Spring 2025 Issue

The Team behind your Spring 2025 Issue

Ann Marie Wilcox-Daehn, Editor & contributor

Christopher Pfund, contributor

Linda Lister, contributor

J. Bradley Baker, contributor

Courtney Kalbacker, contributor

Lisa DeSpain, contributor

Shawn Marie Jeffery, contributor

Jourdan Laine Howell, Editorial & Graphics Designer

Hello Spring!

Onward and upward in 2025

A word from NOA's President-Elect, Chris Pfund

Dear NOA members and readers,

I’m thrilled to welcome you to our Spring release of NOA Now!

In these rapidly changing times, NOA remains steadfast in our commitment to community and the future of opera. We tell stories through music and drama, a passion that burns brightly in all our hearts. Our mission is clear: to champion excellence in opera performance, scholarship, and pedagogy. Therefore, NOA supports its members and provides resources that showcase the best practices and ideas from our community.

In our latest NOA Now release, Ann Marie interviews Sam Mungo about the Alba Method. Lisa DeSpain explores strategies to raise awareness of female composers. Linda Lister features an interview with Dr. Jammieca Mott from Prairie View A&M University, who directs the award-winning Hansen COSC students. J. Bradley Baker shares insights from the Pianist-Coach/Conductor session at the conference, while Courtney Kalbacker reports on the YPO session.

To our members concluding their spring semesters, we wish you a successful wrap-up of all your spring activities. As we approach the summer months, the NOA conference committee will be diligently reviewing session proposals for the 2026 conference in Boston, themed "Bold Voices. Boundless Futures.” The deadline for proposals is May 1st, so there's still time to submit your fantastic session ideas!

As always, if you're thinking about service within NOA, we encourage you to get involved. Feel free to reach out to me, and we'll find the perfect fit for you within our amazing organization.

Warmest spring washes,

Christopher Pfund

President-Elect, National Opera Association

Expert Corner

An Interview with
Dr. Jammieca D. Mott, Prairie View A&M's award-winning director

by Linda Lister

Dr. Jammieca D. Mott is Clinical Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Voice and Opera at Prairie View A&M University.

LL: Congratulations on your two wins in the Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition in Savannah! Your scenes from Treemonisha and The Color Purple won first place in the undergraduate and musical theatre divisions, respectively, repeating last year’s wins in these categories for scenes from Porgy and Bess and Funny Girl. With large ensemble casts, your scenes have brought grand spectacle and energy to the competition. Is this your signature directing style? And how do you coordinate the logistics of bringing so many students to the conference?

JM: My directing style leans towards creating dynamic, visually engaging storytelling that highlights the collective energy of a cast. A grand ensemble scene is about balance, assigning each performer a meaningful role, even within a large cast. I love the art of movement and dance, creating human interactions and picturesque moments that inform the element of storytelling while maximizing the excitement of a large ensemble. Securing funding and organizing travel, lodging, and registration for the conference are crucial. I work with the department administration to ensure the trip is financially feasible. Opera and Musical Theatre Workshop are not classes offered at Prairie View A&M University; this is a personal endeavor that I have taken on to give our students a chance to perform and compete. Doing such an extracurricular activity requires an enormous time commitment from the students and me. I am fortunate to have genuine arts students committed to developing their craft. They trust my leadership and know these experiences will serve them and their future artistic endeavors. We incorporate blocking charts, sketches, recorded run-throughs, and rehearsals devoted to dance techniques. I organize how I believe a class of sorts would be structured. I passionately believe that each of my students must complete their undergraduate studies with professional development experiences that will add value to their artistic toolbox.

LL: The conference program listed numerous student directors, music directors, choreographers, and costume designers. How do you collaborate with and mentor your students in these leadership/production roles?

JM: Mentorship and collaboration are at the heart of my leadership style. My goal is to empower students while maintaining a clear artistic vision. I meet with the chosen student directors, music directors, choreographers, and costume designers, collectively and separately. It is important to discuss the overall vision for each work. I believe in scaffolded leadership, mentorship through guided independence. I mentor the student directors in blocking, acting coaching, and problem-solving. I encourage them to trust and explore their directorial voice. I assist the student music directors with score study, helping them refine ensemble cohesion and develop effective communication with singers. With the student choreographers, I collaborate on movements that enhance the storytelling while giving them room to explore their own style and learn more about their bodies technically. I help the student costume designer to understand the scene's time period, practical stage needs, and character arcs while encouraging her to create a unique aesthetic. In a nutshell, I provide regular feedback, posing guided questions in lieu of dictating solutions. It is essential that peer feedback is a part of the artistic process to create a space and culture of shared learning and mutual respect. Such shared learning teaches students how to think and function like young professionals.

