilyn Taylor (guest master class) received operatic training from Virginia Zeani, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni and Giorgio Tozzi at Indiana University. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, has sung leading operatic roles with several Opera companies including Des Moines Metro Opera, Dayton Opera, Kentucky Opera, Nashville Opera, Piedmont Opera, and Lyric Opera Kansas City. Orchestral and concert engagements include the Bonn Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Alba Music Festival (Italy), the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Flannéries Musicales d’été de Reims, the Winston-Salem Symphony, and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, among others. She has enjoyed collaborations with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Robert Ward, William Bolcom and John Harbison, as well as with NCSA composers Kenneth Frazelle and Lawrence Dillon. Recordings include a recently released DVD of Roman Fever by Robert Ward, a solo CD entitled Return: Art Songs of Carolina on the Albany label, as well as recordings with G. Schirmer and Koch. Ms. Taylor was a winner of a George London grant and received a generous career grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. In 1992 she joined the Artist Faculty of the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she serves as Chair of the Voice Department. She is pleased to see her students performing at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere throughout the world. In 2005 she received her Doctorate in Music from Indiana University in Bloomington.
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