Excerpt of MassOpera’s New Opera Workshop Concert Performance of Dan Shore’s Freedom Ride featuring Longy alumni Miracle Ogbor, Todd McNeel, Jr., Kristen Buabin, Tatum Robertson, Jessica Trainor Tasucu, Fred C. VanNess, Xinyue Zhang

Longy and MassOpera announce a new partnership beginning in Fall 2022 to give Longy vocal students the tools to level up. The two arts organizations share an entrepreneurial spirit, charging artists with forging new paths to connect with audiences and create true impact.

“MassOpera celebrates opera as a vibrant, living artform, and seeks to disrupt the conventions and closed ecosystems that keep the opera world exclusive and nostalgic rather than forward-looking,” notes Longy’s Dean Judith Bose. “We are thrilled our students will benefit from hands-on experience working with an opera company in residence—especially one that shares so many of our core values.”

Both organizations are committed to antiracism, gender parity, and broad representation onstage, in repertoire, and in arts leadership at every level of their organizations.

MassOpera will hold intensive Artist Training for a cohort of twelve Longy graduate students, as well as a series of in-depth workshops for the entire vocal department.

Students in the Artist Training program will benefit from one-on-one studio and coaching sessions, as well as guaranteed casting in a professional MassOpera production or event as a seamless part of their education.

Workshops for all Longy vocalists will include crucial but often overlooked skills artists need—as de facto small-business owners of their individual singing careers or entrepreneurs who launch their own organizations. As Longy Vocal Performance Chair Corrine Byrne underscores: “From negotiation and professional networking to brand-building from the ground up and setting a sustainable social media strategy, our students will have the chance to dive deep into the extra-musical skills that are essential for working artists.”

Longy performers will also work with MassOpera to unpack the complex world of opera auditions—learning to choose repertoire that showcases their own standout qualities, while navigating the vocal, physical, and gender typecasting that pervades the industry.

“We have long championed new opera performers and composers and can’t think of a more fitting place to expand this calling than our residency at Longy—a music school that puts every student in the driver’s seat of their own career and gives them the tools to create new opportunities as well as stronger, more inclusive communities,” adds Dana Varga, Founder and Artistic Director of MassOpera and Longy Vocal Performance Faculty.

The Longy School of Music of Bard College has reimagined conservatory education. The school is leading the seismic shift to center music as social change, expanding the world’s understanding of what a life in music can mean. Longy prepares students to engage audiences; teach anyone, anywhere; and make a difference with their music. Learn more at www.longy.edu.

MassOpera cultivates experiences for artists and audiences that challenge the status quo and reflect our diverse community. MassOpera strives to be an ever-evolving and responsive performing arts organization, with a commitment to telling new stories, creating opportunities that otherwise would not exist, and representing all forms of diversity on stage and off. Visit MassOpera at www.massopera.org.