Photo of Prairie View A&M University students performing at NOA’s 2025 Robert Hansen Collegiate Scenes Competition.

Credit: Bob Breault

LL: How do you select repertoire for your students? Do you have scenes from other operas and musicals in mind for the future?

JM: Selecting repertoire is one of the most exciting and strategic aspects of preparing for any competition. My focus is on its pedagogical value, dramatic impact, ensemble and solo opportunities, and logistical practicalities. I always like to select repertoire that will challenge young singers while setting them up for success. Vocal ability, acting skills, and organic ensemble chemistry are paramount. I believe that works with high energy, strong visual-intentional storytelling, and a clear and focused emotional arc tend to resonate well with audiences.

LL: How have Prairie View’s national wins impacted the Voice/Opera program?

JM: Prairie View A&M University’s national wins have tremendously impacted the Voice/Opera program. The national recognition proves to our students that they can compete and excel alongside top-tier programs, enhancing the university’s and voice department’s overall prestige. Student confidence and career development experience a tremendous boost. The students have seen firsthand how their training has prepared them for national stages. They now possess an internal competitive edge and spirit regarding auditions and professional opportunities. Their résumés and graduate school applications are enhanced by their participation in these award-winning performances. I hope that the national recognition will increase institutional support and lead to more funding, scholarship opportunities, and expanded performance resources at our beloved institution!

Linda Lister

Author, composer, director, singer, and professor at UNLV.

Advice for the Emerging Artist

Conference Connections: Some Do's and Don'ts of Networking

by Shawn Marie Jeffery

The annual NOA conferences present an opportunity to meet with colleagues and make new connections, to share our passion for the work, brainstorm ideas on how to deal with our shared challenges, celebrate our successes, be inspired, and return to our communities refreshed and reinvigorated. It was a great joy to be in Savannah and share time, reconnect with people I met last year, and meet in person others whom I had been corresponding with or had only been in a virtual space with previously. So how can we show up as our authentic selves? How do we make the most of the connections we make? Here are some tips on how to make a lasting impression.

DO – get your pre-game on! Read about the sessions offered and map out your schedule based on those that align with your areas of interest. Include a few sessions that you know absolutely nothing about, but that spark your interest and curiosity! Learn as much as possible about the presenters and think about any questions you may have on the given topic. Have some goals in mind for things you want to take away from the experience and be ready to share your views on the topic if given the opportunity.

DO – bring your best self. Bring the confidence that is at the core of your passion for the work you do. Bring your curiosity about others and their interests and areas of expertise. Don’t forget your desire to learn, grow and connect. Make sure to have your elevator pitch ready and include who you are, what you do, and WHY it is important. This last piece is an opportunity for you to do some personal introspection on your WHY, to connect to that authentically, and to share it with others to make a lasting impression.

DO – be ready to engage. Start conversations. Have some icebreakers ready. Share a point from the keynote speech that particularly resonated with you. Ask questions: What brought you to the conference? What has been your favorite session? Listen more than you talk – this is about building relationships not making a sale. You can make a huge difference to someone else by being the one who can take the lead welcoming others into the conversation.

DO – make a point of meeting new people. We can easily stick with people who are familiar, but that is limiting and will not lead to connecting and buying your network. Set a goal for yourself. Attend mixers and other events that allow you the opportunity to expand beyond your group in a social atmosphere.

DO – exchange contact information and follow up! Have business cards ready to exchange when you make a meaningful connection and make notes on the back about what you talked about. You can also make an impression with one of the digital card apps like HiHello, that automatically adds you to a person’s contacts, complete with a photo when they scan the QR code. Send a personalized follow-up to individuals referencing something specific from your conversation with them. Share additional insights, materials, articles, or other resources about your shared points of interest, and suggest ways you may be able to collaborate.

As someone who generally tries to stay positive, I’ll include just one DON’T from me because it matters. DON’T forget what you take away from your time of connection. It is so easy to fall back into our daily grind and disappear once more into our silos. Stay connected. We are better and stronger together. Keep the dialogs going. I look forward to seeing you next year in Boston!

