Chautauqua Opera Company Young Artists will perform at 6:45 p.m. Saturday on the Hultquist Center Porch for the season’s first Opera Invasion: “Opera Open Book.” An Opera Invasion is precisely what it sounds like: Artists from the Opera Company will “invade” a public space and serenade nearby Chautauquans.
When opera singers audition, they typically prepare a number of pieces to perform. While they often choose the first song, the audition panel then selects the second piece from the singer’s list of prepared songs.
Steven Osgood, the general and artistic director of Chautauqua Opera Company, will lead the Young Artists as they descend upon Hultquist.
“Every one of the singers knows what they might sing,” Osgood said. “… When you go into an audition, you’re like, ‘Well, I know what I’ll start with if they ask me what I want to start with’ — and then after that, anything goes.’”
At “Opera Open Book”, singers arrive with their selected pieces at the ready. As with auditions, once Osgood announces the audience’s selection, they have little time, if any, to begin.
“The audience, with my goading, chooses what the next aria is, and the singer finds out 10 seconds before they’re supposed to start singing,” Osgood said.
Although the artists are not contending for any particular role, they will give Chautauquans an opportunity to learn more about auditioning in opera.
“The goal of the opera invasion, ‘Opera Open Book’ in particular, is not to pretend that I’m in the audition room,” Osgood said. “It’s just to help people understand the energy of being in the audition — and then it’s a concert.”
