Education for All Ages: Inspiring Creativity and Building Community Introducing teachers, students, and adults to the world of music theater and helping build an audience for the next generation, these programs offer an environment where members of the community can discover their own talent, creativity, and imagination through the richness of opera.
(LEFT) BASS-BARITONE KEVIN SHORT WORKS WITH A STUDENT DURING A MONSANTO ARTISTS-IN-TRAINING MASTER CLASS. PHOTO © ERIC WOOLSEY (RIGHT) MONSANTO ARTISTS-IN-TRAINING STUDENTS ATTEND CITIZENS DAY AT THE LEGISLATURE TO ADVOCATE FOR THE ARTS. PHOTO © MICHELLE MYERS
MONSANTO ARTISTS-IN-TRAINING
Recognized as one of ten outstanding programs for youth nation-wide by the President’s Committee for the Arts and the Humanities, AIT supports talented high school singers who aspire to professional singing and other music-related careers. In the winter of 2018, students participated in a 10-day artist residency with renowned bass-baritone Kevin Short, culminating in a Winter Recital at Washington University’s Graham Chapel. OTSL stage favorite and acclaimed mezzo-soprano MaryAnn McCormick adjudicated the Spring Recital, in which 24 students competed for approximately $12,000 in scholarships at The Sheldon Concert Hall. Today, more than a dozen alumni of the AIT program are in the midst of professional careers taking them to performing venues throughout the US and overseas. They include tenor Jermaine Smith (1991), mezzo-soprano Kendall Gladen (1994), bass-baritone
Robert McNichols, Jr. (1996), soprano Jennifer Sheehan (2003), soprano Julia Bullock (2005), bass-baritone Derrell Acon (2006), soprano Julie Tabash (2007), tenor Chase Hopkins (2008), tenor MarQuis Murphy (2009), and rising stage director Alison Moritz (2004). Two such alumni, tenor Chaz’men Williams-Ali (2007) and mezzo-soprano Michaela Wolz (2013), return to OTSL this season as a Gaddes Festival Artist and Gerdine Young Artist, respectively. MONSANTO ARTISTS-IN-TRAINING PREPARATORY PROGRAM
The AIT Preparatory Program readies students in the St. Louis Public, Normandy, and Riverview Gardens school districts for AIT auditions through a nine-week residency, which includes private voice lessons and a public recital. The program is taught by AIT alumnus Dr. Robert McNichols, Jr.
Sponsored by Monsanto Fund for the 28th consecutive year and made possible in collaboration with the Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts at Webster University, SIU - Edwardsville, the University of Missouri - St. Louis, and Washington University. Opera Theatre’s AIT endowment is funded by the Whitaker Foundation, the Gertrude and William A. Bernoudy Foundation, William T. Kemper Foundation – Commerce Bank, Trustee, Ameren, the Marielle Huber Memorial Fund, and the OTSL William E. Maritz Memorial Endowment Fund. 61