Bel Canto Boot Camp (BCBC) presents interactive sessions in collaboration with Guild Hall of East Hampton, uniting singers from the MET Stage, the Guild Hall audience, and the golden voices of the past.
Join BCBC co-founders, Rachelle Jonck and Derrick Goff, for a discussion with three emerging singers as they share their experiences of preparing, rehearsing, and performing on the MET Stage — and hear them sing! Steven Tharp, tenor and presenter of BCBC’s Audiophile Society, then guides our ears by sharing his favorite recordings of these great masterworks in BCBC’s interactive Zoom format, connecting the contemporary experience to past performance.
International soprano Janai Brugger joins Bel Canto Boot Camp and Guild Hall to relate her experience, as many singers do when getting their start on the biggest stages, of singing the role of Micaëla in Carmen with minimal stage rehearsal. Janai’s credits at the MET include performances of Liù in Turandot, Pamina in The Magic Flute, and Jemmy in William Tell, among others.
Produced as part of Met Under Moonlight: Carmen – Live in HD Encore
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Rachelle Jonck
Rachelle Jonck received her musical training at the Conservatory of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. In her native country she was awarded a FNB/Vita award for her contribution to opera in South Africa and the Nederburg Opera Prize – South Africa’s premier opera award.
Rachelle moved to New York City as Head Vocal Coach and Assistant Conductor of Bel Canto at Caramoor. Her private coaching studio includes established professionals whose careers take them to the largest opera houses of the world, and younger singers still on the verge of a professional career. Her master class topics, while related to her main study field of bel canto, explore the wider application of the bel canto way of singing. rachellejonck.com
Photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
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Derrick Goff
Derrick Goff is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and has returned as member of the MET music staff. He has enjoyed many years of collaboration at Teatro Nuovo, a continuation of the young artist program of Bel Canto at Caramoor, where he is resident as a coach, chorusmaster, and Italian teacher. In addition to his work as a pianist, coach, and conductor, Derrick holds degrees in organ and voice from Westminster Choir College, and is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.
Photo: Jiyang Chen
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Steven Tharp
Missouri-born tenor Steven Tharp’s operatic credits include performances with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Netherlands Opera, among many other houses. Handel and Mozart are well represented in Mr. Tharp’s repertoire of more than 60 operatic parts, and his keen interest in 18th- and early 19th-century opera has led to many roles in operas of Gluck, Haydn, Scarlatti, Conti, and others. In concert, Mr. Tharp has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra, among others. His concert repertoire includes the Bach, Mozart, Handel, and Haydn masterpieces of the 18th and 19th century and extends to Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder, the Verdi Requiem, and Britten’s War Requiem. A dedicated song recitalist, Mr. Tharp has appeared at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 92nd Street Y, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, venues in Europe, Japan, and South America. His interest in musical theater and cabaret led to his appearance in 3 Tenors in Search of an Act in a sold-out run at Don’t Tell Mama in New York. Steven has recorded for Decca, Delos, Newport, Albany and Naxos, earning a Grammy Award nomination. He has also served as stage director for the Manhattan School of Music and for Caramoor. He lives in Columbia, Missouri with his adorable Westie, Hector, and is Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Missouri.
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Janai Brugger
A former winner in 2012 of Placido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia competition and of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, American soprano, Janai Brugger, begins the 2015-16 season as Michaela Carmen at Washington National Opera, and sings the role again later in the season at Lyric Opera of Kansas.
Identified by Opera News as one of their top 25 “brilliant young artists” (October 2015 issue), Janai joins the Metropolitan Opera for their Rising Stars concert series and makes several US concert appearances during the season, along with various recital performances. She makes her debut as Norina Don Pasquale at Palm Beach Opera, and returns to Los Angeles Opera to revive the role of Musetta La Boheme which she sings under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.
Recent highlights include the role of Pamina Die Zauberflote in which she made her UK debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden to great acclaim, and formely sang at Los Angeles Opera in a new production by Barrie Kosky; Liu Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera of New York where she also sang the role of Helena The Enchanted Island.
In previous seasons, the artist made her debut as Michaela Carmen with Opera Colorado; she sang High Priestess Aidaat the Hollywood Bowl with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Juliette Roméo et Juliette at Palm Beach Opera, and, as a member of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program, her Los Angeles Opera appearances include Barbarina Le Nozze di Figaro under the baton of Placido Domingo, Page Rigoletto with James Conlon, and Musetta La Bohème with Patrick Summers. Cover assignments as a young artist include the roles of Mrs Neruda Il Postino, and the Governess The Turn of the Screw.
Miss Brugger appears frequently in concert and in recital; she sang at the Peter Dvorsky Festival in the Czech Republic; with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra during the May Festival under the baton of James Conlon; at Ravinia Festival with Chicago Symphony Orchestra as First Lady Die Zauberflöte under the baton of James Conlon; at Grant Park Festival’s Fourth of July open air concert before 10,000 people, with the Philadelphia Orchestra in their 2013 gala concert performance.
Additionally, she appeared in New York’s Festival of Song, and with David Daniels for performances of The Messiah in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
A native of Chicago, the artist obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied with the late Shirley Verrett. She won her Bachelor’s degree from DePaul University where she studied with Elsa Charlston. In 2010, Miss Brugger participated in The Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, and went onto become a young artist at Los Angeles Opera for two seasons.
Future engagements include return engagements at the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.