Shawn Marie Jeffery

Shawn Marie Jeffery is a Vice President at UIA Talent Agency where she represents classical musicians and creatives.

Composer Corner

New Works Call to Action

by Lisa DeSpain

It was no surprise when I and my partners Teri Beckham and Jennifer Piazza-Pick were flooded with support after our presentation, “The Future is Female” Arias by Female Composers for All Voices at the Savannah 2025 conference. One thing I’ve learned about the NOA community – you all put action behind your words. I am honored to have this opportunity to follow up in NOA Now and invite those unable to attend the conference to join our initiative and provide information about what comes next!

Our call-to action is simple:

Program one stand-alone aria by a living, female composer with your students in their vocal lessons.

Imagine the impact if we did this one simple action. Imagine what change would take place if these arias were programmed in auditions, competitions, recitals, and opera scenes.

Here's the good news: A large body of new operas by female composers already exists. You do not need to raise funds to commission, develop, and stage an entirely new opera. (You can if you like. We won’t stop you.) Professional opera companies have been commissioning and developing new works for well over a decade. These works need champions. Enter the NOA.

Here's one of the obstacles: Many of these works are largely unknown because the materials needed to raise awareness of the opera (e.g. recordings and video) often don’t exist. Why is this the case? Because the rights for the operas as well as future income stay with the composers/librettists, therefore most professional opera companies don’t fund cast recordings or video. These dynamics place the burden of creating the recordings on the composer/librettist team.

The big question: How can we bring these operas to light? We have some ideas for you to consider.

Program a stand-alone aria by a living female composer with your vocal students. As of this newsletter, we have identified identify well over 330 operas by living female composers, each with multiple arias that could be performed as stand-alone works.
Better yet, assign your students a research project. Have your students reach out directly to a composer and request a work they’d like to sing. In doing so, you build a future generation of singer/advocates

But our initiative is just one idea. Here are a few ideas you, members of the NOA community suggested! Shout outs to Dr. Jon Truitt at Ball State University and Dr. Nicole Kenley-Miller at University of Oklahoma for some of the following ideas.

Does your university have recording facilities? Perhaps you start a recording initiative with your students and a composer, creating a cast album or demos. Remember, to this day, Proving Up by Missy Mizzoli, for example, does NOT have a recording.
What about sponsoring a small workshop, providing an opportunity for your students and a composer to work on rewrites for an opera? Even including one act or a series of scenes with only piano/vocal would have an impact.
Do you have the ability to program a second production? When asked about Moby Dick’s history, composer Jake Heggie said, “Most composers need at least three productions to get a sense of what the opera should be.” If female composers only get one production, how can their works ever enter the cannon? Premiers are great, but second productions elevate the work.

I feel lucky to be a part of a community that cares passionately about the future of this form, our students, and making a difference. Teri, Jennifer, and I hereby issue you a challenge to begin by programming stand-alone arias. As we move forward, I am confident we will find unique ways to make a difference. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Lisa DeSpain

Lisa DeSpain is a composer of opera, musical theatre, concert works, and film based in New York City and is a passionate advocate for new works. www.lisadespain.com

In Review

Following Up On YPO'S Gathering in Savannah + What's Next for the YPO Committee

by Courtney Kalbacker

The Young People’s Opera Committee had an invigorating gathering at the 2025 NOA+NATS Conference this past January. We are happy to contribute to this publication regularly to share our latest initiatives to promote opera for young people. In this article, we highlight some key points from our panel presentation at the conference in Savannah, titled Tangible Benefits - New Opera for Young Audiences. Below is a presentation summary that focuses on the concrete benefits of contemporary operatic programming for young audiences, including how to design and promote these collaborations. For much more detail on the many benefits and nuts-and-bolts strategies for producing YPO please view our conference handout.

The Benefits of YPO in Building Community Partnerships -

Opera combines many aspects of the humanities and can be tailored to meet community needs. Young People’s Opera (YPO) is an effective way to support community activities and collaborate with local organizations, including schools, hospitals, retirement facilities, and more. To design these collaborations, start by contacting local potential partners and setting up meetings to explore how to meet their needs, whether through school assemblies, multi-day residencies, or special events. Retirement facilities look for performances that encourage family visits. It's useful to understand what the facility can provide, such as seating or event pairings. After-school programs welcome engaging educational performances since they offer more flexibility compared to traditional school settings. Libraries often have arts or literacy programs that could benefit from opera presentations, and community events (like festivals or farmers markets) provide numerous opportunities for performances. Ultimately, carefully listening to your community partner’s needs and challenges creates the most fruitful collaboration.

