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.

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.

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.