Key Change

Key Change

By The Santa Fe OperaArtsMusicPerforming Arts
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Key Change episodes

  • Opera Without Fear: Key Change Series Finale

    Fans of opera often say that a production either ends in cheers or tears; someone winds up wed or dead. But what about podcasts?

    On this final episode of Key Change, co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora fire up the trusty time machine to find out. And, they've got company: OG co-hosts Andrea Fellows Fineberg and Brandon Neal. Buckle in for one last trip around the Opera For All Voices universe before this epic six-year journey comes to an end.

    "Key Change has been so many things for so many people, and now it's over," says Andrea, reflecting on the legacy that this podcast leaves behind. Perhaps a bit dramatic! But the show has played a vital role within the larger context of Opera For All Voices, supporting new, diverse works for smaller spaces together with major opera companies.

    "The things that we do that have a lasting impact are the work of the community engagement department at Santa Fe Opera and the work of the Santa Fe Opera in the first place. It's changed the capital O art form forever," Andrea observes. "And, we've all been some part of that." Audience included.

    The Key Change team captured intimate moments of the creative process alongside the breathless joys of performance. They chronicled moments with legendary artists (oh, hey Peter Sellars!) and students alike, and revealed the importance of telling hard truths.

    "I think that speaks to the longevity of the thing," says Brandon. "Key Change will reverberate as long as that work needs to be done. I think we can be happy with that."

    Cue curtain.

    KEY CHANGE RECOMMENDED EPISODES

    Season 1, Episode 1 - Setting the Stage - wherein Andrea and Brandon start the journey and ask, "What if we fail? What if we succeed?"

    Season 1, Episode 2 - What's in a name? - wherein the back-of-the-napkin planning of OFAV is discussed

    Season 2, Episode 2 - A Seat at the Table - wherein Brandon engages in conversation with colleagues of color from across the industry

    Season 2, Episode 3 - Bring Your Folding Chair - wherein that conversation of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging continues

    Season 2, Episode 6 - The Universe is Made of Stories featuring Peter Sellars - wherein we all bask in the glow of stage director Peter Sellars

    Season 3, Episode 2 - Singing a Call to Action - wherein we learn about producing opera during a global pandemic

    Season 4, Episode 7 - Telling Hard Truths featuring Jacqueline "Cookie" Hamer Flakes - wherein we listen and take in the words of Fannie Lou Hamer's daughter

    Season 6, Episode 3 - Taking Care of the Art featuring Chandler Johnson - wherein we get a candid look at what it takes to build a career in opera

    Season 6, Episode 4 - Rise to the Occasion of Your Opera Career featuring Chandler Johnson - wherein the conversation continues with audition insights most young singers never get to hear

    FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE

    Olga Perez Flora - Co-Host of Key Change and Associate Professor of Voice, University of New Mexico

    Anna Garcia - Co-Host of Key Change and Arts Administrator

    Andrea Fellows Fineberg - Writer, Producer, and Former Director Of Community Engagement & Education, Santa Fe Opera, Co-Creator of Opera For All Voices, and Original Co-Host of Key Change

    Brandon Neal - Senior Producer of Creative Enterprise Programming, The Juilliard School; Co-Creator of Opera For All Voices and Original Co-Host of Key Change

    MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

    Opera For All Voices

    Santa Fe Opera Community Engagement

    Santa Fe Opera Young Technicians Program

    Santa Fe Opera Young Voices Program

    University Of New Mexico

    New Mexico Philharmonic

    Opera Omaha

    Opera on the Avalon

    Olga Perez Flora

    Car Talk

    ***

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.

    43 min
  • Charting New Destinies: Native Voices in Opera with ShanDien LaRance, Robert Mesa, and Ehren Kee Natay

    Join Key Change for one last spin around the season six universe. Co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora recall their favorite moments, including reflections on the exciting collaboration between Santa Fe Opera and the University of New Mexico.

