A Contributor Newsletter

October 2016

Seagle Music Colony celebrated its fifth consecutive early fall outreach season in September and October of 2016. This program, begun in 2012, employs four summer SMC artists, and produces a children’s opera that tours directly to schools across the North Country. The program also produces a revue that is performed both in Schroon Lake and throughout the region. This year’s troupe of singers performed Jack and the Beanstalk for sixteen North Country schools ranging from Chazy, north of Plattsburg, all the way to Glens Falls and just about everywhere in between. The revue show Great Songs & Great Singers increased its number of performances in 2016 to six which included a return to the Lake Placid Center for the Arts as well as a trip across Lake Champlain to a brand new venue for SMC, Town Hall Theater in Middlebury, VT. The early fall season performances were enjoyed by young and old and the resident singers enjoyed seeing the seasons turn while in Schroon Lake.

August 2015 World Premiere

Production of Roscoe a Success

Seagle Music Colony started its second century with 32 incredibly talented emerging artists taking part in a well attended and well received season of musical theater and opera performances. A highlight of the 101st anniversary season was the August 3-6 run of the world premiere production of Roscoe by composer Evan Mack and librettist Joshua McGuire, based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning Albany author William Kennedy. This brand new opera was skillfully put together by the renowned Seagle Music Colony staff, and performed to much acclaim by the 2016 SMC Emerging Artists. New audience members, many from the Albany area, were introduced to Seagle Music Colony for the first time thanks to some great publicity through radio interviews on North Country Public Radio, Sue Ford’s Art’s Beat in Glens Falls, and on The Roundtable which airs on WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany. A stunning review of the opera by Anthony Radford of the National Opera Association called the opera “a model of what a good American opera is”, and praised not only the opera itself, but the production as well. The reviewer continued that “Richard Kagey’s staging was quite honestly brilliant”, and made particular note of many of the singers including Lauren Cook playing the

character of Veronica Fitzgibbon saying, “Lauren Cook is the kind of actress who, when she is on the stage, you know it.” Four near capacity audiences enjoyed the opera and the opening night audience also enjoyed a champagne reception after the performance in the Shames Rehearsal Studio where they were able to meet the opera’s creators, the cast and crew, and William Kennedy himself, who was thrilled to be able to see his novel come to life on the operatic stage. The production of this Seagle Music Colony world premiere was sponsored in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a second in as many years from the endowment supporting SMC’s continuing work in fostering the development and performance of newly created operas. The success of the premiere and the new audiences that it attracted have inspired the board and management staff of Seagle Music Colony to further focus the annual programming on new or recently completed works (see article inside and season announcement on the back).

Seagle Music Colony Mission Statement:

To identify, train and develop gifted singers, and to present

quality opera and musical theatre performances to the public.

Above: 2016 Emerging Artists Kyle White and Megan Callahan

in The Music Man

Early Fall Season Continues to Grow

2016 Emerging Artists Jon Oakley and Johnny Salvesen in Roscoe

High Notes

October 2016

Spotlight on Young Artist Alumni

Hailey Clark - soprano Hailey Clark, an SMC artist in 2009 and 2010, was thrilled to be the honored alumna at the 2016 Patrice Munsel Gala, and those that were able to attend were thrilled to see and hear her as well. Since her time at the Colony, Hailey has continued a steadily progressing international career to much acclaim. During this 2016-2017 season, she will make debuts at Stuttgart Opera and

Central City Opera as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. Also this season, she returns to Florida Grand Opera as Michaela in Carmen, to the Salzburger Landestheater as Musetta in La Bohéme, and to North Carolina Opera as Freia in Das Reingold. Recently relocating to Vienna, she made her European debut in the 2015-16 season in Salzburg as Alma Beers in the Austrian premiere of Brokeback Mountain by Charles Wuorien. She was also seen at Opera Naples as Norina in Don Pasquale, at Florida Grand Opera as Fiordiligi, at Opera on the James as Michaela, and at

North Carolina Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Since her two years at Seagle Music Colony, Hailey completed her Master of Music degree at the University of Michigan, was a part of the summer program at Opera Saratoga, and spent two summers at the prestigious Santa Fe Opera apprentice program. She’s also made debuts around the country including Fort Worth Opera, where she played Dika/Alecto in Adamo’s Lysistrata, and Leila in Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. If you’d like to keep up with Hailey’s busy career, please explore her website haileyclarksoprano.com.

