Guild Hall and Bel Canto Boot Camp Team Up for Summer Opera

Guild Hall’s partnership with Bel Canto Boot Camp continues in August with the 2023 Guild Hall & Bel Canto Boot Camp Resident Artist Series. Following the success of the 2022 program with guest artist baritenor Michael Spyres, this year’s program will welcome six emerging opera singers for a two-week residency, culminating in a public masterclass and recital with 2023 guest artist, internationally renowned soprano Lisette Oropesa.

The Guild Hall & Bel Canto Boot Camp Resident Artist Series is a collaboration between Guild Hall of East Hampton and Bel Canto Boot Camp (BCBC). By providing individualized training from Bel Canto Boot Camp mentors and masterclasses with international artists, the series aims to support a new generation of emerging opera singers and to increase awareness and appreciation of the unamplified voice. Each residency culminates in a collaborative recital where audiences can hear some of the most influential opera stars of today and the stars of tomorrow together on stage. By inviting audiences into select rehearsals and masterclasses, Guild Hall and BCBC provide an insider’s view into the singer’s process — affirming an ever-increasing love and appreciation for the finesse and power of the unamplified voice.

The 2023 resident artists include soprano Siskelelwe Mngenela, soprano Elizabeth Novella, mezzo-soprano Anne Marie Stanley, tenor Derrek Stark, baritone David Wolfe and bass-baritone Michael Leyte-Vidal.

The two-week residency will provide each resident artist with one-on-one coaching with Bel Canto Boot Camp co-founders Rachelle Jonck and Derrick Goff, present a dedicated performance for several summer camps on the East End and conclude with a public masterclass on August 10 at 6 p.m. at St. Luke’s, Hoie Hall, 18 James Lane, East Hampton, with internationally renowned soprano Lisette Oropesa. Highly praised for her seamless voice, precise coloratura, magnetic stage presence, and innate musicality, Oropesa and Jonck and Goff will present an intimate recital of bel canto repertoire, also at St. Luke’s Hoie Hall, on Saturday, August 12, at 5 p.m. This uniquely collaborative recital will include several duets and ensembles featuring Oropesa and the 2023 Guild Hall & Bel Canto Boot Camp Resident Artists.

For more information, visit guildhall.org.