Opera Philadelphia & Temple University Announce Major Partnership
By David Salazar(Credit: Ray Bailey)
Opera Philadelphia and Temple University have announced a new partnership that will encompass new opera recordings, student entrepreneurship opportunities, and expanded educational programming.
Through the collaboration, Temple’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, the home to BCM&D Records and its five Grammy nominations, will produce and release recordings of new operas that receive world premieres in Philadelphia. The partnership will also create opportunities for students from Temple’s School of Theater, Film and Media Arts to gain hands-on experience in arts marketing and administration. Temple voice students will also have the opportunity to attend rehearsals, take part in master classes with visiting artists, and cover small roles with the company.
“Our students will benefit tremendously from the unique experiences provided by this partnership with Opera Philadelphia. To start, voice students will have opportunities to engage in master classes, attend rehearsals to see developing new productions, and even cover small roles with the company, while some of our music technology students will gain hands-on experience in producing live recordings. This opens up new possibilities and provides key engagements with a groundbreaking opera company,” said Robert Stroker, vice provost for the arts and Joslyn G. Ewart Dean of Temple’s Center for the Performing and Cinematic Arts, per an official press release.
“The visionary way Temple approaches creating opportunities for their students represents the forward-facing, multi-disciplinary training that leads to real success. I see so many points of intersection with our ‘Opera, but different’ way of doing things,” added Anthony Roth Costanzo, General Director & President of Opera Philadelphia. “This partnership generates synergies that support students and artists alike and simultaneously can build new audiences for the arts—by providing students real-world opportunities to engage with the creative process and learn alongside some of today’s most innovative performers and creators at a crucial stage of their education. This partnership builds on Opera Philadelphia’s many recent collaborations from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the Four Seasons Hotel to the Wanamaker Building. As our reach, venues, and performance opportunities continue to grow, I am excited to find opportunities to bring to bear the incredible talent Temple students have to offer and help show it to the city and the world. Any Owls fan would surely agree that it will be a hoot.”
The two organizations have already begun collaborating, having recorded the February world premiere of “Complications in Sue.” In April, they will record “Sleepers Awake,” a new opera by composer Gregory Spears, at the historic Academy of Music. Both recordings will be released through BCM&D Records.
The collaboration coincides with Temple’s acquisition of Terra Hall, the former main academic building of the University of the Arts, where Boyer College of Music and Dance are slated to have a significant presence.
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