This guest master class will feature composer Christopher Theofanidis and librettist/poet Melissa Studdard and students from the Chamber Choir and Voice & Opera department. In the class, our students will work on selections from Siddhartha, She, with the composer and librettist team as part of their weeklong workshop residency.

Dr. Eugene Rogers’ Chamber Choir and OperaLab will present a musical workshop of the new opera in Stamps Auditorium on Friday, April 4 at 8:00 pm. The class will be free and open to the public with support from the Sally Fleming Master Class Fund.

ABOUT THE GUEST ARTISTS

CHRISTOPHER THEOFANDIS' music has been performed by many of the world’s leading performing arts organizations, from the London Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic to the San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, and the American Ballet Theatre. He is a two-time Grammy nominee for best composition, and his Viola Concerto, recorded with David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony with Richard O’Neill soloist, won the 2021 Grammy for Best Instrumental Solo. Mr. Theofanidis’ work, Rainbow Body, is one of the most performed works in recent decades, having been performed by over 200 orchestras worldwide. Mr. Theofanidis is currently on the faculties of Yale University and the Aspen Music Festival, and has taught at the Juilliard School and the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University.

MELISSA STUDDARD is the author of five books, including Dear Selection Committee, her most recent poetry collection. Her work has been featured by PBS, NPR, The New York Times, Ms. Magazine, The Guardian, the Best American Poetry blog, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day and has garnered awards such as The Penn Review Poetry Prize, the Poetry Society of America’s Lucille Medwick Award, the Tom Howard Award, and more. As a librettist/lyricist, she has had works commissioned by Aspen Music Festival, Wolf Trap, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the University of Michigan School of Music. With Kelli Russell Agodon, she co-hosts the podcast Poems You Need. You can find her at www.melissastuddard.com and www.youtube.com/@PoemsYouNeed.