"When people say they don't like opera, I always ask, 'which one?'" laughs Nancy Preis, general director of Eureka Springs' venerable Opera in the Ozarks. "There's 400 years of opera to choose from, and there is something for everyone. Opera plots deal with human emotions -- something we can all relate to regardless of the time period of the story or the physical setting. The story might be about the Greeks, but the emotions in the plot are still with us, thousands of years later.
"Opera is the original multi-media art form," she adds. "There is always something to look at, and there is always something to listen to. We succeed when we touch your emotions, just like any other art form."
This year, the theme for the 71st season of Opera in the Ozarks is a universal one, "Love on the Rocks."
"Smooth-sailing love relationships rarely make for great dramas, movies or operas," notes OIO Artistic Director Thomas Cockrell. "And this season's 'Love on the Rocks' theme pulls us into the lives of characters where 'happily ever after' is never a guarantee."
"Tom and I made a decision a number of years ago to do an American opera every year, at least one opera that is not often performed, and one standard," Preis elaborates. "Our singers are at the right stage in their singing careers for Mozart, so that drove 'Cosi fan tutte' this year. The Puccini opera 'La rondine' is under-performed, and the American opera is Sondheim's' A Little Night Music,' which was written for Broadway but includes musical numbers that are very operatic.
"Both Tom and I are huge fans of Sondheim, and this is a show he has wanted to do for years. In choosing a season, we try to pick operas that our singers need to have in their repertoire as well as operas that the audience will enjoy," Preis goes on. "And we try to balance the season: not all the shows can be comedies and not all can be tragedies. We like a mixture, but we also like an underlying theme, like this year's 'Love on the Rocks' or several years ago, when we did a season about strong women."
Singers have been coming to Opera in the Ozarks for seven decades "because of the quality of our program," Preis says. "Singers get to perform major roles, have the chance to sing with an orchestra, and get multiple performances to grow into their roles. Audience patrons come because of the quality of our music making and the intimacy of our performances."
This year, Opera in the Ozarks returns to full strength, with 22 mainstage performances in Eureka Springs; more than a dozen performances of "Pinocchio," this year's children's outreach production at venues throughout the region; the always exciting Chamber Music concert on July 18 at Inspiration Point; and not one but two Broadway Cabarets, one in Fayetteville on July 14 at Mount Sequoyah and the other in Eureka Springs on July 19 at the Crescent Hotel.
"Last year we had a reduced season with only two operas and a half-sized orchestra," Preis explains. This year, "we have 36 singers, 23 orchestra members and about 30 faculty and staff members on campus."
"Opera in the Ozarks generates about a fourth of its income from ticket sales, a fourth from tuition, and the rest from philanthropy," Preis goes on. "We always need money for scholarships as singers often have lots of student debt and not much ability to earn an income while they wait for their voices to mature. We also need general operating funds -- opera is the most expensive art form because it includes a little of everything: singing, orchestral, acting, theatrical elements such as scenery and costumes, dance and combat. Our faculty and orchestra and staff are all paid professionals, and the nature of our program, as a residential festival, requires us to feed everyone, maintain our aging facilities and keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible. That's been a challenge in the covid years!
"It's important to note that not all our singers will become stars at the Metropolitan Opera," Preis cautions, "but all of them will continue to have music in their lives and will have learned valuable life lessons about collaboration and teamwork." And audience members have the chance to "see facial expressions and subtle acting moves that wouldn't be possible in a very large theater."
"People are surprised by what we put on the stage -- the level of singing is often extraordinary and the sets and costumes, while not lavish, are evocative of the time period and allow the audience to use their imaginations to fill in the details," Preis concludes. "One of the most fun aspects is the ability to meet and get to know some of the singers and to follow their careers as they move on. We have lots of audience members who have become opera travelers. They follow young singers they got to know at OIO and go hear them as they perform at widespread venues all over the country."
The Singers
Meet three of this year's performers here:
Ashley Troester
San Francisco
'Pinocchio'
"I originally started out doing my community musical theater, and when I got to my senior year of high school, I took my first voice lesson -- and she introduced me to opera and I fell in love. I've always had a passion for singing, and when I found out that it could be a possible career choice for me, I had to take it!
"'Pinocchio' is an amazing opera to be a part of because it combines so many different operas. The purpose of the show is to introduce children to opera. It's something I really wish I had growing up, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to perform this opera for children.
"It's very inspiring to be in this environment around so many amazing singers and performers and to learn from all of them.
"Opera is always thought about as one specific thing, but opera has lasted for hundred of years. No opera is like the other, and there is an opera for everyone."
