- Nelly Apt
Scholarship
- Winner 2006
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Report on the
International Vocal Arts Institute
(2008)
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Andrew Finden
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The
summer programme in Tel Aviv-Yafo was an amazing and rewarding
experience. Not only was it a great place to spend a summer
month, but the opportunities, training, teachers, coaches and my
fellow participants were fantastic. It was great to have fellow
Nelly Apt winner Natalie Aroyan there also.
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We worked from Sunday through till Friday lunchtime, with
concerts or master-classes most nights, including Saturday
evenings after the Shabat (Sabbath). We worked at a music school
near the old city of Yafo (Jaffa), and stayed in a hotel on the
beach front in an area called Teleyat. The school happened to be
next to a rather large soccer stadium, which made it easy for
taxi drivers to find! The work load was quite intense. I worked
vocally with the great Swedish baritone Håken Hagegård, and also
the American mezzo Mignon Dunn, both wonderful people. Håken was
particularly helpful guiding me through repertoire which he has
had a vast amount of experience with. I was also very fortunate
to have the chance to coach with Joan Dornemann, Robert Cowart,
Benton Hess and Claude Webster. It was great to make contact
with such eminent people in the industry, and to learn from
them.
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I
sang in two master-classes, with Joan and with Håken, and in the
Mozart and Bel Canto concerts. I sang in two of the orchestral
concerts with the Israel Chamber Orchestra under Maestro Paul
Nadler from the Met, the first was an outdoor concert in Jaffa
Park where I sang Largo al factotum from Rossini's Il Barbiere
to an audience of over 1500, and then the Malatesta & Norina
duet from Donizetti's Don Pasquale in the Gala Concert at the
beautiful Israeli Opera House. During the soundcheck in the park
I had the unique experience of being accompanied not only by the
orchestra, but by the call to prayer from a nearby mosque! The
audiences at all of the classes and concerts were very
supportive and encouraging.
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Thomas Hampson was in town singing with the Israeli
Philharmonic, and he called in to see Joan and gave an impromptu
class, in which I was very fortunate to be able to sing for him.
He also arranged for us to have free tickets to his concert that
evening.
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One of the most rewarding experiences of the programme was being
involved in one of the operas. There were five operas being
performed this year: Die Zauberflöte (Mozart), Lucia di
Lammermoor (Donizetti), Zanetto & L'Amico Fritz (Mascagni), and
the opera I was involved with, Little Women by Mark Adamo.
Little Women, based on the Louisa May Alcott novel, is the most
popular American opera in the world today, with over 60
productions since its première at Houston Grand Opera in 1998,
which means it is a fantastic piece to have in my repertoire.
This was the Israeli première, and I sang the role of Mr Brooke,
and I will definitely be using his aria as an audition piece in
the future. Our conductor Brian DeMaris and our director
Lawrence Edelson were both wonderful to work with, and there was
not a dry eye in the house at the end. The big bonus was working
with the composer, Mark Adamo, who managed to spend a week with
us. Our cast was fantastic, and by the end we felt like the
family we were portraying on stage. Mark Adamo seemed impressed
with the way I sang the role and managed its high tessitura, and
a number of the teachers commented that it sat in my voice so
well it sounded like it could have been written for me! I do
hope to have the opportunity to perform this role again.
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The heavy schedule was tiring, but taught me a great deal about
pacing my voice and being ready to just get up and sing, even
after a long day of rehearsals. I still had a little bit of free
time to go to Jerusalem for a day, swim in the Mediterranean and
eat some of the amazing local food! In fact, as I sit in my room
in a cold and gloomy London “summer” I wish I was back in Tel
Aviv!
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Thank-you so much to the Nelly Apt Scholarship and the
Australian Singing Competition for this wonderful opportunity! I
gained so much and grew as an artist so much, and I hope to be
able to return to the IVAI programme in Tel Aviv again in the
future.
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