The Benefits of YPO for Academic Opera Programs -
University opera programs benefit greatly from YPO as it allows students to perform more frequently, building their resumes and enriching their performance experience. These performances help develop engagement skills for music education majors, and graduate students can take on additional leadership roles beyond performing,which may even translate into assistantship hours. YPO can accommodate many voice types and abilities and gives students repeat performance experience (mainstage shows often only get 1 or 2 performances on college campuses). University YPO performances build resumes and are considered important performance experienceswhen applying to graduate schools and/or young artist programs. Outreach provides students with opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills, helping them to understand the impact of their discipline on a community. In addition, YPO is enjoyable! These performances increase interest in the opera program and create magical musical memories.

The Benefits of YPO for Audience Members -

For the audience, especially children and teens, YPO opens doors to new experiences in the arts and fosters connections with music and theatre. Often, YPO partnerships encounter children in non-traditional spaces which break down potential barriers to participation (socioeconomic or psychological, for example). Opera for the young often explores universal themes such as love, conflict, and resilience. Discussing these themes encourages empathy and can help children process emotions as they are exposed to different cultures, historical contexts, and artistic traditions.

Financial Benefits of YPO for Opera Companies and Universities

YPO is cost-effective, enabling universities or companies to showcase their programs while engaging the community. For practical steps to get started with a limited budget, see the presentation handout link. Opera companies also benefit financially through outreach activities, by attracting donors, increasing grant opportunities, and improving their public image. If a local opera company doesn’t have the bandwidth to produce their own YPO, they can partner with a local music department to produce their shows. (Check out the Annapolis Opera/Towson University/Opera Baltimore case study mentioned in our presentation handout).

The Benefits of Programing Contemporary YPO -

For student performers, YPO enhances understanding of dramatic writing and creative processes and encourages self-expression and unique contributions. In addition, it develops skills in musicianship, acting, and collaboration for professional work and facilitates networking with industry professionals, aiding future career paths. YPO often promotes cross-collaboration among different university departments as well. For opera creators, making YPO (especially in academia) provides a pressure-free environment to develop ideas. Students offer fresh perspectives that clarify writing processes. The production of these shows in university settings allows access to talented musicians without the burden of self-funding and aids in understanding younger performers and audiences. Producing YPO helps identify future collaborators for all involved.

Ultimately, YPO is a winning strategy to reap artistic, educational, community-building, and financial benefits, whether you are a performer, academic, creator, or opera company! We encourage you to keep exploring opera for young audiences.

Coming up: The YPO Committee will be unveiling a new YPO database, featuring segments on select new operas for young audiences, profiling key YPO leaders, and much more – stay tuned!

Theo Popov, Rachel Peters, Lynette Pfund at the Savannah conference

Credit: Lisa Sylvester

Courtney Kalbacker

Courtney Kalbacker is a voice educator, director, and performer currently serving as Assistant Professor of Music in Voice and the Director of Opera at Augusta University.

Affinity Post

Inspiration from the Piano and Podium

by J. Bradley Baker

As it is now more than two months since our time together in Savannah at the 2025 NOA National Conference, I have been reflecting on the discussion that took place in the Pianist-Coach/Conductor Affinity Group. I share these thoughts in hopes that there are nuggets that might inspire you in your final month and a half of the Spring semester!

Time management

One item that affects us all is effective time management. Whether we are plotting out our calendar with small checkpoints for a larger project or we are scheduling daily time for emails, our time remains our most valuable commodity. Some thoughts that were discussed in our 2025 Pianist-Coach/Conductor Affinity Group were:

Taking power over our own time. It is easy to lose agency over our schedules, but we must guard our time as the precious resource that it is. Carve out time to take care of needs, such as a few minutes for lunch, or a periodic bathroom break, as well as those mundane job tasks, such as answering emails, texts, or calls.
Different methods work for different people. Some in attendance in Savannah use a virtual personal assistant, others use services such as Calendly, and others use physical planners.
Incentivize task completion. One idea that was presented that can be an enjoyable way to encourage completing tasks in an efficient manner is to incentivize the task completion with rewards, such as a glass of wine or a favorite snack or activity.
Track our time usage. For individuals whose work is often task-oriented, such as collaborative pianists, carefully tracking time for tasks can help us more accurately assess how much time must be allotted for similar tasks in the future.
You can’t be of service to others if you don’t take time for yourself. Collaborative pianists, especially, are often successful because they have a service-oriented mindset. However, this leads to a pitfall of potentially ignoring personal needs in favor of the needs of the job. Educators of all disciplines might find a similar mindset in themselves. We must ensure that personal needs are taken care of in the calendar so that we are at our best for those who we serve.