Each year your gifts help support the program that attracts exceptionally talented emerging artists to Seagle Music Colony. In this and subsequent issues of High Notes we spotlight alumni who are achieving success in their chosen fields.

Above: The ladies of The Elixir of Love, 2016

(above) Exterior Rendering of the new

building

(right) Richard Kagey, Assemblyman Dan Stec, Darren K.

Woods, Senator Betty Little and Tony

Kostecki break ground

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on July 14, 2016 for the first new campus building at Seagle Music Colony since 2005. New York State Senator Betty Little, New York Assemblyman Dan Stec, Schroon Town Supervisor Michael Marnell as well as Town Council members and Seagle Music Colony board members were on hand as ground was broken on a new 9-bedroom faculty/staff housing unit. “We are bursting at the seams each summer as we continue to increase production staff, and this building will alleviate much of the overcrowding we currently have in many of the existing cabins,” said General Director Tony Kostecki. The situation was exacerbated when the cabin affectionately called “Chipmunk” reached a point last year when it was no longer suitable for habitation, dutifully serving for eighty-plus years. During the 2016 season, faculty and staff were doubled up in many cabins with little breathing room and personal space. The construction schedule calls for the new building to be opened in time for use during the 2017 season. The building will include nine bedrooms on a upper and walk-out basement level, three bathrooms, a great room which will include a full kitchen, and a screened porch. The kitchen is being included for

use of the current early fall outreach program and any other future program expansions that might need cooking facilities before or after the main kitchen is open. The location of the new building is in the large field between the White House and the Treger House on the north side of Charley Hill Road. The building is being partially funded by a grant from the New York State Regional Economic Development Council, and a grant from the Charles R. Wood Foundation. Seagle Music Colony will be soliciting for additional funding in support of the building over the course of the coming year. If you are interested in making a gift in exchange for naming opportunities as part of this project, please contact General Director Tony Kostecki at 518-532-7875 or tony@seaglecolony.org.

Groundbreaking Held for New Faculty

Housing Unit on SMC Campus

High Notes

October 2016

Below is a sampling of where SMC alumni have sung or made debuts in 2015 and 2016

UNITED STATES

Santa Fe Opera: Andrew Simpson Glimmerglass Opera: Vanessa Becerra, Emma Grimsley, Michael Miller, Mary Beth Nelson, Maren Weinberger Houston Grand Opera: Megan Samarin, Reggie Smith Jr. Chicago Lyric Opera: Juan José de León San Diego Opera: Alissa Anderson Opera Saratoga: Edith Grossman, Courtney Miller, Clara Nieman Wolf Trap Opera: Jonas Hacker, Kerriann Otaño, Reggie Smith, Jr., Clay Thompson Chautauqua Opera: Quinn Bernegger, Rachael Braunstein, Ryan Stoll Central City Opera: Stephen Clark, Anna Laurenzo, Eric McConnell Des Moines Metro Opera: Michael Adams, Nathan Mattingly, Jack Swanson Utah Opera: Andrea Carroll, Seth Mease Carico Opera Company of Middlebury: Tascha Anderson, Anna Bridgman, Lauren Cook, Blake Jennings, Heather Jones, Garrett Obrycki Nashville Opera: Javier Abreu, Emma Grimsley, Ian McEuen Fort Worth Opera: Brett Bode, Cristina Maria Castro, Anna Laurenzo, Trevor Martin, Sean Panikkar, Johnny Salvesen, Tyler Simpson, Clay Thompson, Maren Weinberger Tri-Cities Opera: Quinn Bernegger, Eric Frei, Mary Beth Nelson Mill City Opera: David Blalock, Jeni Houser Utah Festival Opera: Cristina Maria Castro Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions: Finalist: Jonas Hacker; Semi-finalists: Jeff Byrnes, Kerriann Otaño; District Winner: Zhiguang Hong; Encouragement: Tevyn Hill, Clay Thompson

