Midwest Institute of Opera Kicks Off Their Summer Season This Week

As the Midwest Institute for Opera gets ready to open its summer season, I sent co-artistic director Tracy Marie Koch a few questions, to get a little background on what MIO is and what we can expect in their 2016 productions. Tracy's husband, John Koch, a professor in Illinois State University's School of Music, is her co-artistic director.   

Can you tell us a little about your background and your husband's, in terms of how you met and how you started your opera careers?

John and I met while I was in college at ISU. He was my first voice teacher and was the first person to show me the beauty of opera. I wanted to be a musical theater performer but my voice developed into a dramatic soprano sound. He sent me home from a lesson one day to listen to Puccini’s La bohème and I was hooked.

What brought you to Bloomington-Normal to start MIO?

After leaving ISU I went to Northwestern University for my Master’s Degree and after completing it, we decided to make our permanent home in Bloomington-Normal. As I grew as a performer, I realized the "business" of opera was not preparing artists fully for performing careers. Singers needed a place where they could hone their skills and perform full opera roles in their original language. Opera companies will not hire you unless you have done the role somewhere else first. They need to trust you. So we started MIO in 2010 to be a place for emerging artists to grow and learn under seasoned professionals.

What can you tell me about MIOperatunities? Is that something new for MIO?

As the company continued growing we added the MIOperatunities program in 2014 because we wanted to give the community access to this art form that is not normally accessible in the area. Currently we are the only opera company operating between Chicago and St. Louis. And we wanted the kids to experience this art form! They are our future audience and it is a great way to expose them to dance, drama and music since opera uses all of these elements.

So we offer a free matinee of one of our operas to kids, senior citizens, people with special needs and families. This year our production is Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. This production also features our MIO Children’s choir that we introduced into our program in 2014. It is great to see other kids on stage and think "I can do that, too," and then get involved in the arts.

The Hansel that is performing on our MIOperatunities Matinee is actually 17 years old and will be a senior at Normal Community West High School. His name is Caleb Killingsworth, and this is an amazing opportunity for him to work with professionals and to perform in an opera! You will not want to miss his performance. We are happy to be his first experience performing in an opera.

MIOperatunities also provides performance opportunities year round for children between the ages of 7 to 18. This includes Madrigal performances in December and participation in our summer opera season and show choir. 

MIOperatunities is partially funded by the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation Grant and the Town of Normal Harmon Arts Grant.

What else is on your schedule this summer and who is involved?

We have Metropolitan Opera star Heidi Skok, mezzo soprano, performing in our production of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites and to watch her performance is just riveting. She possesses a lush, rich mezzo and is a true singing actress. I met her in New York City and she was my voice teacher. It has been really fun and inspiring to direct her.

Our Falstaff is being led by the amazing conductor Lucy Arner from the Metropolitan Opera. And the baritone singing the title role is the talented Joshua Conyers. We hired him a week ago because our original Falstaff was in in an accident and could not come to do the show. Joshua just finished covering the role at Des Moines Metro Opera and is on the cusp of an international career! You will not want to miss his voice or his colleagues' voices in this production.

What roles do you and John play within the company?

John and I both do the behind-the-scenes work as administrators and on stage as director and conductor. John and I are both working on Dialogues of the Carmelites as a joint partnership, with John as conductor and I as director. It has been fun blending our vision of the work to make it our own.

Thanks, Tracy!

In their summer schedule, detailed below, Music at the Manor will take place at the Ewing Cultural Center, with the three opera performances in the Concert Hall at the Illinois State University Center for the Performing Arts. Music at the Manor is offered for free, although donations are certainly appreciated, while tickets for Dialogues of the Carmelites and Falstaff are $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens or children under 10. MIO accepts cash or check at the door prior to performances.

Music at the Manor: Opera at the Manor (Ewing Cultural Center)
Sunday July 24, 2016 at 2:30 pm and Wednesday July 27, 2016 at 12:30 pm
Free parking in St. John's Lutheran Church lot at the corner of Towanda and Emerson

MIOperatunities presents Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel (excerpts, sung in English)
Monday July 25, 2016 at 11 am (free admission to registered groups) and Wednesday July 27, 2016 at 7:30 pm (admission charged)

Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites (sung in English)*
*featuring Metropolitan Opera's Heidi Skok as Madame de Croissy
Thursday July 28, 2016 at 7:30 pm and Saturday July 30 at 7:30 pm

Verdi's Falstaff (sung in Italian)
Friday July 29, 2016 at 7:30 pm and Sunday July 31 at 2:30 pm

For details on their schedule, see this Facebook event listing. For more information on other aspects of MIO, check out this interview Tracy and John did with WGLT, this Pantagraph article about star Heidi Skok, or this piece about ISU senior and opera coach Lauren Koszyk.

