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AÊCe nturyÊof Ê Seagle

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n 2015, the Adirondack community of Schroon Lake will join with the Seagle Music Colony to celebrate its first century throughout the summer months, complete with special performances, returning alumnus and, of course, the music ranging from Broadway to the Met. Ò We still have the four main productions which are the core of our program,Ó Tony Kostecki said. Ò Our goal is always to make those really great. We

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July 18, 2015

From North Country Living Magazine picked this season which would be full of popular events and well attended.Ó The typical age range of a student at Seagle is between 24-26, working on or having attained a performance arts-based college major. Ò They are not quite ready to make the step into professional gigs, but they are right on the cusp,Ó Kostecki said. Ò We draw primarily from the United States. The majority of students outside the states are foreign exchange students who hear about the program at their college.

They come here for the training to make the next step. They come here and learn for one or two summers, then hopefully go on to do fairly well.Ó The main season started with the opera, Falstaff, by Verdi, with special guest artist Seth Mease Carico, an alumnus of Seagle who has been a member of the Deustche Oper Berlin in Germany for itÕ s past five seasons.

It continued with RossiniÕ s

Barber of Seville. Both operatic performances were sung in Italian with English subtitles projected throughout the show.

The troupe will dive into the world of Broadway for their final two main shows, building off the recent Hollywood production and presenting Into the Woods July 29 through Aug. 1, and Les Miserables from Aug. 12-15. Ò The world of opera is changing where new pieces are in more of a musical style,Ó Kostecki said. Ò More opera houses are starting to do musicals, so the line between the opera and musical theater is being blurred. Since we are focused on building every aspect of the performer, itÕ s a good set of skills for our artists to learn. ItÕ s also great for ticket sales.Ó The annual Vesper Õ s Concert, started by Oscar and Nell Seagle in the 1930Õ s, will take place Aug. 9 and Aug. 23. The concerts feature individual presentations by the vocalists, including hymns, and always end with Ò Now the Day is Over.Ó As part of the colonyÕ s year, students in attendance will be workshopping a pair of new operas through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The first, SharonÕ s Grave, is a collaboration with Seagle and the Sembrich Opera MuseumÕ s Artistic Director, Richard Wargo.

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ContinuedÊ fromÊ pageÊ 2 The second, Roscoe, was created by Skidmore faculty member Evan Mack and deals with the Albany political machine of the 1940Õ s and will see a world premiere at Seagle in 2016.

Post-season events include the childrenÕ s opera, where members of the troupe perform at schools throughout the Adirondacks. Ò We started it in 2012, so it is a relatively new part of what we do,Ó Kostecki said. Ò It is a chance for everyone to engage the people around here.Ó To help celebrate the century mark, Seagle will also host several events to honor the community as well as those who paved the way.

Old Friends and New was presented at Schroon

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Lake Central School in June as a kick-off. Ò We wanted to really do something for our host community in Schroon Lake and help us celebrate these past 100 years,Ó he said. Ò There were alumni singers who performed the greatest hits from the past 100 years of productions, from opera to music theater and favorites.Ó The troupe also took part in the townsÕ Fourth of July festivities, which has become an annual tradition for the town and Seagle.

The Patrice Munsel Gala was held July 11, an evening to celebrate the past and honor the present and future of Seagle.

During the gala, Seagle honored alum and current artistic director Darren Woods along with alum Steven Bryant. Ò Darren is the driving force behind the growth we have experienced the past 20 years,Ó Kostecki said.

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Seagle will also host a special alumni reunion and performance from Aug. 20-23, with the performance scheduled for Aug. 22. Ò It is a four-day chance to have a re-experiencing of what they had here,Ó Kostecki said. Ò They will be able to go to classes and social events and reconnect with the colony while putting the show together. The performance will be based on Die Fledermaus, where alumni will be the guests of a party and come out to perform, with a festive scene reception after.Ó So far, Kostecki said between 50-75 alumnus have expressed their desire to attend.

Seagle performances range from operas (above left) to Broadway (right), allowing students to hone numerous skills for the stage.

TheÊf oundation:ÊO scarÊS eagle

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scar Seagle was born in Ooltewah, eastern Tennessee, on October 31, 1878. His father was a farmer, preacher and former Union cavalryman. Oscar was brought up largely by his older brother, Finlay Seagle. Oscar was a semi-pro baseball player as well as the song leader for evangelist Sam Jones, with whom he traveled through the South and Southwest. After unsuccessfully trying out for the St. Louis Browns (a major-league baseball team that played from 1902 to 1953), Oscar concentrated on singing.

