The Team for Your Dreams</h1> <article> <h1>The Team for Your Dreams</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 04 May 2021 21:03:51 +0000</p> <span>The Team for Your Dreams</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-05-04T17:03:51-04:00" title="Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - 17:03">Tue, 05/04/2021 - 17:03</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Like many students I know, I arrived at �鶹��Ƶ with a lot of plans. I wanted to learn how to sing. I wanted to learn how to direct. I wanted to learn as many languages as I could and as well as possible. But I knew that to achieve my goals—and to start reaching for opportunities at �鶹��Ƶ and elsewhere—I needed some guidance.</p> <p>Enter �鶹��Ƶ’s <a href="/node/70241">Office of Conservatory Professional Development</a>, directed by <a href="/node/30066">Dana Jessen</a>.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Dana Jessen</figcaption> </figure> <p>Jessen is an educator and bassoonist who helps �鶹��Ƶ students cultivate their own paths in music. In addition to her role at �鶹��Ƶ, she performs as a solo bassoonist and as cofounder of Splinter Reeds, a San Francisco-based reed quintet with a commitment to contemporary music. Thanks in part to her own life on the stage, Jessen’s knowledge of music-industry challenges is wide-reaching, current, and genre-spanning.</p> <p>Jessen teaches the conservatory’s Professional Development for Musicians course and curates the Professional Development Speaker Series, both of which draw on her expansive network. (In recent weeks, visiting speakers have included NPR music director Lauren Onkey, bass-baritone Dashon Burton ’05, I CARE IF YOU LISTEN editor Amanda Cook, and flutist-entrepreneur Valerie Coleman, among others.) On the rare occasion Jessen can’t answer a question, she knows someone who can.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Conservatory Professional Development sponsored a series of popular Zoom panels in spring 2021, including this one featuring NPR music director Lauren Onkey.</figcaption> </figure> <p>“The Professional Development Speaker Series gave me such a firm sense of <em>It’s going to be OK</em>, regardless of what happens,” says Joshua Rhodes ’21, a bass performance major from Fayetteville, North Carolina, who transferred to �鶹��Ƶ. “There were such diverse stories; it was such a diverse group of speakers from all different areas of the music industry—and related industries as well. Hearing Ivy Newman ’04 talk about how she started as a composition student, then did a master’s in arts administration at Columbia, and now owns her own marketing firm—it’s the idea of using the transferable skills that we have as musicians for other large things.”</p> <p>These transferable skills are taught from the very first year. In the <a href="/node/3256">vocal studies division</a>, all first-year students take the Vocal Studies Seminar, which covers managing finances as a singer, applying for summer programs and graduate schools, and—of course—working with the Professional Development Office.</p> <p>During my first year, Jessen brought along her peer advisor at the time, mezzo-soprano <a href="https://www.oliviacosio.com/">Olivia Cosío</a> (pictured with Jessen, top), who presented a brief overview of her own �鶹��Ƶ experience. I was hooked. I set up an individual meeting with the office, during which Jessen discussed her professional development course, which I enrolled in for the following fall. Taking that class—and taking it as early during my time at �鶹��Ƶ as I did—were two of the best decisions I have made. The class involved study of seemingly every possible career option in music and covered topics such as cultivation of multiple income streams, gigging, taxes, public and private arts funding, and—most important—artistic and financial independence. (The two are pretty much synonymous.)</p> <p>“Working with Dana, both one on one and in Professional Development for Musicians, helped me understand that there are so many different career paths available to musicians,” says Hannah Allen ’23, a harp performance and French double-degree student from Connecticut. “Although there are so many amazing opportunities already available at �鶹��Ƶ and elsewhere, it is entirely possible to create those that don’t yet exist. �鶹��Ƶ encourages students to explore subjects outside of their majors, and I think everyone should take advantage of this—not just to discover new passions, learn more, and meet people, but also to qualify yourself in multiple areas and increase your versatility.”</p> <p>Through the <a href="/node/171441">Music Leadership Career Community</a>, a career-readiness program available to third-year students through �鶹��Ƶ’s <a href="/node/4521">Career Development Center</a>, students participate in workshops with faculty, staff, and alumni for course credit. At the end of the program, students apply their newly acquired skills in the field through financially supported micro-internships or research-based projects. Afterward, they can continue to reach out to their mentors—including Jessen—for advising as they apply for fellowships and grants.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Darren Hamm</figcaption> </figure> <p>I was part of the inaugural Career Community class, and with the support of Jessen and fellow mentor Darren Hamm, executive director of the �鶹��Ƶ Center for the Arts, I applied for and earned <a href="/node/114806">XARTS</a> and <a href="/career/set/funding/descriptions">Conservatory Student Success</a> grants, two internal funding sources offered though �鶹��Ƶ’s Center for Innovation and Impact and the Career Development Center.</p> <p>This year I joined the Professional Development staff as a peer advisor, guiding musicians from both the college and conservatory. This past semester, I used the skills I learned in the Career Community to apply for the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX), a cultural exchange fellowship with Germany co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. I was selected, and will spend the next year in language school at a German university and interning in the opera industry there.