Hot Fun in the Summertime on Stage and Screen in July

June may be gone, but the summer is just getting started when it comes to entertainment. You can keep yourself occupied every night (and a few days) if you want to, and that's just with the few things I've collected here. There's plenty more out there, believe me.

But for now, here are some highlights that jumped out at me.

The Lady From Shanghai, Orson Welles' fun-house mirror of film noir crosses and double-crosses, plays at Champaign's Art Theater Co-op tonight and tomorrow night, and then again on the 7th and 17th. Welles directed and stars alongside Rita Hayworth, the screen siren he was married to at the time, even though Welles made her cut her hair and dye it blonde, which isn't really her best look. And Welles has his own nose in this one, which is quite unusual!

The Art follows that with another piece of film noir, this time The Killing, written and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The Killing was released in June, 1956, making it 60 years old. It involves some petty crooks trying to pull off a racetrack heist, with complications from a no-good dame and a too-big suitcase. The film's star is Sterling Hayden, the precious-bodily-fluids-obsessed general in Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, but you'll also see Vince Edwards, TV's Dr. Ben Casey, Elisha Cook, Jr., who had a memorable role in Casablanca, and comedian Rodney Dangerfield in a small role. The Art Theater Co-op is offering The Killing on July 8, 9, 10 and 24. See all the details here.

It's almost time for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, which kicks off its summer season at Ewing Cultural Center with previews of Twelfth Night on July 5, the Broadway play Peter and the Starcatcher on July 6, and Hamlet on July 7. Those three plays run in repertory through August 13, with extras like Philip Dawkins' new children's play Rodeo at 10 am on Wednesdays and Saturdays all summer, and the Improvised Shakespeare Company performing July 17, 24, 31 and August 7 at 5:30 pm. If you'd like to see ticket information, it's right here.

Community Players' production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast starts with a preview July 7, followed by performances Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through July 24. To create this "tale as old as time," director Alan Wilson has assembled a cast that includes Kiera Martin as Belle, Sean Stevens as her Beast, Alex Knightwright as oh-so-wrong man Gaston, Jennifer Stevens as Mrs. Potts, Jaden Ward as her son Chip, and Joe McDonald as Lumiere, the candlestick butler who sings "Be Our Guest."

The Station Theatre brings Bat Boy: The Musical to its cozy confines starting July 14, with Mikel L. Matthews, Jr. directing Evan Seggebruch as the Bat Boy himself. This "dark and hysterical look at how we deal with those unlike us" hangs around at the Station until August 6.

The Mike Dobbins Memorial New Plays from the Heartland -- new one-acts from Midwestern playwrights performed as staged readings -- are on stage July 15, 16 and 17, with director Cyndee Brown at the helm this year. Winning plays on the theme "A Key" are Key Ring by Steven Peterson from Chicago, Good Morning, Miriam by Jacquelyn Priskorn of Troy City, Michigan, and päzədiv (Positive) by Chicago's Alyssa Ratkovich, an ISU acting alum who appeared in Heartland's 10-Minute Play Festival more than once while she was in town. This year's guest playwright, who will conduct a master class for the winning playwrights and offer an open forum at the theater on Ju;y 14, is Mia McCullough, author of the play Chagrin Falls as well as a new book about creative writing.

The summer season at the Midwest Institute of Opera kicks off with excerpts from Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel on July 25 and 27, followed by Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites, featuring the Metropolitan Opera's Heidi Skok, on July 28 and 30, and Verdi's Falstaff on the 29th and 31st. All MIO performances will be held in Illinois State University's Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall. For more information, check out the Midwest Institute of Opera website.

Marrying Figaro: It's LE NOZZE DI FIGARO from the Midwest Institute of Opera

To celebrate its third season in Bloomington-Normal, the Midwest Institute of Opera is offering a summer treat -- Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro -- in the concert hall at the Center for the Performing Arts on the Illinois State University campus. One cast performed Mozart's opera buffa yesterday afternoon, and a second set of principal performers will take it on tomorrow night at 7:30 pm, with conductor Joshua Greene from the Metropolitan Opera wielding the baton.

