Princess Young
Guest Writer
On Saturday, Nov. 16, four music majors from Idaho State University will participate at the Metropolitan Opera National Council District (MONC) Auditions. These auditions will be held at ISU at 10 a.m. in Jensen Grand Concert Hall at the Stephens Performing Arts Center.
Students are admitted free with their Bengal cards.
“The Bengal” sat down with the four competitors from ISU and discussed aspects of music and the auditions with them.
The Bengal: What motivated you to participate in the MONC auditions this year?
John Punt: The reasons I chose to participate are twofold: I wanted to be sure to take advantage of a world-class opportunity that is sitting right in our backyard, and I want to make sure that I don’t lose sight of the most important part of an education – growth.
The Bengal: Why did you decide to study music, specifically voice?
Lakota Terrace: My draw to music is that it is a rarity among disciplines in that it incorporates so many other realms of study. To be effective and knowledgeable artists, we have to know the history behind the music we study; how politics or religion shaped and influenced the genesis of a piece. We have to be familiar with the pronunciation and accentuation of languages: Italian, German, French, Latin, even Russian, Spanish and Czech. There’s also an athleticism to classical singing. And whilst all the technical physicality is occurring, we still have to emote and evoke an emotional response with our audience. All of these aspects is what makes classical voice, for me, such an enriching discipline.
John Punt: Studying music was something that had been a part of my life since I was a child, but it was in high school that I was really able to participate in music in a whole new way. It is one of the few ways to share a time- and world-transcending message with others, by making music with others. That’s the reason I study music – to share messages that someone, once upon a time and once upon a place, thought was worth sharing, and I want to be sure that those messages, those stories and those truths stay alive.
The Bengal: What has been the most fun (and hardest) part about preparing for this audition?
Jerrica Matthews: The [most fun] part of preparing has been the excitement and the support I have gotten from all of my friends and family. When you‘re preparing for such a huge life event, it really shows who supports you and gives you this drive and energy that you feel like you can do anything at this point! It’s energizing! The hardest part has also been the most rewarding. I have to work so hard and be really picky about how I sing. I could sing a phrase and if one note, [even] one syllable, is out of placement or not vibrating, it ruins the whole phrase. I have to go back and fix it! I am constantly thinking about technique [and] emotion and acting.
Emma Doupé: Training for something like this isn’t any less taxing than training for a marathon. I have to sing the highest notes of my life, practice every day, specially train not only my vocal chords but all of the muscles involved in singing-especially in the vigorous way that we four competing must do. It is tough. It gets hard. I have to speak through text in four different languages, work through notes and rhythms, [and] then I must add my own interpretation to the piece. When I sing this music, I am no longer Emma Doupé- I am Norina, Baby Doe, Manon, Annchën, Morgana. I must be all of [these] characters, right after another. Not just play them, but actually “be” them. Feel the things that they do. Understanding the character and their motivations is so much of my own battle with this. It is tough, very detailed work.
The Bengal: Why should students and community come to events at Opera Week and the MONC auditions specifically?
Jerrica Matthews: The auditions would be a great event to attend because it gives you an introduction to opera as a whole. You will hear pieces from all voice types, all musical eras, and you can support the four of us from the area. Having an audience of peers and those who support us makes performing so much easier and so much more rewarding.
Lakota Terrace: To so many students and community members, opera is perceived as this stilted, conservative, inaccessible art form that’s only performed by portly, middle-aged folk. Perhaps if they come to “Le Nozze di Figaro” and the MONC Audition, they can see how incredibly scandalous, erotic, passionate and evocative opera can be. Opera embodies the concept of art-imitating-life: it’s about struggle, triumph, love, despair, transcendence, growth, death…everything we feel in our human lives, put into melody and harmony.
