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  All Hands on Deck

  Butler School of Music in Texas offers a unique cooperative experience.
  By Dona D. Vaughn 
  
  
  Eugene Onegin at Butler, with DMA candidates Mikhail Smigelski and Zoe Chunghui Kim as Onegin and Tatiana
  © Nathan
  ON JANUARY 1, 2019, the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin announced the appointment of Dr. Tamara Sanikidze as the first woman director of the Butler Opera Center. Trained as a concert pianist in her native country of Georgia, she has a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Maryland and is an official pianist for Plácido Domingo’s Operalia. Sanikidze is passionate about opera and the training of opera singers. opera news met with her to discuss the performance opportunities guaranteed to singers in the Opera Performance program, and the unique approach that makes training in opera at Butler different from training at other schools and conservatories.
  OPERA NEWS: You have created a lot of excitement since taking leadership of the Opera Center. 
  TAMARA SANIKIDZE: It’s been a whirlwind! We had Maestro James Conlon [music director of LA Opera] in residence for a master class and to help celebrate the Opera Center’s fifteenth anniversary by conducting the spring production of Eugene Onegin. We have continued our Master Class with the Artist collaboration with Austin Opera and completed the search for a new stage director with the appointment of Ecuadorian director Chia Patino to the position of stage director of the Opera Center. 
  

  Aarianna Longino (MM) and Heather Lewis (BM) as Onegin’s Larina and Filippyevna © Nathan Russell

  ON: Each year during the college application process, we hear singers getting excited about the possibility of studying opera at the Butler Opera Center.
  TS:  They get excited because they are guaranteed roles. We offer a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in opera performance with a true emphasis on performance. We select the singers we want for both degrees, and there is no worrying about whether or not they will ever be cast in a production; if they are a part of the program, they are going to be doing a role. This year we have fourteen singers. Those who are pursuing a master’s degree in opera performance usually sing two or three roles during their time with us, while singers in the DMA program sing five roles. Sometimes there are exciting extenuating circumstances. We recently had a mezzo-soprano graduate who sang nine roles in three years.
  ON: I know of no other opera program offering anything comparable to the unique cooperative program in which your opera students participate when they are not performing in their major field of study.
  TS: We want our students to have a total training experience, so they know what is required to produce opera around the world. Originally designed by Dr. Robert DeSimone—recently retired as professor of music and director of opera—the program requires opera students to be involved in all aspects of a production. For example, the soprano who sang in The Telephone may not be singing in the next production; she might be working on costumes, or helping with hair and makeup. The tenor who sang the role of Tito in La Clemenza di Tito might be found working with the stage crew in the next production or running a spotlight. We use singers who are not performing onstage to fill production positions we might need.
  

  Liu working lights for Eugene Onegin © Nathan Russell

  ON: Is this also a requirement for student stage directors and coaches?
  TS: Indeed it is. This year we have four directors and five coaches. Our stage directors not only are kept busy studying Italian, French and German; they direct operas that are entirely their own. They are fully in charge of staging, set design, costumes and lights. What better experience for an aspiring director than to have been an assistant stage manager or worked backstage as a stagehand? The same is true of our student opera coaches. Coming from a background of playing piano and coaching, I fully understand how demanding and difficult it is to be a successful opera coach. Coaches study Italian, French and German. They must be able to write and converse in Italian, French, German and English. This requirement is nonnegotiable. As a result, in any given production our student coaches can be found prompting singers or running supertitles. Perhaps they will work with front-of-house management or be an usher. I want our Opera Performance students to know the nuts and bolts of what it takes to run an opera house and produce an opera.
  

  Longino and Lewis in makeup © Nathan Russell

  ON: Any complaints about having to do these jobs?
  TS: We do not foster a competitive environment, so there are no stars. Because we keep our enrollment small and offer so many opportunities for working in their declared fields of study, students have not complained about having to do other duties or about a lack of opportunities.
  ON: What are your students looking forward to in the upcoming school year?
  TS:  We have an exciting season planned, with productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park, Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the Screw, and L’Elisir d’Amore. In addition to our Master Class with the Artist series with Austin Opera, we will present our own master classes with visiting guest artists. For even more excitement, there is always a mystery to be solved in discovering what the students who are not performing onstage will be doing backstage! 
  Dona D. Vaughn is artistic director of Opera Maine and artistic director of opera theater at Manhattan School of Music.
  
  
  

  Plácido Domingo Accused of Sexual Harassment; LA Opera to Launch Investigation

  THE ASSOCIATED PRESS published a story today in which Plácido Domingo is accused of sexually harassing several women or attempting to pressure them into sexual relationships by using the promise of career development, and professionally retaliating against the women if they refused his advances.
  The article reports that the performers claim they were harassed in encounters beginning in the late 1980s and reportedly taking place at opera companies where Domingo held administrative positions. Seven of the nine women who spoke to AP reporter Jocelyn Gecker claim that their careers had been adversely affected after rejecting Domingo's advances, "with some saying that roles he promised never materialized and several noting that while they went on to work with other companies, they were never hired to work with him again," the article states.
  Domingo issued a statement to the Associated Press saying: “The allegations from these unnamed individuals dating back as many as thirty years are deeply troubling, and as presented, inaccurate. Still, it is painful to hear that I may have upset anyone or made them feel uncomfortable — no matter how long ago and despite my best intentions. I believed that all of my interactions and relationships were always welcomed and consensual. People who know me or who have worked with me know that I am not someone who would intentionally harm, offend, or embarrass anyone."
  Following the publication of the story, LA Opera, where Domingo serves as General Director, announced that it intended to launch an investigation. "We believe all employees and artists should be treated respectfully and feel safe and secure within their work environment," read a statement published to LA Opera's Twitter account. "LA Opera has robust human resources policies and procedures in place. In accordance with those policies, LA Opera will engage outside counsel to investigate the concerning allegations about Plácido Domingo."
  "Plácido Domingo has been a dynamic creative force in the life of LA Opera and the artistic culture of Los Angeles for more than three decades," the statement continued. "Nevertheless, we are committed to doing everything we can to foster a professional and collaborative environment where all our employees and artists feel equally comfortable, valued and respected."
  On Tuesday afternoon, the Metropolitan Opera issued a statement to NPR saying that it intends to wait for the results of LA Opera's investigation before determining next steps. "We take accusations of sexual harassment and abuse of power with extreme seriousness," read the statement. "We will await the results of the investigation into Plácido Domingo's behavior as head of the Los Angeles Opera before making any final decisions about Mr. Domingo's ultimate future at the Met. It should be noted that during his career at the Met as a guest artist, Mr. Domingo has never been in a position to influence casting decisions for anyone other than himself." Domingo is scheduled to sing the title role in Verdi's Macbeth and the role of Sharpless in performances of Madama Butterfly at the Met next season.
  San Francisco Opera, which had scheduled an October 6 concert featuring Domingo, announced that it has canceled that performance citing the reports of multiple allegations of sexual harassment. "Though the alleged incidents reported did not take place at San Francisco Opera, the company is unable to present the artist on the War Memorial Opera House stage," read a statement issued by the company. 

• Guatemalan Soprano Adriana Gonzalez and Spanish Tenor Xabier Anduaga Take Top Prizes at This Year's Operalia Competition

  
  

  Gonzalez, Domingo and Anduaga following the finals of this year's Operalia Competition in Prague José Domingo

  GUATEMALAN SOPRANO Adriana Gonzalez, 27, and Spanish tenor Xabier Anduaga, 24, both won the top prizes in the general division as well as the Zarzuela portion of this year’s Operalia competition finals, which took place in Prague on Friday night.
  American soprano Felicia Moore, 31, and Swedish soprano Christina Nilsson, 29, were both named as the winners of the competition’s Birgit Nilsson Prize, which is awarded to a singer or singers who perform repertoire by Richard Strauss or Wagner during the competition.
  The competition’s final round, which was streamed live on medici.tv and Facebook, featured twelve singers performing one aria each alongside a full orchestra conducted by Plácido Domingo at Prague’s National Theater. Singers competing in Operalia's Zarzuela category also presented a zarzuela aria. A jury of ten distinguished opera experts adjudicated the competition.
  In total, Gonzalez and Anduaga will each depart from the competition with $40,000, while Moore and Nilsson will receive $15,000 each for the Nilsson prizes.
  Russian mezzo Maria Kataeva, 32, was named as the second-prize winner among the women in the general division, and South Korean baritone Gihoon Kim, 27, was named as the second-prize winner among the men; each will receive $20,000. Christina Nilsson and German-American countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, 25, were named as the recipients of the competition’s third prizes and will receive $10,000 prizes each.
  Kataeva and Kim were also named as the recipients of the competition’s Audience prize, for which they will each receive a a Rolex wristwatch. Anna Shapovalova, 31, was named as the winner of the CulturArte Prize, amounting to $10,000, which each year is chosen and offered by Bertita & Guillermo Martinez from CulturArte de Puerto Rico
  The twelve finalists who performed on Friday were selected from forty young singers who traveled to Prague to take part in two days of quarterfinals beginning on July 21. Founded in 1993 by Domingo to discover and launch the careers of young singers of every voice type from every country, Operalia annually receives some 1,000 applications from artists between the ages of 18 and 32 at the time of entry. A jury of three opera professionals assesses every recording, and the top forty singers are invited to participate in the competition, which each year is located in a different international host city. This year’s Operalia was the twenty-seventh edition of the competition.
  Past Operalia winners include Joseph Calleja, Giuseppe Filianoti, Rolando Villazón, José Cura, Joyce DiDonato, Susanna Phillips, Nina Stemme, Elizabeth Futral, Ana María Martínez, Olga Peretyatko, Lisette Oropesa, Angel Blue, Sonya Yoncheva, Ryan McKinny, Pretty Yende, René Barbera, Janai Brugger, Anthony Roth Costanzo and Aida Garifullina.