Ann Baltz, founder and artistic director of the internationally recognized OperaWorks performance training program, works with UW voice students, community singers, and teachers in this interactive workshop on preparing powerful auditions. The workshop includes both collective and individual work as well as an improv session.
An all-day workshop for voice students and community singers
SCHEDULE
9:30 - 12: Intro to Performance Techniques
Group exercises; master class (4-5 singers); intro to improvisation (group + volunteers)
12:00-1:30: Lunch
1:30 - 3: Performance Techniques
(Group Exercise) (4-5 singers)
3:15 - 4: Improvisation (Group)
4:15 - 5:30: Audition techniques + Mock Auditions (3-4 singers)
GUEST ARTIST BIO
Ann Baltz is Founder and Artistic Director of the nationally acclaimed performance training program, OperaWorks. A master teacher of performance skills and operatic improvisation for opera companies, conservatories and universities, Ms. Baltz has been heralded as one of the leading opera educators in America today. She is a frequent speaker at national conventions, including National Association of Teachers of Singing, National Opera Association, and Classical Singer. She is currently on the steering committee for OPERA America's Singer Training Forum in New York City, and a frequent panelist for OPERA America's national seminars Building a Career: Strategies for Success.
An inventive approach and reputation as the consummate pedagogue have made Ms. Baltz a much sought-after teacher and coach. Her students, many of them graduates of OperaWorks, grace the operatic and concert stages, and consistently reach the highest honors in national and international competition. Among her teaching positions, Ms. Baltz served as Director of Apprentice Programs for Orlando Opera, and Opera Pacific; Music Director for the Wesley Balk Summer Institute; opera faculty at California State University, Northridge, and as Guest Director of the Opera Workshops at Carnegie-Mellon University.
Her diverse professional background includes roles as assistant conductor, coach, and chorus master in more than 40 productions of operas with such companies as Minnesota Opera, Orlando Opera, Portland Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Pacific and Wolf Trap Opera. She has worked with noted conductors including Richard Bonynge, Anton Coppola, Stewart Robertson, and celebrated singers Dame Joan Sutherland, James McCracken, and Ruth Ann Swenson. An accomplished pianist, Ms. Baltz played extensively on tour with Columbia Artist Concerts, Western Opera Theater, and Minnesota Opera.
Through her deep commitment to new and experimental works, Ms. Baltz has served as Music Director and Co-creator of Composer-Librettist Studios in San Francisco, New York, and Minneapolis, as well as Music Director for New Works Projects at the Minnesota Opera Institute and Portland Opera.
In 2004, Ms. Baltz received a Red Carpet Award from "Women In Theatre" recognizing her outstanding achievements in theater in Los Angeles. She was a recipient of a prestigious grant from the National Institute for Music Theater to engage in an in-depth study of twelve operas and the Italian language with Margaret Singer.
As a writer, Ms. Baltz has contributed articles for Opera America's publications Business Advice for Singers and Making Choices. Additional articles appear in Classical Singer, and Vocals magazines. She frequently serves as an adjudicator for competitions throughout the country including the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions.
Ms. Baltz earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of New Mexico and a Masters degree in Piano Accompanying from Arizona State University. She studied at the San Francisco Opera where she received the Otto Guth Award for outstanding coach in the Merola Program.