Director Beth Greenberg has chosen to set Figaro's comedy of thwarted love, counterplots and seduction in Washington DC during the 1950s, giving it a definite Mad Men style, as you can see from the poster art below.

That may look like Don Draper and his trademark draped arm, but it's really Count Almaviva, the powerful married man who is constantly chasing other women. In Le nozze di Figaro (also known as The Marriage of Figaro, which gives you a hint regarding the plot), the woman the Count has his eye on is his wife's maid, who also happens to be the fiancée of his servant Figaro. As Almaviva chases lovely Susannah, he keeps delaying her wedding to Figaro, while the servants conspire against him to get him back together with his Countess and out of their bedroom.

On Tuesday night, Karina Brazas will sing the role of Susannah, while Kyle Connor takes on Figaro and Joe Arko and Jenny Beauregard play the Count and Countess. The ensemble also includes Tom Bailey, Ellen Chew, Nicole Heinen, Elyssa LeMay, Lisa Neher, Alexandra Platos, Hannah Pristave, John Ramseyer, Stefan Riley and Kyle Schneider.

Le nozze di Figaro will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at the door or at the ISU CPA box office by calling 309-438-2525.

Verdi's AIDA from MIO Today at 3

The Midwest Institute of Opera will offer a concert version of Verdi's Aida this afternoon at 3 pm at the Illinois State University Center for the Performing Arts.

Verdi's four-act opera about a pair of ill-fated lovers in ancient Egypt has been an audience favorite since its first performance in 1871. Over the years, Aida has seen notable performances by sopranos Teresa Stolz, Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Leontyne Price and Montserrrat Caballé as Aida; tenors Richard Tucker, Jussi Björling, Jon Vickers and Placido Domingo as her lover Radames; and conductors like Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan, Georg Solti and Zubin Mehta with the baton.

For the Midwest Institute of Opera, Cara Chowing conducts, with soprano Tracy Marie Koch in the role of Aida; tenor Tod Kowallis as her Radames; mezzo soprano Allison Robertson as Amneris, the daughter of the Egyptian king and a thorn in the Aida/Radames romance; baritone John M. Koch as Amonasro, Aida's father; bass baritone Anthony Gullo as high priest Ramfis, and bass Richard Schacht as the Egyptian king. Pianist Byul Nim La will accompany this concert staging of the opera.

The MIO version of Aida will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door. You may also call the ISU CPA Box Office at 309-438-2535 an hour prior to the show. Note that tickets purchased at the door must be paid for in cash.

MIO Brings You "Don Giovanni" as Planned

The Midwest Institute of Opera, founded by John and Tracy Marie Koch, has been working hard this summer to bring Mozart's "Don Giovanni" to ISU's Center for the Performing Arts starting tomorrow.

As announced back in April, this production of the classic Latin Lover opera is conducted by Joshua Greene of the Metropolitan Opera and directed by James Marvel, who has international directing credits include New York's Lincoln Center. But the two Kochs are also involved with everything to do with "Don Giovanni" as well as "The Pirates of MIO," a mini-version of "The Pirates of Penzance," which Tracy Koch directed, and "Don Giovanni in Concert and Arias Galore," which takes selected pieces from "Don Giovanni" along with other aria favorites.

Unfortunately, Tracy Koch reported yesterday that her husband John had been in an accident while on his motorcycle, resulting in a severely broken leg and a hospital stay in Peoria. Still, Tracy Koch assures us that the MIO shows will go on, and one way you can support John Koch in his recovery is to come out and see the season they've worked so hard to bring to fruition.

That means you can still see the first of the two concerts ("Don Giovanni in Concert and Arias Galore") conducted by Ben Nadel, tonight at 7:30 pm; the full production of "Don Giovanni" tomorrow, July 29, at 3 pm, or Tuesday, July 31, at 7:30 pm; or the second concert, conducted by Michael Onwood, on Monday the 30th at 8:30 pm.

All of these events are being held at the Center for the Performing Arts on the ISU campus. You can find more information about "Don Giovanni" and the concerts and MIO personnel at their website here.