    Then, the Key Change team transports us to the first-ever libretto reading workshop for NOVA. Meet the cast of this intergalactic opera and discover how they're interpreting familiar sci-fi tropes, such as colonization, survival, and belonging, through a uniquely Indigenous lens—featuring Robert Mesa (Navajo Nation and the Soboba Band of Mission Indians), ShanDien LaRance (Hopi, Tewa, Navajo and Assiniboine), and Ehren Kee Natay (Diné/Kewa Pueblo).

    NOVA combines Indigenous futurism and humor with a choose-your-own-adventure ending to examine existential questions of personal responsibility and integrity. "That's very much how many Indigenous tribes are bringing up their children," explains Ehren, a multi-disciplinary artist who plays KID. "Not by telling them what to do or how to be, but to tell them these old stories that provide a moral compass of how your decisions will affect an outcome."

    Robert, an accomplished film and TV actor who plays Doc, a member of the NOVA crew, welcomes this era of Indigenous collaboration in opera. "It's only within the past six or seven years that there has been a big burst of Native stories finally being put in the mainstream media," he observes. "We're breaking glass ceilings so generations behind us can flourish."

    "To be a young Indigenous woman living in these times, I think a lot about our history, our traditions," adds ShanDien, a Native hoop dancer and instructor who plays NOVA. "But, I also carry with us that modernism and the way into the future and how we can sustain both."

    KEY CHANGE RECOMMENDED EPISODES

    NOVA: Opera After the End of the World

    Taking Care of the Art with Chandler Johnson, Director of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers

    Rise to the Occasion of Your Opera Career with Chandler Johnson, Director of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers

    True Magic from Classroom to Stage with the Santa Fe Opera Young Voices and University of New Mexico Students

    An Opportunity To Encounter Excellence (And Big News!)

    Connections Across Time and Space: Opera in the Cosmos

    FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE

    Robert Mesa - Doc

    ShanDien LaRance - NOVA

    Ehren Kee Natay - Kid

    MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

    Hopi Nation

    Navajo Nation

    Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo

    Santa Fe Opera Community Engagement

    University Of New Mexico

    Grey's Anatomy

    Accused

    Dark Winds

    The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen

    Appian Way Productions

    Reservation Dogs

    Flash Gordon

    Star Trek

    Star Wars

    Alcina at Santa Fe Opera 2017

    Jenůfa at Santa Fe Opera 2019

    No Greater Act: Pueblo Resistance

    Circles: Honoring Indigenous Santa Fe

    Little Globe

    Liz Lehrman Critical Response Method

    ***

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.

    42 min
  • TEASER: A Journey to the Stars With the Cast of NOVA [VIDEO]

    A sneak peak behind the scenes of our first reading of the libretto for NOVA, our latest new works commission at the Santa Fe Opera!

    ***

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.

    1 min
  • NOVA: Opera After the End of the World

    Ready for a choose-your-own cosmic adventure?

    On this episode of Key Change, co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora make way for old friends and new. Andrea Fellows Feinberg returns as guest host to introduce the creative team behind the intergalactic opera NOVA, a subversive meditation on responsibility and personal choice set against the end of the world––featuring Composer Brent Michael Davids, Librettist Marcie Rendon, and Music Director Sara Jobin.

    "We're gonna mess with the traditional opera genre of tragedies and comedies, do something interesting with it, and make two different endings," confides Brent. He also messes with ideas around conventional sci-fi protagonists and cultural stereotypes.

    NOVA, for instance, is a brilliant Native American astrophysicist and head of NASA, the Native American Space Agency. Accompanying NOVA are her chief medical officer, Doc, and KID, a bionically modified mischief-maker. Brent hopes these narrative elements will inspire and empower Native youth.

    If the premise for NOVA sounds vaguely familiar, we teased its development in 2023. Back then, this Opera For All Voices commission was known as Interplanetary Opera. A lot has changed since then, notably the addition of Marcie and Sara, plus Andrea as the production's dramaturg.