After Nell DeWees, Oscar’s future wife, finished high school, her father told her that he would not waste money sending a woman to college. However, if she wanted to learn something, he would be glad to send her to Europe. She went with another seventeen-year-old friend. In Italy she stayed in a rooming house with a number of opera singers who were working on a new opera with the composer Puccini. She had the privilege of seeing them in the first performance of La Bohème.

Oscar and Nell met in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after Oscar had returned from performing with the Castle Square Opera Company in New York City.

In 1902, following their marriage, the couple saved $750 to go to Paris in order for Oscar to study voice for two years. Oscar auditioned for the famed Polish tenor Jean de Reszke and was accepted as a student. His accompanist for the audition was composer and pianist Camille Saint-Saens. De Reszke starred in European opera houses as well as at the

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From ‘Our First 100 Years’ Metropolitan Opera House and was the favorite singer of Queen Victoria. Oscar became de ReszkeÕ s teaching assistant in Paris when the $750 ran out. Oscar also gave concerts in several countries during that period, including joint concerts with Nellie Melba in England. In 1914, as World War I approached, the Seagle family returned to the United States.

Seagle Music Colony, the oldest summer training program for singers in the country, began in the summer of 1915 when Oscar Seagle brought some of his students to Hague on Lake George. The next summer they moved to Schroon Lake. The Colony was first housed in the Crane house and later on Phillip and Pearl RiceÕ s property, which developed into the Brown Swan Resort (now the Word of Life Inn).

Oscar taught voice lessons in a small building on the property called Ò The StudioÓ ; it still stands with the name attached. As the property developed into the Brown Swan Resort, the Rices offered to sell Oscar the Nelson Warren and Charles Clark farms on Charley Hill Road. Pearl Rice had acquired these farms from her father, a lumberman from Warrensburg. The Clark home is now the dining hall and their barn is part of the Oscar Seagle Memorial Theater. The Warren house was the initial dining hall until it burned, and their barn, now known as The Diva Den, houses students today.

Oscar nicknamed the Colony Ò Olowan,Ó an Indian name meaning Ò hill of song.Ó

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ContinuedÊ fromÊ pageÊ 4 During the Colony’s first years Oscar Seagle gave concerts throughout the United States and recorded for Columbia Records, including the World War I hit Ò Dear Old Pal of Mine,Ó ColumbiaÕ s top-selling record during the war. OscarÕ s other top World War I hits were Ò ThereÕ s a Long, Long TrailÓ and Ò Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag.Ó Oscar made national tours, including performing at New YorkÕ s Carnegie Hall, and was invited to Washington, D.C. to give vocal lessons to President WilsonÕ s daughter, Margaret. In addition, he sang the role of Elijah in Yankee Stadium in front of thousands of people accompanied by John Philip SousaÕ s band.

In the early 1920s Oscar Seagle and Jean de Reszke formed the de Reszke-Seagle School. Students spent the summer at the Colony, and went to Nice, France, for the rest of the year. Students continued to study under both teachers until de ReszkeÕ s death in 1925.

As many as 120 singers a summer studied with Oscar at the Schroon Lake site on Charley Hill Road.

Nell Seagle was noted for her teaching of diction in several languages, and was always a fine storyteller. All her life she captured the attention of whoever might be near her. The students to whom she taught diction adored her. She remained active in the work of the Colony, teaching language and repertoire until two years before her death at 95. Ò She touched many livesÑ teaching languages, giving advice, planning careers, hooking rugs and reminiscing. She loved people, loved to go places and do things. Her faith, her courage and her enthusiasm for everything going on never diminished to the very end,Ó recounted the Christmas Seagle Colony Chronicle in 1968.

The Vesper’s Service (above) and Fourth of July celebration (below) have become annual traditions for Seagle students and the community of Schroon Lake.

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AÊs ummerÊof Êm usicalÊtr aining www.denpubs.com

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From ‘Our First 100 Years’

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ric Ferring, Stephanie Gray, James Held and Kate Nadolny, four 2013 young artists at SMC, gathered outside the theater on a crystal clear summer morning and spoke about their summer experiences at Seagle Music Colony.

Why did you decide to apply?

ItÕ s the top opera training program in the United States. I was so excited to be accepted here!

What is the schedule for the day?

WeÕ re busy all day! Our schedule is posted daily.

Also, each student has a different responsibility for an hour every day.

For example, you might clean up after breakfast or help prep for dinner.

How many productions are

you in?