Administrative Structures

In anticipation of the panel I presented alongside my wonderful colleagues Lisa Sylvester, Kathleen Kelly, and Casey Robards, entitled “Navigating Collaborative Pianist Policies and Structures in Higher Education,” there was considerable discussion about how collaborative pianists fit into the administrative structures of Higher Education. Two items that I came away with are:

Track contact hours. Institutions often are unaware of how many contact hours their collaborative pianists are working. Tracking the number of hours we spend in rehearsal, lessons, performances, etc. can often help administrators be aware of a workload issue. On average, collaborative pianists in higher education work approximately 20 contact hours per week.
Continue the conversation. It was rightfully expressed in our Affinity Group discussion that continuing to discuss and share ideas with colleagues is such a valuable part of the NOA experience. Lunch or coffee conversations with NOA colleagues can often result in innovative ways to approach challenges and the realization that we are never alone in this industry. Sometimes, we in the academic opera world can feel like we are islands at our institutions, so reaching out to colleagues can help us feel less isolated!

The Affinity Group meeting is an opportunity for like-minded professionals to come together and discuss topics specific to their population’s smaller subset of our larger-than-life operatic world. If you haven’t taken the time to be a part of an Affinity Group at an NOA conference, my hope is that you join one that speaks to you when we reconvene in Boston next January 2026. You will leave the room with new friends, new insights, and inspiration that will continue feeding as you forge ahead in this industry that we love so much!

J. Bradley Baker

J. Bradley Baker is a pianist, conductor, and vocal coach based in Texas and the Executive Director and Music Director of Music On Site. www.jbradleybaker.com www.musiconsite.org

Move & Act

Chatting about Alba

by Ann Marie-Daehn

In Savannah, Sam Mungo offered a session on the Alba Method. He defined it as “a means for safely identifying, inducing, and regulating genuine emotion through conscious application of patterns of breath and muscle tension organic to basic emotions.” It was presented as a safe alternative to emotional memory and psychological techniques. Weather prevented me from being there in person, but I bought Sam’s presentation from our AV vendor, Egami, and had a few follow-up questions, which he graciously answered.

Sam Mungo is an educator, opera director and dramatic coach currently on the faculty at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Samuelmungo.com//sammungo@gmail.com

AD: Thank you for bringing Alba to the NOA conference. I began watching your session thinking it would help my students on stage, but I left it thinking about how it helps off-stage. Can you comment on Alba’s positive impact on you and your students?

SM: For years I searched to find a way for those who don't have it naturally to be able to do the work required of young singers and professionals. They could feel this real emotion and it could be managed and leveled. These are ways for people who block,are uncomfortable, or have triggers. In the first class I took in Alba, there was a social worker and a person who works with the indigent. They were just as excited as we actors were. It has applications all over the place.

To answer the question about the positive impact, both on and off the stage. It comes from the universality of the work. It's human emotion, right? And the great thing is that it's not. It's separate from whatever baggage an actor may bring in or a student may bring in. It's also separate from what the character is dealing with. Once you get into it,you realize that these emotions live separately from the brain. The first place that it goes is your emotional center. Only the second stimulus goes to the cerebral cortex or the thinking brain. A researcher said, "I know I'm afraid of the bear before I know I'm afraid of the bear." This separateness is for me what is great about the Alba idea.

There's a great quote by [Denis] Diderot, which was mind-blowing to me and so true. "It's unnecessary, counterproductive even, for actors to worry about feeling emotions. Instead, the entire effort of acting should be towards the dual projects of managing and monitoring the performing body to optimize the creation of emotion.” So, I don't want to see you cry. I want you to make me cry.

AM: It’s difficult because we often come to the arts because we feel these things deeply and then to say, "Okay, but now I have to gift those feelings. I don't get to keep them, and it's not safe for me to keep them and marinate in them day after day.

SM: Living through that baggage every night - it's a lot.

AM: You had a chance to talk briefly about the 6 basic emotions and the ‘step out’ exercise. Are there other exercises that you use regularly?