INTERNATIONAL

Deutche Oper Berlin: Michael Adams, Seth Mease Carico Frankfurt: Michael Porter Salzburg: Hailey Clark Israeli Opera, Opera Australia & Opera de Paris: Juan José de León

Alumni News

SMC Guild news The Seagle Music Colony Guild continues as a vital support organization to Seagle Music Colony. This year, the Guild’s extraordinary fundraising efforts allowed them to make a record $16,000 contribution to the scholarship fund. They also continue to volunteer at performances and adopt the emerging artists each year to make them feel at home while they are at the Colony. Mark your calendars now for the Guild’s 2017 special luncheon on Wednesday, August 9, 2017. SMC Alumni Association A special committee of the SMC Board of Directors has been charged with formally establishing a Seagle Music Colony Alumni Association, under the auspices of Seagle Music Colony, Inc. The goals of the Alumni Association will be to engage SMC alumni to remain involved in and informed about the programs of Seagle Music Colony after their summer experience, and also to help financially support the Colony as they are able. A preliminary effort at the end of 2016 helped raised enough funds for a full alumni scholarship for one of the 2016 SMC Emerging Artists and the association hopes to continue this pattern into the future.

SMC News Notes

The Most Happy Fella 2016

Left: Kevin Bryant and Heather Jones

Right: Ryan Hill

Due in part to the successful world premiere of Roscoe in 2016, its draw of new audience members, and the incredible experience working with a living composer creates for the SMC artists, SMC artistic staff went in search of yet another opera premiere for the 2017 season. Seagle Music Colony is excited to announce that it will produce the premiere piano-vocal production of Hershel Garfein’s opera Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, July 19-22, 2017. The opera, which has been in the works for over 15 years, has had numerous partially staged workshops and concert readings during its developmental period. This piano-vocal premiere will be the next step in its development and will set a precedent for SMC as a place where this type of premiere is presented. The opera was not commissioned by a company or publisher, but has been a passion project for the composer/librettist Garfein for many years. Based on the hilarious and well-known play by Tom Stoppard, the story of the opera follows two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet as they turn the traditional story inside-out. Full of tuneful and accessible music, the opera was one of the winners of Fort Worth Opera’s 2015 Frontiers competition where it was partially performed to much renown.

Garfein, a faculty member at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Music, is a Grammy award winner, having penned the libretto for Elmer Gantry, along with composer Robert Aldridge.

SMC to Produce Another

Opera Premiere in 2017

Seagle Music Colony Legacy Society

We hope you will consider continuing your support of Seagle Music Colony by making provisions in your estate plan. Talk with your financial advisor about how a charitable gifting program can provide valuable tax benefits, potentially increase your income now, and help not-for-profit organizations you care about like Seagle Music Colony. For more information, please contact SMC board member Julia Pitkin-Shantz at (703) 505-7731.

High Notes

October 2016 Seagle Music Colony

999 Charley Hill Rd.

PO Box 366

Schroon Lake, NY 12870

Look Inside for News and Information from Seagle Music Colony Seagle Music Colony • 999 Charley Hill Rd, PO Box 366 • Schroon Lake, NY 12870 • (518) 532-7875

- June 17

- June 24

- July 5-8

(children’s opera) - July 8

- July 19-22

- August 2-5

- August 13, 20

- August 16-19

2017 Season & Group tickets go on sale January 1, 2017 and single tickets April 1, 2017.

Find more details about the season at seaglecolony.org