Camille Ortiz and Michael J. Hawk chosen for inaugural cohort starting in July 2023
Common Director Christina Scheppelmann has introduced Seattle Opera’s Resident Artist positions, new paid roles for rising artists. The Resident Artist position offers opera singers salaried, full-season expertise with Seattle Opera, the place they are going to obtain skilled growth, efficiency, and mentorship alternatives together with the soundness of a long-term partnership.
“The Resident Artist place affords singers a supportive surroundings to broaden their repertoire and develop as artists,” mentioned Scheppelmann. “Having a constant, long-term relationship with a bigger firm will enable these artists to give attention to their growth whereas working alongside the corporate’s employees. We’re so excited to welcome Camille and Michael, our inaugural artists, who’re already glorious singers with vivid, promising futures.”
The place will give audiences the prospect to get to know performers over the course of a season, a welcome alternative in an business the place singers sometimes journey to completely different corporations for every position. Resident Artists will cowl a minimum of two full roles in mainstage and chamber productions at Seattle Opera, stepping in to carry out principal roles as alternatives come up. The singers can even give a public recital in Tagney Jones Corridor, carry out within the sixtieth Anniversary Live performance & Gala in Could 2024, and take part in a variety of Seattle Opera’s public applications, making for quite a lot of probabilities to listen to these thrilling artists.
Along with their public performances, Resident Artists will obtain teaching from Seattle Opera’s music employees and mentorship in opera administration from firm administration. Moreover, Seattle Opera’s visiting artists will work with the Resident Artists as they put together roles and develop their operatic careers.
“There has by no means been a extra vital time to introduce our new Resident Artists,” mentioned Aren Der Hacopian, Director of Inventive Administration & Planning. “The performing arts are in a interval of uncertainty, so we’re thrilled to have the ability to provide a steady house for early-career professionals as they additional their careers. Our first Resident Artists, Camille and Michael, are each spectacular singers who’ve already constructed important operatic careers. We’re excited for our audiences to comply with them throughout their time with Seattle Opera and past.”
The inaugural cohort includes two thrilling singers, soprano Camille Ortiz and baritone Michael J. Hawk, who each start with the corporate in July 2023.
Camille Ortiz, who presently serves as Assistant Professor of Voice on the College of Oregon, has appeared just lately with Opera Lafayette on the Kennedy Heart, Opera Orlando, and Boston Baroque. In her time as a Resident Artist, which runs via December 2023, Ortiz will seem within the sixtieth Anniversary Live performance & Gala and can cowl Freia and Woglinde in Das Rheingold and Morgana in Alcina.
“I really feel very fortunate to have the chance to work with the superb employees at Seattle Opera, who’re a wealth of knowledge,” mentioned Ortiz. “Though I’ve a variety of expertise singing Handel, this shall be my first expertise singing Wagner. I’m wanting ahead to the prospect to broaden my repertoire, which is not going to solely make me a greater singer, however a greater trainer as nicely.”
Michael J. Hawk is a graduate of LA Opera’s Younger Artist Program, and his latest schedule has included appearances with LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Buffalo Philharmonic. Hawk will carry out with Seattle Opera via the tip of the 2023/24 season, singing within the sixtieth Anniversary Live performance & Gala and protecting Donner in Das Rheingold and Figaro in The Barber of Seville.
“I’m so excited to be a Resident Artist within the place’s first 12 months,” mentioned Hawk. “The prospect to work with a home for an prolonged interval, to have a house base, is one thing I’ve all the time needed. I feel because the opera business adjustments, applications like this one shall be an vital a part of serving to opera flourish as an artwork kind. I hope I get the prospect to proceed with this system because it grows.”
The Resident Artist position, which was made doable via a beneficiant donation from Joan Watjen, in reminiscence of Craig M. Watjen, joins Creation Lab and the Seattle Arts Fellowship in Seattle Opera’s lineup {of professional} growth initiatives, which give mentorship alternatives for early-stage opera directors, composers, and librettists.