    What hasn't changed is the show's existential ruminations or its humor. "I think that's something I love about this piece and that people might not expect," notes Sara. "There's a lot of humor in it."

    "It's Native humor," Marcie clarifies. "I wasn't sure that anybody would get it." A recent run-through alleviated her fears. "People did," she says, "and that was great!"

    KEY CHANGE RECOMMENDED EPISODE

    Connections Across Time and Space: Opera in the Cosmos

    FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE

    Brent Michael Davids - Composer

    Marcie Rendon - Librettist

    Sara Jobin - Music Director

    Andrea Fellows Fineberg - Dramaturg and Key Change Guest Host

    MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

    Hidden Figures

    Minnesota Children's Museum

    Red Eye Theater

    Clue

    Christopher Hitchens

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.

    36 min
  • TEASER: Could The Latest Opera For All Voices Launch Us Into Space? [VIDEO]

    Set for a choose-your-own cosmic adventure? Get ready to meet the creative team behind the intergalactic opera, NOVA, on the next episode of Key Change.

    ***

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.

    1 min
  • True Magic from Classroom to Stage with the Santa Fe Opera Young Voices and University of New Mexico Students

    Fire up the Key Change time machine! We're charting our course for the collaborative partnership between Santa Fe Opera and the University of New Mexico (UNM).

    Never experienced time-machine travel before? No problem! Key Change co-hosts Olga Perez Flora and Anna Garcia are experienced pilots. They introduce us to students participating in the Young Voices residency and steer our audience through an exciting day of master classes and workshops on the UNM campus. And don't worry if you're new to this bold, creative initiative. Olga and Anna provide episode recommendations to help you navigate the journey.

    "It's such a wonderful opportunity," says Jamie Flora, esteemed tenor and professor at UNM, of the university's collaboration with Santa Fe Opera. The dynamic program includes master classes on technique, audition logistics, performance critique, and resumé building, all designed to bridge the academic and professional opera worlds.

    "We're planting seeds in their minds that this is possible!" explains Kristin Ditlow, Associate Professor of Vocal Coaching at UNM and Music Director of its Opera Theater. "We have pathways and relationships that get you from school to being a working singer."

    Quiara Cortez followed one of those pathways to UNM, where she is now studying. She credits the collaboration with Santa Fe Opera for nurturing her artistic development. "Being able to talk with the best of the best and seeing what our next steps as people who are already in college might be. And having something big and professional to look forward to is wonderful."

    KEY CHANGE RECOMMENDED PLAYLIST

    Where Talent Meets Opportunity: Career Trajectories in Opera with Kristin Ditlow & Jamie Flora

    What's Opera to a Bunch of High School Students? Young Voices, "The New Crop"

    Taking Care of the Art with Chandler Johnson, Director of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers

    Rise to the Occasion of Your Opera Career with Chandler Johnson, Director of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers

    Safe Space for Creative Risks with Community Engagement and Education

    Hometown to the World: Discovering "Postville" with Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed

    Making Learning Sticky: Creative Compassion for Kids & Educators Through Opera with Charles Gamble

    Harmony in Process: The Young Voices of the Santa Fe Opera with Amy "Process" Owens

    An Opportunity to Encounter Excellence (and Big News!)

    FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE

    Kristin Ditlow - Associate Professor of Vocal Coaching, University of New Mexico; Music Director, University of New Mexico Opera Theater

    James Flora - Lecturer II in Voice and Opera, University of New Mexico Opera Theater

    Michael Hix - Chair, Department of Music University of New Mexico; Professor of Voice, University of New Mexico

    Andrea Klunder - Producer, Key Change Podcast

    Amy Owens - Director of the Young Voices of Santa Fe Opera

    Santa Fe Opera Young Voices participants – Rylee Baca, Elsa Dhonau-Egan, Landen Kessler, Eleanor Lucas, Ava Mitchie, Alexander Nicholas Neas

    University Of New Mexico participants - Maria Bollinger, Quiara Cortez, Alexandra King, Ryan Lopez, Taylor Stanley

    MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

    La Traviata | Santa Fe Opera

    Hometown to the World | Santa Fe Opera

    Eugene Onegin | Santa Fe Opera

    University Of New Mexico - Department Of Music

    Apprentice Program for Singers | Santa Fe Opera

    Opera Storytellers Summer Camp | Santa Fe Opera

    Opera Makes Sense | Santa Fe Opera

    The Philadelphia Orchestra

    The Inner Voice: The Making Of A Singer

    Classical Singer Music Awards

    Paula Corbin Swallin

    ***

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange

    38 min
  • TEASER: Rising Voices in Opera [VIDEO]

    What have our favorite high school aged singers been up to? Hear from the Young Voices of the Santa Fe Opera themselves on the next episode of Key Change... coming soon!

    ***

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.

    1 min
  • Where Talent Meets Opportunity: Career Trajectories in Opera with Kristin Ditlow & Jamie Flora

    We often say that the road to a successful opera career can be a winding one—and we've got the receipts to prove it! Join Key Change co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora as they discuss career trajectories, academic journeys, and artistic life with two legendary performers and educators: Kristin Ditlow, Associate Professor of Vocal Coaching and Opera Conductor at the University Of New Mexico, and James Flora*, acclaimed American tenor and Lecturer in Voice and Opera, also at UNM. Our conversation sets the stage for an exciting collaboration between Santa Fe Opera and UNM.

    "The position that I have (at UNM) has evolved with me," says Kristin, who has worked around the world as a conductor and a pianist. "That's a testament to a healthy place that's willing to grow along with its faculty and allow them to grow in a position." It's also a verdant artistic environment where raw talent is refined, and practice leads to proficiency.

    Jamie hopes that the next generation of opera professionals will bring the art form's epic storytelling and staging to a broader audience. "I'd love for opera to step away a little bit from exclusivity," he says, reflecting on how the perceived cliquishness couldn't be farther from the true experience of a live opera. "A lot of people who grew up in small towns like I did didn't understand the opera was for them," he says, adding, "Opera's for everyone!"

    *That surname is no coincidence. Jamie also holds the title of spouse to our very own Olga.

    KEY CHANGE RECOMMENDED PLAYLISTS

    Catch up on the full story of Hometown To The World:

    Season 1, Ep 6: Hometown to the World: Discovering Postville

    Season 2, Ep 9: America Is Impossible Without Us

    Season 3, Ep 3: Responding to the World

    Season 3, Ep 8: Bridging Communities with Carmen Flórez-Mansi

    Season 4, Ep 1: This Doesn't Happen Without Audience; The Hometown to the World Premiere

    Season 4, Ep 2: Influence and Inclusion: The Impact of Hometown to the World with Youth Chorus

    Season 4, Ep 8: Hometown to the World Debuts on Broadway

    Hear the evolution of This Little Light of Mine:

    Season 2, Ep 7: Mother of a Movement: This Little Light of Mine

    BONUS: Is This America?

    Season 3, Ep 4: Singing A Call to Action: Is This America?

    Season 3, Ep 5: Making a Choice With Conviction: A conversation with Jeri Lynne Johnson

    Season 3, Ep 6: Building a Better Society with Florida International University Music Students

    Season 3, Ep 7: Lighting a Fire: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer

