Druid City Opera Workshop Set for May 29

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Opera Theatre is hitting the high notes—and the low ones, too—when it hosts the fifth annual performance of the Druid City Opera Workshop Thursday, May 29 at 7 p.m. in Bryant-Jordan Hall on UA’s campus.

The 22 workshop performers include undergraduates, graduate students, and young and seasoned professional singers and pianists from across the country. These individuals were chosen from 100 applicants to attend the weeklong opera theatre intensive, which is under the leadership of Paul Houghtaling, director of opera theatre at UA.

“This workshop prepares students to get to the next level of their educational or professional career,” Houghtaling said. “It gives them experience and knowledge that they would not have received otherwise.”

Throughout the week, the students learn various performance techniques such as acting, dance movement, stage combat, improvisation and music business from a faculty of well-known artists, teachers and scholars drawn from around the U.S., including the School of Music teaching artists Susan Fleming and Kevin Chance.

More than 70 students have participated in this pre-professional program and have been accepted into prominent graduate school programs and excelled in professional endeavors after completing the intensive. Houghtaling said this program launches talented students into their desired occupation.

“This workshop prepares students to get to the next level of their educational or professional career,” he said. “It gives them experience and knowledge that they would not have received otherwise.”

Performances include opera scenes and arias, and the event, held in the building located on part of UA’s Bryce Campus, is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the UA Opera Theatre website at http://music.ua.edu/departments/opera/.

UA’s School of Music is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, Truman Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.