Yale Opera prepares for Fall Opera Scenes programs

Shortly after arriving at the Yale School of Music to study in the Yale Opera program, ascendant vocalists are handed an envelope containing the repertoire they're expected to learn and memorize for the Fall Opera Scenes performances. This year, those concerts take place on November 3 and November 4 and feature excerpts from classic and contemporary operas.

The repertoire is chosen by faculty soprano and Yale Opera Artistic Director Doris Yarick-Cross and YSM faculty bass-baritone Richard Cross with each student's development in mind. That approach, Yarick-Cross said, is "how we can best get them ready for their future. We choose the roles that we feel will give them the best opportunity to progress.

"What we try to do is give them the tools to be professionals," Yarick-Cross said. "Our students get hired because they're prepared."

And that means going beyond the vocal parts, "to break through inhibitions," Cross said. "To become a convincing character on stage" isn't just about singing and acting, he said. "It's also internalizing the repertoire" -- "to get them into the habit of meeting the demands" that will be placed on them throughout their careers, Yarick-Cross added.

As much as the repertoire for the Fall Opera Scenes programs is chosen with pedagogy in mind, the Yale Opera audience is also part of the programming equation. While "La Bohème is perfect for young singers," Cross said, pointing out that the characters in that opera are themselves young, it's long been an audience favorite, too. Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, based on Sister Helen Prejean's 1993 book of the same title, has been appreciated by audiences since its premiere in 2000 at the San Francisco Opera. The New Haven audience, Yarick-Cross said, will be "overwhelmed by the Heggie." Likewise, she said, the first act of Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos will appeal to local concertgoers. "I think they will really like it," Yarick-Cross said. "It will be new to most of them. There's a lot going on" and "There is some wonderful singing."

On Friday and Saturday, November 3 and November 4, the Yale Opera presents performances of scenes from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni, Heggie's Dead Man Walking, Massenet's Cendrillon, Puccini's La Bohème, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, and Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos.