A whirlwind Italian Butterfly for CU grad student
Anna Englander to sing with professional Opera Futura to kick off exchange
Singing in your first professional opera is challenge enough. Throw in a 12-hour, trans-Atlantic flight and a mere two days of rehearsal time with two different conductors and youve got a grand task indeed.
But thats just what University of Colorado College of Music student Anna Englander will face in January when she travels to Italy to sing the key role of Suzuki for three performances of Puccinis classic泭Madama Butterfly泭in three different cities.
Ill probably still be a little jet-lagged, says Englander, 22, a mezzo-soprano who received her bachelors degree from CU and is now in pursuing a masters degree. Ill just drink a little coffee and get to work.
Englander is the first CU student to participate in a new collaboration between the college and Opera Futura, a Verona-based production company. Leigh Holman, director of CU Opera, Dean Dan Sher and Opera Futura President Paolo Panizza recently finalized plans for a series of exchanges in the coming year.
Weve begun a really wonderful relationship, says Holman, who recently returned from co-directing泭Madama Butterfly泭with Panizza.
Massimo Alessio Taddia, a conductor with Opera Futura, visited Boulder earlier this year and introduced Panizza to Holman. Panizza will return in 2013 to direct泭La Boheme, Holman says. In turn, she will travel to Italy to put an American flair on Verdis泭Un ballo in maschera泭(A Masked Ball).
Perhaps most important, she says, two more students from the college will perform with Opera Futura in Italy.
Its really a great opportunity for our students, Holman says. Theyll be learning about opera in the birthplace of opera.
Meanwhile, Englander says shes taking advantage of resources on this side of the Atlantic to remotely prepare for her performances. She has been carefully studying a DVD of the touring production and working with vocal coach泭Mutsumi Moteki泭on such things as diction and other artistic details.
Ill be completely prepared by the time I get there to review the staging, she says.
Englander met Opera Futura conductor Massimo Taddia in Boulder. He contacted her in September via Facebook to ask if she would be interested in performing in Italy.
Its really a big step from university productions to a professional one abroad. Its exciting, though its a little scary sometimes, she says.
A native of Hungary who moved to the United States at age 12, Englander says shes also pleased that members of her extended European family will be able to see her perform for the first time.
She came to classical training late and wasnt involved in music at all until she joined her high school jazz choir, where another student told her, Your voice sounds like a classical voice; it has that timbre. She took the bait, began training and soon was winning competitions and being cast in various roles.
She started her college career at the University of Southern California, but transferred to Boulder when her father, Associate Professor of Mathematics Janos Englander, took a faculty position at CU.
Being from Europe, I really didnt like Los Angeles; just the fact that you couldnt walk anywhere, she says. Im so much happier at CU. My singing has improved drastically because I am so inspired my Boulder. I just love looking at the mountains and being in nature while thinking about my pieces and arias.
Still, she never expected to be given an opportunity to perform with a professional touring company in Europe when she came to CU.
I really hope the College of Music is able to continue this amazing collaboration, so other singers will have the opportunity to do something this special, she says.