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Nick Petzak</figcaption> </figure> <p>In addition to Career Communities, �鶹��Ƶ provides numerous resources for life after graduation. <a href="/node/31851">Nick Petzak</a>, director of the <a href="/fellowships">Office of Fellowships and Awards</a>, leads a Winter Term project on procuring fellowships that prepares students for the application process. Petzak’s guidance was crucial to my CBYX application. He coaches �鶹��Ƶ students through mock interviews, checks in regularly, and connects students with previous program participants when it’s time to accept or decline offers.</p> <p>Across campus in �鶹��Ƶ’s Career Development Center, Associate Director Dustin Evatt-Young and Executive Director Dana Hamdan just wrapped up <a href="/career/set/senior-launch">Senior Launch</a>, a rigorous program designed for spring graduates. Almost every weeknight for four weeks, students engaged in discussion, watched lectures, and workshopped practical skills like interviewing and negotiating salary. At the end, every senior received a professional portrait session and $400 toward professional expenses.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Dustin Evatt-Young</figcaption> </figure> <p>If those professional development opportunities aren’t enough, �鶹��Ƶ always has more. Students can enroll in the Organization Grant Proposals course, which teaches grant- and fellowship-application writing skills; they can take Arts Management, a course that specializes in leadership skills for the arts industry; or they can explore �鶹��Ƶ’s <a href="/musical-pathways">musical pathways</a>, a curated collection of interdisciplinary minors and concentrations meant to foster collaboration between the conservatory and college.</p> <p>The world seems extra-big right now. For those in the performing arts, it can feel even more uncertain—especially as graduating students. Even when I watched my older friends graduate in years prior, I don’t think I truly understood the way your last year on campus feels like leaping off a cliff.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Dana Hamdan</figcaption> </figure> <p>My four years at �鶹��Ƶ were a time of self-discovery, of opening unexpected doors, and of making connections far and wide. This year, as the Conservatory Professional Development peer advisor, I presented to first-year voice majors as Olivia Cosío had done for me—knowing that, yes, there is and always will be uncertainty, and yes, �鶹��Ƶ’s Professional Development team is standing by to help you build your future.<br> </p> <p><em>Charlotte Maskelony ’21 is a fourth-year vocal performance major from Arlington, Virginia.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Conservatory Professional Development helps students find their path.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-05-04T12:00:00Z">Tue, 05/04/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Charlotte Maskelony '21</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3714">Conservatory Professional Development</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2403">Career Exploration & Development</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3444">Career Communities</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=35596">Voice</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=32971">Opera Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/dana-jessen" hreflang="und">Dana Jessen</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/vocal-studies" hreflang="und">Vocal Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Julie Gulenko '15</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Backstage Magic</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 26 May 2020 17:42:55 +0000</p> <span>Backstage Magic</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-05-26T13:42:55-04:00" title="Tuesday, May 26, 2020 - 13:42">Tue, 05/26/2020 - 13:42</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A team of more than 40 �鶹��Ƶ students, faculty, and others convened in January to produce the world premiere of Rachel J. Peters’ <a href="/node/183441"><em>The Wild Beast of the Bungalow</em></a>, �鶹��Ƶ’s winter-term opera for 2020. Student singers and instrumentalists made the music happen, but toiling behind the scenes was a team of equally passionate fellow students consumed with their roles as production assistants: untangling the countless artistic and logistical issues involved in staging an opera, and researching the cultural, historical, and societal aspects of the work.</p> <p>Though they had all joined forces for a conservatory production, nearly half of them pursue their studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. It’s one of many ways �鶹��Ƶ, with its single campus dedicated to both a liberal arts college and music conservatory, nurtures a singular environment for interdisciplinary study and creation.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Kitty Schwartz '20</figcaption> </figure> <p>“We’re all passionate, we’re all here for a reason, and everyone brings something different to the table,” says Kitty Schwartz ’20, an English and history double major who served as <em>Wild Beast</em>’s assistant director, providing feedback to faculty director <a href="/node/50511">Christopher Mirto</a>, running a second rehearsal room, and recording staging notes. “It’s exciting!”</p> <p>Joining her backstage was politics major Alec Perlow '20, who researched and analyzed the opera’s influences, plot, and music as one of the production's dramaturgs. Together, the direction and dramaturgy teams collaborated to create an informed world and bring it to life onstage.</p> <p>Though neither Schwartz nor Perlow imagined a career in performance, both were drawn to �鶹��Ƶ for its vibrant musical community and its extensive opportunities for students of all majors.