WNO Opera Institute

We are seeking future change-makers in the field of opera.

The WNO Institute is a summer training program for high school singers interested in both Citizen Artistry and exploring all that opera and vocal performance have to offer in college and as a career. Students will develop their skills as performers while exploring how to use their full array of talents to build a life for themselves, a better field, and a better world.

After over 20 years of programming, we took time in the fall of 2021 to look at the needs of 21st-Century artists, aspiring opera professionals, and a dynamic and changing field to determine how we can ensure we are providing the best pre-professional training possible for our students. In the summer of 2022, we piloted a fully revamped program under the leadership of newly appointed Artistic Co-Leads Raymond O. Caldwell and Dr. Carl DuPont. This curriculum focused on:

-Building singers’ agency to effectively express their own ideas and to direct their own career paths

-Instruction in vocal and theatrical performance, with an focus on improvisation and students leading the creative process

The 2023 program is open to high school singers from around the country (and beyond!) who are eager to examine their own potential as artists, creators, collaborators, and changemakers alongside their fellow students and our incredible faculty. The program will be held at the REACH at the Kennedy Center and will include:

- Vocal Training: Voice lessons, coachings, and master classes

- Theatrical Training: Instruction in fundamental aspects of acting and theater, with an emphasis on improv theater

- Repertoire: The opportunity to explore varied and diverse repertoire appropriate for teenaged voices; music by women, BIPOC, and American composers and writers will be featured alongside frequently performed works from the canon

- Citizen Artistry: Exploring the connections between one’s art, values, and communities

- College and Career Skills: Practical information sessions on topics such as finances, auditions, college applications, and navigating the professional world

- Student-Driven Performances: Our students understand that they must create the change—and the art—they want to see in the world. With an understanding that successful 21st-Century artists use a broad toolbox of skills as collaborators, contributors, and producers of their own creative projects, students will co-create unique performances with guidance from Institute faculty. These performances will include two performances:

1) Improv and Opera Scenes (one performance): Students will present a show of improvised music and theater games alongside scenes from both modern and traditionally performed operas

2) Art Song Showcase (two performances): Students will perform an opera co-created with one another and faculty during the course of the Institute, connecting art songs with their own writing and improvisation

Tuition: $1800

Housing (optional): $1200

Scholarships are available

www.kennedy-center.org/operainstitute