Calling All Gleeks! High School Summer Performing Arts Intensive Auditions Coming Up in October!

Do you know a talented teenager who's a fan of Glee?  A budding musician/singer/dancer/actor/playwright/composer looking for a great summer camp opportunity?  Have we got the program for you!

The 2010 Performing Arts Intensive scenes program performance.  Photo by Lucy Gram.

For the 8th year, Central City Opera is combining forces with the Colorado Springs Conservatory on our summer high school performing arts intensive, running July 17-30, 2011.  All the great art forms are covered in an INTENSIVE 14 day program.  Students spend the first week and a half in residency in Colorado Springs, learning and working with teaching artists to create a performance steeped in everything from Shakespeare to modern drama, tap dance to musical theatre to opera...and speaking of opera, that's one of the most interesting parts of this adventure.  In less than two weeks, the students research, create and perform an opera that they WRITE themselves! Yes, working with composer-in-residence Roger Ames, these twenty teenagers will see an original performance piece come to fruition.  And let me tell you from past experience, what these "kids" come up with is simply breathtaking.  In past years we've had beautiful duets about the (dysfunctional) relationship between Tony-award namesake Antoinette Perry and her daughter, a sweet number about Winfield Scott Stratton purchasing bicycles for the laundresses of Colorado Springs, a heartbreaking piece for Augusta Tabor (early Colorado senator Horace Tabor's ex-wife) as she looks in the mirror, and a hilarious rocking out number about cannibalism along the pioneer trail.  Many of these songs have also been accompanied by the students themselves on guitar, bass, cello and violin. You never know what you'll hear from year to year!

And to top it all off, the final four days of the intensive are spent in residency in Central City.  The students will see all of the 2011 opera productions (Carmen, Amadigi di Gaula, and our rotating double bill selected from Gianni Schicchi, Les Mamelles di Tiresias, and Seven Deadly Sins).  Students also observe several of the classes taken by members of Central City Opera's Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program, which often include Diction or Audition topics.  Many Central City Opera Festival company members teach and work directly with the intensive students; past master classes include performance technique with music director John Baril, stage combat and movement sessions, and one-on-one discussions with principal artists and staff members.  The students also perform their scenes and opera program for the public during this final weekend.  (Those of you who are now dying to WATCH this performance, stay tuned for details and hold open the weekend of July 28-30.)

Students of the 2010 Performing Arts Intensive performing their original opera in Central City Opera's Williams Stables.  Photo by Lucy Gram.

This year for the first time, we're taking an "audition tour" around the state of Colorado during the month of October, with stops in Steamboat Springs, Ft. Collins, Greeley, Montrose, Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Denver; open to anyone ages 14-19. I really don't know of a more complete, truly amazing experience and such a complement to any training they may be already receiving in high school.  For audition requirements and dates, visit http://www.centralcityopera.org/highschoolintensive.  We look forward to seeing you!

For more photos and details from the 2010 High School Performing Arts Intensive, visit our blog post.