</p> <p>“The ability to try a little bit of everything was a huge part of why I chose �鶹��Ƶ,” says Schwartz, of Urbana, Illinois. “It’s great to know that my varied interests don’t have to be separate parts; they can work together and influence one another. And I think that’s the really special thing about being here. Learning to think critically and creatively for my liberal arts courses absolutely helped me develop a story from libretto to stage.”</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Alec Perlow '20</figcaption> </figure> <p>“I do research all the time,” laughs Perlow, a resident of Grayslake, Illinois, who graduated—with Schwartz—in May. “There’s different kinds of research, but a dramaturg’s work is very similar to academic work: Find the material, make sure it’s credible, and then present it in a clear and concise way.</p> <p>“At a place like �鶹��Ƶ, many people excel at this kind of thinking—and in an incredibly diverse range of subjects,” Perlow says. “That expansive, intellectual culture means that skills for my major help me understand an opera’s themes and motifs.”</p> <p>Perlow traces his connection to opera to a fourth-grade trip to the theater. “My mom took me to see <em>The Barber of Seville</em>,” he says. “She asked me if I wanted to leave at intermission, and I said, ‘No!’ The rest is history." He was cast as a supernumerary—a silent actor—at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and later joined the Lyric’s Youth Opera Council, a social and educational group for high school students passionate about opera. When he arrived at �鶹��Ƶ, he jumped at the chance to take music history and opera-directing courses in the conservatory.</p> <p>Schwartz’s passion for opera emerged through an unexpected connection to the American West, a significant focus of her dual majors. While researching iconography of the West through a collection of roadmaps at the Newberry Library in Chicago, she stayed with her aunt, the principal oboist for the Lyric Opera. </p> <p>“She got tickets to dress rehearsals and always asked if I wanted to go. I mean, <em>are you kidding?</em> I saw four operas in three months. Before I had only seen one in my entire life. It was a very intense experience, and I was bitten by the opera bug.”</p> <p>Little did Schwartz know that her research on the West and her visits to the Lyric would combine upon her return to campus.</p> <p>“[At the Newberry], I worked to decode the embedded myths surrounding westward expansion that impact American identity even in our present. My project meant delving deeply into 19th-century American history to get at these roots.”</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>�鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater's production of "Proving Up" proved an ideal match for Kitty Schwartz's interests in opera and the American West. (photo by Yevhen Gulenko)</figcaption> </figure> <p>As Schwartz was tracing the history of Western travelers, �鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater was finalizing plans to present <a href="/node/129936"><em>Proving Up</em></a>, Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s chilling opera about the government-sponsored expansion of land settlement beyond the Mississippi through the Homestead Acts of the mid-19th century. The production needed an assistant dramaturg; Schwartz was the perfect fit.</p> <p>“<em>Proving Up</em> clarified a lot of things for me,” she says. “I was transitioning back to �鶹��Ƶ after a semester away, and I’d returned with this new appetite for opera. The questions I started asking then, I continued asking with <em>Beast</em>: Do I like being part of the process? Is opera production or management something I want to pursue?”</p> <p>The answers appear to be <em>yes</em>.</p> <p>Both Schwartz and Perlow, in fact, envision careers in arts leadership, and both shaped their paths through extensive experience at �鶹��Ƶ.</p> <p>Perlow’s conservatory courses in music history and opera direction led him to selection for the inaugural class of �鶹��Ƶ’s Music Leadership <a href="/node/127361">Career Community</a>, one of a series of groups that unite �鶹��Ƶ students, alumni, parents, and faculty around shared interests in various employment sectors. He plans to work in arts funding.</p> <p>“I’m really interested in the financial side of the performing arts,” he says. “The kind of work that the National Endowment for the Arts does—everything that allows creativity to flow without financial burden.”</p> <p>Schwartz, meanwhile, graduated with direction and dramaturgy experience, in addition to serving as a music history tutor. She was selected for the spring semester Music Leadership Career Community.</p> <p>“Opera combines my love for music and theater with my training as a writer and researcher beautifully,” she says. “I would love to keep bringing it to life.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-05-26T12:00:00Z">Tue, 05/26/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Charlotte Maskelony '21</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>�鶹��Ƶ productions—and the students who mount them—dispel the myth that opera is just for conservatory musicians.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3444">Career Communities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3328">Musical Opportunities for College Students</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=32971">Opera Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/vocal-studies" hreflang="und">Vocal Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">The cast, crew, and creative team behind "The Wild Beast of the Bungalow" prepared the production throughout January 2020. The opera was one of many ways �鶹��Ƶ students join forces to bring musical projects to life.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yevhen Gulenko</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>