Everyone is in the first and last productions.

Then, each of us has one or mores roles in the middle productions. Before we arrive, we learn our specific roles and all of our music. Each singer is assigned a significant role in one of the productions.

How do you learn the music?

Once you get the score, you start working on your roles. You go through the music note by note.

If itÕ s in a foreign language, you translate it and do all of the diction using the International Phonetic Alphabet. If itÕ s based on a book, you read the book. Source material about the opera or the characters can help with making the character more real for you. And then you take the music to a voice teacher or a coach to help you.

How does the production come together?

It starts with coaching, which means that the music director gets us into small groups or in the order of the scenes and makes sure that we know the diction and the pitches. Then, the music director plays with phrasing and artistry, making

sure we know what we are talking about within the text. Once all the parts are coached, we sit in a circle and sing the entire opera or show. Next, we go into staging, practicing the movement of our character. For example, a character might need to open a door when she hears a certain chord. Some directors are very specific with their staging. Most of us go back to our scores and write in everything

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TheÊf utureÊof Êthe ÊS eagleÊM usicÊC olony

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ContinuedÊ fromÊ pageÊ 6 we did so that we can review it and have it fresh in our minds. For some shows, we only have one or two dress rehearsals. For others, we have several more runs.

What kind of classes do you have?

There are three kinds of classes: audition, voice and career preparation. One of the unique offerings here is the audition class. We present ourselves as if we were walking into a real audition. Tony and Darren sit on the panel with Richard Kagey or one of the directors, and maybe a costume person or another theater person. You walk into the room, dressed up to the nines carrying your resume and a headshot. You are asked to sing an aria, then another one, and then you walk off. After the audition, the panel members tell you what they liked and didnÕ t like, what worked and what didnÕ t. Would you have gotten the job? They are very down to earth, Ò You need to walk in with more confidence.” “Those earrings are distracting.Ó We learn that itÕ s not only our voice that gets us a job, but the way we present ourselves.

We have private voice lessons for 45 minutes twice a week focusing on technique and the production of sound. And twice a week we have our own private coaching session focusing on a song or aria, working on features such as language, or phrasing or expression.

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From ‘Our First 100 Years’

he year is 2065. Seagle Music Colony is halfway through its second century, and a 150th anniversary celebration is underway. HereÕ s how some of our present day pundits see SMC at that time: • The campus will be completely green, possibly powered by geothermal energy. The theatre of the day will have the space and technology to handle contemporary productions and their audiences.

• Public transportation, using the old Adirondack Northway corridor, will allow patrons easy access from Albany, New York City and Montreal.

• Admission to SMC’s young artist program will still be highly competitive. A healthy endowment will make the program tuition free, and, as in the present, some artists will be paid for their performances. Alumni will be appearing on the worldÕ s great stages.

• Corporations will be important supporters of the new music, understanding the importance of culture to their customers and employees, and championing the role of artistic placemaking in their communities.

Seagle Music Colony will be esteemed internationally for its prescience in training young artists and encouraging new works.

Darren K. Woods, Artistic Director, foresees a radical change in such music. Ò Seagle Music Colony will continue to be the leading force behind the American singer and the American voice. The distinction between Music Theatre and Opera will have become completely blurred. Indeed, it will be impos-

sible to distinguish an American Opera from an American Musical; the compositional style and the American voice will be one.Ó “This,” he tells us, “will reflect the foresight that SMCÕ s leadership have always had: knowledge that the training of the artist must be holistic in all styles and genres. SMC will be one of the leading authorities in finding new work and new composers and nurturing them as this American voice continues to come to the fruition. The training of the artist to prepare for what is ahead is what we have always done better than anyone and will continue to do.Ó Darren predicts that the classic operas of the past will continue to be produced alongside the new pieces. Ò They have survived because they are great, but I donÕ t think the audience will be saying, ‘I’ll only see Bohème!’ I think audiences will embrace everything the non-profit houses are producing as long as the quality is excellent.Ó In the late 19th and early 20th centuries opera stars were adulated as rock stars are today.

Could that happen again? Ò With singers taking their own marketing into their hands through social media, more opera stars are becoming popular again,Ó Darren says. Ò You can see the potential already in TV talent shows Ñ whatever you think of the Ô operaticÕ talent Ñ it blows everyone away. There is interest! We just have to mine it.Ó By then Ñ the mid-21st century Ñ Seagle Music Colony will have sent several more generations of beautifully-trained vocal artists out to bring the new music to an appreciative world.

The 150th anniversary will be another time of joyful celebration.

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