CHAPTER MEETING: October 23rd @ 2pm @ Katzen Arts Center at American University
The MDDC NATS Chapter Meeting will be held on Sunday, October 23 at Katzen Arts Center at American University.
This date was not picked randomly, but rather to coincide (well, almost) with World Opera Day, which is Tuesday, October 25. The theme of World Opera Day this year is Unboxing Opera. On a basic level, this involves watching opera videos on that Tuesday, and taking opera "out of the box" - out of the opera house, the box seats, and onto people's devices (which, if you think about it, is another sort of box).
But on another level, this is about breaking free of standard ideas about opera - as the World Opera Day website says, “‘unboxing opera’ evokes the idea of bringing it out of a rigid place and suggests to break [sic] the limits of the art form.”
One place where the limits of the art form have been broken over and over again is Germany. MDDC NATS is delighted to bring in Patrick Cook to talk about his journey as an unmanaged singer making a career in Berlin with Deutsche Oper Berlin. Patrick is no stranger to the MDDC area - he was born in Pasadena, Maryland, went to high school at the Baltimore School of the Arts, did his DMA at UMCP, performed with WNO, and is a previous winner of the Washington DC district of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He will be performing in Elektra at WNO this season, and happens to be in town the day of our meeting!
Patrick will be addressing such topics as:
audition tours
expected repertoire and the fach system
working in the fest system
expat entrepreneurship
There are many opportunities we can offer our students both in and out of this country, and Patrick is the perfect person to tell us all about how to maximize these opportunities and explore outside the "box."
We hope you will join us. It promises to be entertaining and informative! While the meeting is open only to membership, the event will be free and open to the public and we encourage you to spread the word!