July Is Jam-Packed With Entertainment

The Illinois Shakespeare Festival continues performances of "As You Like It" and "Othello" this week, adding Sheridan's "The Rivals" on July 19. So far, the Festival has been sizzling, both in terms of the actual temperature in its outdoor theater and the performances on-stage. Redbird Pride Night is tonight, beginning with a pre-show performance from MooNiE (ISU alum Philip Earl Johnson) at 6 pm. MooNiE is an audience favorite, as he performs clowning and physical theater that includes slack rope walking (as opposed to tightrope walking), juggling, magic and fantastical tricks. There's a 7:30 pm curtain for "As You Like It" tonight, and then performances continue with "Othello" on the 5th. For the complete calendar, click here. For ticket information, click here.

Urbana's Station Theatre is featuring a staged reading of Dustin Lance Black's "8," a play about Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that attempted to ban gay marriage in California, and how it all shook out in the legal system, tomorrow night, July 2, and Tuesday, July 3. This "8" features an all-star cast, including Station veterans Steven M. Keen, Gary Ambler, Kay Bohannen Holley and Barbara Evans, under the direction of Mathew Green.

The Station gears up again on the 12th with a fully-staged musical, Jonathan Larson's "Rent," directed by Mikel L. Matthews, Jr. and starring Corbin Dixon as Mark, Michael Steen as Roger, and Marah Sotelo as Mimi. "Rent" is a 20th century version of Puccini's "La Bohème," with these starving artists living in New York's Alphabet District instead of Paris's French Quarter, and struggling with AIDS instead of consumption. "Rent" was a sensation with kids of the 90s, introducing musical theater to a whole new generation, and it should be perfect for the Station's minimalist black box.

Buster Keaton returns to the Normal Theater on July 5 and 6 with "The Cameraman" from 1928, Keaton's  first film with MGM and his last silent feature. It's about a hapless photographer who decides to become a newsreel cameraman to pursue a pretty girl who works as a secretary in MGM's newsreel office. Although he was not the director of this one, just the lead actor, many film scholars think "The Cameraman" marks Keaton's last really inspired work before the studio system shut him down, as his character fools around with a gang war in Chinatown, a parade for Charles Lindbergh and a little solo baseball in an empty Yankee Stadium, all as part of his attempt to succeed as a cameraman. You won't be surprised to hear that it doesn't work, even if the havoc he creates -- and the inside look at how movies were made in 1928 -- is much of the fun.

Wes Anderson, the director and writer behind "Rushmore," one of my favorite movies, as well as "The Royal Tenenbaums," "The Darjeeling Limited" and other singular film experiences, has a new one out called "Moonrise Kingdom." Ads have been peppering the airwaves for a good while, showing us a tantalizing glimpse of a color-soaked world where Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis and Ed Norton are chasing after a pair of children who've run away to set up their own little kingdom on a nearby island. So we've seen the ads, but where is the movie? Nowhere near, till now. "Moonrise Kingdom" has opened at Bloomington's Galaxy 14 Cinema as well as The Art in Champaign.

Hearthland Theatre's New Plays from the Heartland project begins with an open forum with guest playwright Douglas Post, founding member of the Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble, teacher at Chicago Dramatists, and Chicago Regional Representative for the Dramatists Guild, at 7:30 pm on July 12, followed by staged readings of the three winning short plays on July 13 and 14. Playwrights Andrew Head ("Fireflies"), Lori Tate Mathews ("Farmers' Market") and Terri Ryburn ("Lemonade and Lightning Bugs") will be in attendance for a master class with Post and then to see their plays presented at Heartland Theatre. Admission to the performances is free, although a donation of $5 at the door is suggested.

New Route Theatre reprises "The Ladies: A Musical Love Letter" on July 13, 14 and 15, making up for a trio of performances canceled in June due to unforeseen problems with its YWCA venue. That gives you three more chances to hear the wonderful Jennifer Rusk sing favorites from the songbook of African-American female vocalists like Bessie Smith and Roberta Flack. Email new.route.theatre@gmail.com to reserve tickets.

And the second run of "The Affray: Lincoln's Last Case" comes to the McLean County Museum of History on July 20 and 21 at 7 pm and July 22 at 1 pm. "The Affray" represents a collaboration between the Museum and Illinois Voices Theatre; it was written by Robert Bray and Jared Brown to dramatize the last case Abraham Lincoln took as a defense attorney before he ran for the presidency. Seating is limited in the second-floor Fifer Courtroom at the Museum, and tickets have been hot commodities in the past. You'll need to reserve now (call 309-827-0428 or visit the Museum in person) if you'd like to get in.