The “Step-Out is a technique used to achieve emotional neutrality and return the body and mind to a calm relaxed state.

The Alba Circle formation created by Hyrum Conrad with the six basic emotions of Alba Emoting. Figure created by Angela Baker.

SM: It's a tool. I liken it to Vaccai. You use Vaccai, you're not gonna use it on stage, because that's not what's written, but you're gonna use it as an exercise to get your voice warmed up and ready to make the noise that you need to do on stage. It's a Vaccai for emotions. It gives you the chance to go through the patterns and allow yourself to be open to the emotions as they come, knowing that you get to manage them.

I want to make it clear that reading a book and/or seeing my session does not really do a whole lot. It is dangerous for someone without the proper training to introduce some of these things. Honestly, anybody can be triggered by emotion, regardless of what it is. A person can be freaked out by joy. It’s called induction when the emotion comes the first time. The first time I induced sadness, I'm not even sure I was feeling an emotion of sadness. It was in a place of unhappiness, certainly, but my body just started heaving with sobs and tears came. Nancy said, “Okay, here we go. You’re inducing.” It is powerful stuff when you allow your body to do what it knows to do. It's also very scary.

Once the emotion comes, then you get to talk through, as a teacher, techniques of talking to somebody and bringing them to a place of neutrality using a “step out” [insert graphic box of step out definition at the bottom of this article] so that they become aware of the fact that it was okay to feel that emotion. It was very healthy for you. Now you know what that is, let's see if we can manage it or put it at different levels.

AM: When I think of the 6 emotions, the scariest for students are the erotic and anger. How has your work on the physical attributes helped make extreme emotions safer and attainable?

SM: I start with tenderness. It's not always a great way to introduce the concept of doing physicality. It's easy to do because the connections are pretty clear, and it's the least triggering. Then I do joy just because joy can be a lot of fun - a lot of laughter and a lot of ease.

Once you get connected and comfortable with the patterns there's something I do call the wheel. I'll start with a pattern of tenderness to the pattern of anger, then I'll move back to tenderness. Then I'll move into joy, and into erotic love, and always using tenderness as a hub of the wheel. Then I'll do it with another one, allowing it to be the hub of the wheel. It reminds me that this is a pattern. I'm not trying to get to the emotion, it's simply a pattern.

This is slow work. For most, I'm interested in two emotions a day. When all six are introduced, I'll talk about the levels and how you can manage this. It's important at the outset to say, “Don't rush this. Don't think. There's no end game. The more you do the pattern, the more your mind gives up on the need to control it.”

AM: Things have changed since we started in this profession. With my students, I'm talking a lot about, physically, what we're comfortable with, and what we're not so that everything has an element of intimacy coordination. I can see how this can help the choreography of these more extreme emotions. How has this helped your students feel like this is attainable for them and that they are going to be okay?

SM: I'm glad that you mentioned intimacy direction. It is very much the same - I am not going into an erotic place. I'm not going to a sad or angry place. I'm not being angry. I am doing the pattern of anger and then I'm going to manage and monitor my anger to make sure that my anger is at the level I want it for the task at hand. Then I can free my cerebral cortex up to sing the notes and carry the torch and not kill my partner.

That's one of the problems with people's understanding of Alba. A method actor sees that chart of faces and they say, “oh this is all fake this is not real.” But this is just a way to warm up your emotions. The key is to start the whole process with group exercises that indicate safety for everybody.

AM: What resources do you like and /or where do people get the training?

SM: This wasn't introduced to the US until around 1998, so there's not a lot. There are a number of people who are using Alba in combination with things. For me, Meisner is the thing that I like to work with. There's a paper online on combining Alba with Chekov. These combinations are great, but there's not a whole lot of people who are doing just Alba work, but there's Nancy Loitz.

Loitz is the most active and she has both nancyloitz.com and a Facebook group called “The Alba Method with Nancy Loitz.” More teachers can be found at albamethod.com.There's also a Facebook group for the Alba Method Association.

AM: Thank you so much for this time. I think this was a good reminder that we need some safety rails. We go to sessions and return eager to try them out.

SM: I always say that opera is about two things. I wanted to have sex; I shouldn't have had sex; I should have had sex; or I wanted to kill; I didn't kill; I should have. No one ever wrote an opera about going to the bathroom. This is the heightened stuff that is worthy of the music. Guardrails are a great thing.

Ann Marie Wilcox-Daehn

Director of Missouri State University Opera Theatre

Missouri State University