After OIO, Troester will return to finish her master's degree at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
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Carl Rosenthal
Arlington, Va.
Ruggero in 'La Rondine'
"When I was a boy, I discovered 'The Three Tenors,' and I thought they were so cool! I probably listened to their CD about 1,000 times. I would sing along, daydreaming about serenading enormous crowds while wearing a sharp-looking tuxedo. Later, I found a home in high school choir -- like so many of us do -- and the rest is history!
"While I fell in love with opera very young, I didn't start pursuing it until relatively late. After college, I worked as a high school math teacher, and I took voice lessons on the side (kind of like an expensive hobby). Fast-forward a few years, and I started studying with a new teacher in New York City, Deborah Birnbaum, who inspired me to fully commit to a singing career. I left my teaching post, and I enrolled in music school that fall. As a graduate student at Indiana University, I got to perform a wide range of operatic repertoire.
"The character of Ruggero is so relatable for me, I feel like I barely have to act! As a lyric tenor, I will often play lecherous noblemen, murderous soldiers, or Shakespearean heroes. But Ruggero? He's a naive student in the big city. He falls in love with a beautiful woman and then gets dumped? Story of my life!
"Think of opera like wine. Everyone will enjoy it -- have you ever met someone who doesn't like wine? -- but the more you know about it, the more interesting it is. And yes, opera lovers (like wine lovers) can come off as pretentious, but that's only because they're so passionate!"
After OIO, Rosenthal will be singing the role of Don Jose in "Carmen" with MIOpera. Early next year, he will be performing selections from Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette" and Bernstein's "West Side Story" in concert with Illinois Symphony Orchestra.
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Autumn Schacherl
Milwaukee
Desirée Armfeldt in 'A Little Night Music'
"My parents actually met in their college marching band and cultivated a love of music in my brothers and me. As a kid, I was always singing along to every song and musical number I knew!
"As many singers, I started out in local choirs and school musicals. I began taking private voice lessons, where my love for singing classical music grew. For my undergraduate degree, I attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where I performed in my first opera and realized that this is the world that I want to be in. After receiving my BM in Vocal Performance in 2017, I decided to spend a gap year in France working as an au pair and studying French. I then continued my studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where I earned my MM in Vocal Performance in 2020. Since then I have been singing in Milwaukee and have established my own small studio there.
"I am so excited to be singing Sondheim's iconic song 'Send in the Clowns' and having the privilege to hear the rest of the cast sing 'A Weekend in the Country.' ... If you come to see 'A Little Night Music,' be prepared to laugh a lot, maybe cry a little and leave humming some wonderful tunes!"
Schacherl says after OIO, she plans to "keep singing, learning, auditioning and seeing where the road takes me!"
Ashley Troester
Sara Nealley, (from left) Emily Cotten, Hunter Eisenmenger, Kobe Kendrick, Mathew Cook, Autumn Schacherl. rehearse Cosi fan tutte by Mozart Tuesday June 21, 2022, at Opera in the Ozarks near Eureka Springs. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Spencer Tirey)
Hunter Eisenmenger, (from left) Kobe Kendrick, Sara Nealley, Autumn Schacherl, Mathew Cook, Emily Cotten. rehearse Cosi fan tutte by Mozart June 21, 2022, at Opera in the Ozarks near Eureka Springs. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Spencer Tirey)
Kobe Kendrick, Hunter Eisenmenger, Mathew Cook rehearse Cosi fan tutte by Mozart June 21, 2022, at Opera in the Ozarks near Eureka Springs. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Spencer Tirey)
Sara Nealley (from left) Hunter Eisenmenger, Emily Cotten, Kobe Kendrick, Mathew Cook, Autumn Schacherl. rehearse Cosi fan tutte by Mozart June 21, 2022, at Opera in the Ozarks near Eureka Springs. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Spencer Tirey)
Sara Nealley, (from left) Emily Cotten, Hunter Eisenmenger, Kobe Kendrick, Mathew Cook, Autumn Schacherl. rehearse Cosi fan tutte by Mozart June 21, 2022, at Opera in the Ozarks near Eureka Springs. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Spencer Tirey)
Emily Cotten, Autumn Schacherl. rehearse Cosi fan tutte by Mozart June 21, 2022, at Opera in the Ozarks near Eureka Springs. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Spencer Tirey)
Emily Cotten (left) Sara Nealley, Help Autumn Schacherl during rehearsal of Cosi fan tutte by Mozart June 21, 2022, at Opera in the Ozarks near Eureka Springs. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Spencer Tirey)
Carl Rosenthal