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What Makes the Merola Opera Program So Great? Master Class Teacher Chuck Hudson
What Makes the Merola Opera Program Great?
Master Class teacher Chuck Hudson.
Published 07/15/2010 BAY AREA REPORTER
by Jason Victor Serinus
See the photo gallery from Chuck Hudson’s Public Master Class here.
It’s no secret that San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera summer training program has prepared more world-class singers than a diva can shake her fist at. In SFO’s just-completed three-opera summer season, for example, lead singers Mark Delavan, Deborah Voigt, Patricia Racette, and John Relyea are all Merola graduates (aka Merolini).
It’s rare, however, that the public can go behind the scenes to experience an actual Merola training session. Such an opportunity arose at the end of June, when Merola donors, prospective patrons, and select press attended a Master Coaching Session at Herbst Theatre at which Chuck Hudson helped focus the stage presence and dramatic instincts of five gifted young artists.
Hudson’s background includes specialized training in gymnastics and the distinction of being one of three Americans to have received a diploma from the Marcel Marceau International School of Mimedrama in Paris. The only American appointed to teach at Marceau’s School, he performed with the great artist on his 1991 European Tour. Hudson went on to direct a host of major opera and theater productions, and co-create Seattle Opera’s Young Artist Program. Since 2004, he has spent two weeks every summer coaching Merolini in acting and movement.
The five participants in Hudson’s Master Class included soprano Nadine Sierra, who recently won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and tenor Eleazar Rodriguez, who is a Bay Area favorite. Each singer was invited