    Season 4, Ep 6: A Day in the Life Before a World Premiere

    Season 4, Ep 7: Telling Hard Truths

    FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE

    Kristin Ditlow

    James Flora

    MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

    IMSLP - Petrucci Music Library for scores in public domain

    Apprentice Program for Singers | Santa Fe Opera

    Cold Mountain | Santa Fe Opera

    The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs | Santa Fe Opera

    Hometown to the World | Santa Fe Opera

    This Little Light Of Mine | Santa Fe Opera

    Der Rosenkavalier | Santa Fe Opera

    The Turn Of The Screw | Santa Fe Opera

    Die Walküre | Santa Fe Opera

    La bohème | Santa Fe Opera

    Rigoletto | Santa Fe Opera

    A Midsummer Night's Dream | Santa Fe Opera

    Little Women | UNM Opera

    Oberlin Conservatory of Music

    Westminster Choir College

    Boston Symphony Opera

    BSO | Tanglewood

    San Francisco Opera | Merola Opera Program

    Arizona Opera

    The Glimmerglass Festival

    Pittsburgh Opera

    Central City Opera

    Kentucky Opera

    Metropolitan Opera

    This is Spinal Tap

    New Jersey Opera Theater

    Opera Steamboat

    The Three Feathers

    Benjamin Britten

    Star Wars

    Psycho

    Opera Company of Middlebury

    ***

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.

    47 min
  • TEASER: Swimming the English Channel with Renée Fleming [VIDEO]

    Coming up on the next episode of Key Change... the trajectory of an opera career from academia to the main stage with musicians & opera educators Jamie Flora and Kirstin Ditlow.

    ***

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.

    1 min
  • Rise to the Occasion of Your Opera Career with Chandler Johnson, Director of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers

    We love an encore! And this one's got it all: audition trends, futurecasting, and pragmatic advice for young opera talent. Key Change co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora also serve up plenty of musical memories, behind-the-scenes intel, and a little love for the Santa Fe Opera as a venue as they continue their visit with Chandler Johnson.

    When we last met Chandler, he had introduced us to career paths less traveled. "There's more to this business than just singing," he continues. Chandler knows this truth better than most. After discovering opera in his early teens, he pivoted from singing to arts administration. Chandler credits his years spent auditioning and performing for exposing him to career opportunities beyond the stage.

    "Singing was my path to get to this place," he confides, before launching into an impressive list of creative, collaborative opportunities within the opera ecosystem. "You can go into development, marketing and PR, media and AV. You can go into costuming and set design," he says, adding, "Having the experience of being a singer informs where you pivot in your life and in this art form."

    As for the art form in question, Chandler is not one to tinker with what works. "I wouldn't change anything about opera. I truly love the glitz, the glamor, the opulence, the stories, the chaos. I love it all!" he muses before offering one final piece of advice. "We just have to keep doing good art––keep doing good opera!––and the people will come."

    KEY CHANGE RECOMMENDED PLAYLIST

    Taking Care of the Art with Chandler Johnson

    What's Opera to a Bunch of High School Students? Young Voices, "The New Crop"

    Harmony in Process: The Young Voices of the Santa Fe Opera with Amy "Process" Owens

    FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE

    Chandler Johnson, Director, Apprentice Program For Singers | Santa Fe Opera

    MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

    Apprentice Program For Singers | Santa Fe Opera

    Preview Dinners | Santa Fe Opera

    University Of New Mexico Opera Theatre | UNM Music Department

    Cincinnati Opera

    The Maryland State Boychoir

    Atlanta Public Schools Choir

    The Baltimore County Honor Choir

    Leontyne Price

    Messa di requiem | Giuseppe Verdi

    The Defiant Requiem Foundation

    Fach System

    Rigoletto

    Lohengrin

    Verdi's Macbeth

    Berlin State Opera

    Bavarian State Opera

    ***

    Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.

    Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: [email protected]

    Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

    Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora

    Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

    Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

    Production Support from Alex Riegler

    Show Notes by Lisa Widder

    Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

    Cover art by Dylan Crouch

    This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.

    To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.

    41 min

About Key Change

From the publisher's feed

How can present and future leaders in the opera industry strengthen their understanding of voice, story and community? What does it take to build a rewarding and sustainable career in the arts? Anna…

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