Making it to the top in the hugely competitive opera world is a dicey proposition for even the most talented and well-trained young singers. Each year thousands of hopefuls vie for the professional opportunities that can result from winning major competitions. But even for the winners there are no guarantees of big careers.
That much is clear by the time the credits roll in “The Audition,” a fine, new documentary produced by the Metropolitan Opera. The film will be screened at 2 p.m. Sunday in various area movie theaters as part of the Met’s ongoing series of high-definition broadcasts.
As 11 finalists of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions scale various hurdles on their way to the Grand Finals concert, we learn what drives them and why competition singing is far more grueling than ordinary singing. Beyond the suspense, it’s the backstage dramas that spark our attention.
Of particular interest to Chicagoans will be the revealing glimpses of two of the six grand-prize winners, soprano Amber Wagner and tenor Ryan Smith, both members of Lyric Opera’s professional training wing, the Ryan Opera Center.
For Wagner, now 28, a third-year ensemble member, a bright future in the Verdi and Richard Wagner repertory would seem to lie ahead. The Met win was icing on her career cake as she continues to sing supporting roles at the Lyric while refining her artistry.
For Smith, a much different fate lay in wait. The gifted tenor died, at 31, in November, less than two years after his triumph at the Met. “The Audition” is a poignant glimpse into a future he was cruelly denied.
For the names of area theaters showing the film, visit FathomEvents.com.
Civic Orchestra turns 90
Cliff Colnot, the largely unsung hero behind the inaugural weekend of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s new Festival of Youth in Music, directed what was for me the most significant portion of that kickoff Monday night in a packed Orchestra Hall.
Whereas the weekend Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela events were mostly about flashy display, this Civic Orchestra of Chicago concert was all about making music in the most honest and serious manner.
This season marks the Civic’s 90th anniversary, and a rousing celebration it was for the CSO’s superb youth training orchestra, which has “placed” more than 5,000 alums in orchestras around the world, 17 in today’s CSO.
Colnot is at once principal conductor, mentor, colleague and professional adviser to these young musicians — the linchpin whose remarkable energy and dedication so inspires them. He drew the very best from the Civic players in a transparent, rhythmically crisp reading of Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” Suite and a Berlioz “Symphonie Fantastique” that melded classical integrity with coloristic brio.
The orchestra also supplied a sympathetic accompaniment to CSO associate principal hornist and Civic graduate Daniel Gingrich’s proficient, if somewhat impersonal, account of Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 2.
It was a pleasure to behold junior instrumentalists so deeply invested in these challenging scores. Happy birthday, Civic Orchestra!
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jvonrhein@tribune.com