Community Players will stage auditions for the classic Kaufman and Hart comedy, "You Can't Take It With You," on July 16 and 17. Jeremy Stiller will direct, with Joel Shoemaker producing this Pulitzer Prize-winning play from 1936 about the goofy Sycamore family and how things transpire when their daughter Alice meets and falls in love with Tony Kirby, a young man from a more prosperous and proper family. Alice's dad puts together fireworks in the basement, sister Effie makes candy and dreams of being a ballerina, Grandpa only does things that make him happy (which does not include paying his taxes), and guests like the ice man who never left and a Russian Grand Duchess with a drinking problem further complicate matters. Let's just say the script is full of eccentric characters who'll be fun to audition for!

As July comes to a close, the Midwest Institute of Opera offers "Don Giovanni," the Mozart opera about an unrepentant rake and his comeuppance, in two performances July 29 (at 1 pm) and July 31 (at 7:30 pm) at Illinois State University's Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall. Conductor Joshua Greene of the Metropolitan Opera takes the baton, with direction by James Marvel. The MIO cast includes Joseph Arko as Don Giovanni, Kathryn Frady as Donna Anna, Amelia Ciskey as Zerlina and Sarah Elizabeth Williams as Donna Elvira.

This is the Midwest Institute of Opera's second summer season as co-founders John and Tracy Koch strive to give emerging professional musicians a chance in the spotlight after an "intensive no-nonsense summer opera program." You can check their Facebook page here for up-to-the-minute details or click here for ticket information.

Midwest Institute of Opera Launches a Second Season

After the success of their "Die Zauberflöte" in 2011, the Midwest Institute of Opera is taking on another summer season, this time offering Mozart's "Don Giovanni."

Co-founder Tracy Marie Koch points out that the company is "the only opera company in central Illinois that only produces opera." Koch and her husband, baritone John Michael Koch, helped found the opera company to offer emerging professional singers an opportunity to perform complete roles on stage after working in an intensive summer program with guidance from MIO staff, most of whom come with substantial experience on New York stages. For 2012, that staff includes Joshua Greene, Assistant Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and artistic director of MIO; James Marvel, stage director who has worked at Lincoln Center in New York City as well as in Canada, Italy, South Africa, South Korea, England, Scotland, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic; pianist and coach Dr. Jeffrey Peterson, a member of the faculty at Baylor University and artistic director of Music in the Marche in Piobbico, Italy; soprano Patricia Sheridan, a New York Singing Teachers’ Association Distinguished Voice Professional; Joseph Welch, an "in demand" collaborator and doctoral student at the University of Minnesota; Molly Scanlon, a stage manager who earned her B.S. in music from ISU; and Andrea Steele, Alexander Technique instructor.

The two Kochs are also on staff. Tracy Marie Koch made her New York City operatic debut as Madama Butterfly in Puccini's opera of the same name in Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance Program, and she also runs one of central Illinois' most successful voice and piano studios. John Michael Koch is Vocal Arts Coordinator and Associate Professor of Music in the College of Fine Arts at ISU. His bio notes that he is a Metropolitan Audition winner, laureate of the 1989 Montreal Competition, and recipient of an Eleanor Steberhas Foundation Award, and that he has performed over 75 operatic and oratorio roles internationally and has released several world premiere recordings on three recording labels.

Auditions were held in January to cast "Don Giovanni." Tracy Marie Koch explains the casting process: "Emerging/professional opera singers send us their materials and from that we have live auditions and then we choose who to invite to be in the cast." In 2011, performers came from everywhere from the Bronx to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Local musicians also play a role. As Ms. Koch notes, "Community members participate in the program in the chorus and the high schoolers who participate from the community have their own concert. This year we are doing a production of Pirates of Penzance for them!"

Joshua Greene will conduct and James Marvel will direct "Don Giovanni," which is scheduled for July 29th and 31st at Illinois State University's Center for the Performing Arts. The Midwest Institute of Opera has a new website with all kinds of interesting information, including applications for prospective singers, pianists and conductors, and a Facebook page for up-to-the-minute information.