MSO Guest Artist Residency Fund
Our new conductor, Dr. Debra Lynn, is a great proponent of artist residencies and has brought several artists-in-residence (such as Grammy-winning baritone Daniel Belcher) to engage our community. Dr. Lynn states: "Appearances by guest artists typically involve one dress rehearsal and a single performance within a 48-hour time span. While these result in wonderful performances, the opportunities for gleaning in-depth insights from these extraordinarily gifted musicians are quite limited."
In reference to last season's artist residencies with MET Opera director Kathleen Smith Belcher and Stewart Copeland, composer and drummer of The Police, Alan Chambers had this to say: "The Invention of Morel was an amazing feather in the cap of the Northern Indiana arts scene. Dr. Lynn and her A-list artistic and technical teams achieved something truly wonderful for any community, the perfect synergy of vision, design, and execution I have seldom seen, even from professional companies in Chicago, New York, and London. Oh, to have more such projects which bring local and national talent together!"
This new fund will make it possible to bring national and international musicians for annual week-long residencies, consistently raising the artistic bar of excellence and bringing the wider world to our community through multiple engaging activities including:
- Interaction with the orchestra and conductor beyond the dress rehearsal and performance
- Outreach to K-12 students through school visits or field trips to campus
- Master classes for area high school or college/university students.
- Recital performances of solo works (in addition to the MSO concert)
Donors ($1,000 minimum) to this special fund will be invited (with a guest) to a formal dinner and soirée type mini concert with the guest artist. Donors will also be invited to attend the MSO dress rehearsal and appear with the artists and conductor in a post-concert reception line.
This year's guest artists: Married Operatic Duo Jamie Chamberlin and Nathan Granner from LA Opera will bring cultural diversity to the Cordier stage with the world premiere of Trinidad composer Dominique Le Gendre's "Songs of the Islands" on our May 16 concert.
ArtsInLA
hailed Jamie as "jaw-dropping" while LA Weekly deemed her a "superhuman
soprano." A gifted interpreter of new music, Chamberlin garnered
national attention in 2015 when she was selected to portray Marilyn
Monroe in the US premiere of Gavin Bryars' Marilyn Forever
at Long Beach Opera. A Delos recording artist, one of Ms.
Chamberlin's goals is to help opera embrace the work of composers of
color.
Nathan
is a world-renowned leading tenor, specializing in Contemporary Opera
and late Bel Canto repertoire. The San Francisco Chronicle described his
singing as "possessing a sinewy, ringing tone; splendidly flexible."
Nathan has premiered roles in numerous operas, and his work as a Sony
Classical recording artist and a founding member of The American Tenors,
has sent him touring extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Russia.
