The Santa Fe Opera Presents Online Benefit SONGS FOR THE FUTURE

The Santa Fe Opera will present Songs for the Future, a special online program to benefit its singing and technical Apprentice Programs, on March 11 at 6:00 pm MT.

World-renowned mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and Academy Award-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter, both former Santa Fe Opera apprentices, will host this celebration featuring performances by former apprentice singers Emily Fons (mezzo-soprano), Will Liverman (baritone), and Jack Swanson (tenor). Also included in the presentation are interviews with notable alumni of the programs including singers Sylvia D'Eramo, Duke Kim, Briana Elyse Hunter, Zachary Nelson and Galeano Salas and technicians Lee Fiskness, Eileen Garcia, Aja Jackson, Brandon Kirkham, Adam Rowe, Travis Shupe, Sandra Zamora and David Zimmerman.

Songs for the Future is free to watch and no registration is required; viewers can tune in via the opera's website at Songs for the Future. The event will remain available for 30 days for viewers to enjoy.

Since its founding in 1957, the Santa Fe Opera has been committed to advancing the careers of the next generation of operatic talent through its renowned Apprentice Program for Singers and Apprentice Program for Theater Technicians. Both programs provide the highest level of training and professional connections for aspiring singers and theater technicians who represent the future of the art form. Each summer, participants of both programs receive intensive training and play critical roles in the creation, both on stage and off, of the season's mainstage productions. Their work culminates in two nights of staged and costumed Apprentice Scenes, created and performed solely by the apprentices.

To support Songs for the Future, individuals should visit the Santa Fe Opera website and select Songs for the Future from the dropdown menu. The Santa Fe Opera will gratefully recognize all gifts of $250 or more received before February 19 in the Songs for the Future video credits. Donations are fully tax-deductible and will directly support the 2021 Apprentice Programs.

The Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice Program for Singers is internationally recognized as one of the finest programs of its kind. Each year approximately 40 apprentice singers are chosen from a competitive applicant pool and receive private coaching in all role and cover assignments from renowned voice teachers and coaches. They also participate in master classes given by renowned visiting artists, conductors, and directors of high caliber and have the opportunity to audition for opera executives from over 30 major companies. Their training culminates in two nights of onstage scenes showcases. To date, the program has launched numerous distinguished singing careers including those of Samuel Ramey, William Burden, Joyce DiDonato, Michael Fabiano, Brandon Jovanovich, Kate Lindsey, Jay Hunter Morris and Susanna Phillips.

Established in 1965, the Apprentice Program for Theatre Technicians is an intermediate to advanced training program offering instruction and practical experience in stage operations, properties, audio/video, costumes, production/music services, wigs and makeup, electrics and scenic art. Among the first of its kind in America, now more than 3,500 aspiring technicians have participated in the internationally recognized program. Former technical apprentices have gone on to careers as professional technicians and designers for both stage and film work; others work in production at opera, theater and ballet companies worldwide. Many name the program as an essential step in their careers and more than half of the Santa Fe Opera production staff are former Santa Fe Opera technical apprentices. In recent Santa Fe Opera seasons, former technical apprentice Shawna Lucey returned to direct The Pearl Fishers and former technical apprentice JAX Messenger made his Santa Fe Opera debut as the Lighting Designer for Così fan tutte.

Multi-Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed "perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation" by The New Yorker. With a voice "nothing less than 24-carat gold" according to the Times, Joyce has soared to the top of the industry both as a performer and a fierce advocate for the arts, gaining international prominence in operas by Handel and Mozart, as well as through her wide-ranging, acclaimed discography. She is also widely acclaimed for the Bel Canto roles of Rossini and Donizetti.

As a Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer in 1995, Joyce appeared in several minor roles and understudied for larger parts in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Richard Strauss' Salome, Kálmán's Countess Maritza and the world premiere of David Lang's Modern Painters. That year she was honored as one of several Outstanding Apprentice Artists and in 2000 returned to make her Santa Fe Opera debut as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro. Joyce has since dazzled Santa Fe Opera audiences as Annio in La Clemenza di Tito, Cinderella in Cendrillon and Elena in La donna del Lago for which the Santa Fe Opera added an extra performance due to unprecedented ticket demand. Learn more about Joyce's career and experience as an apprentice in Voices in America Presents: The Santa Fe Opera.

Ruth E. Carter is the 2019 Academy Award winner for Achievement in Costume Design for Marvel's Black Panther making history as the first African-American to win in the category. Carter wows audiences and dazzles critics alike with costumes inspired by traditional African tribal wear merged with a contemporary look delivering fashion and function, incorporating technology, and creating such authenticity, ownership and empowerment for the characters and viewers; cementing her as one of the preeminent voices and experts on Afro aesthetics.

A career spanning more than three decades in theater, cinema, and television, Carter's depth of artistry flowing together with her creative instincts, passion for culture and history, empathy for people, enormous capacity for research, eye for detail and ability to deliver the director's vision while infusing her art makes her one of the most sought after and renowned costume designers in the world; earning her over forty film credits including two additional Academy Award nominations for Malcolm X and Amistad and an Emmy nomination for the reboot of television mini-series Roots.

As a Santa Fe Opera technical apprentice in 1985, Carter learned about sewing and costume crafts, and about discipline and working as part of a team. It was at the Santa Fe Opera where she met professional costume designers for the first time. "The designers came through with these incredible illustrations, like pieces of art. I could see they were people just like me. It instilled in me my true desire to design."

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