Assistant Music Director of Oberlin Opera Theater
ALAN
MONTGOMERY IS THE opera coach, rehearsal pianist, assistant conductor,
and what Jonathon Field calls "the backbone of opera theater at Oberlin."
Montgomery, who joined the staff in 1979, says "I think the most important
aspect of my job is to help students develop what I call 'thought diction'
-- the sense that even though they are singing in a foreign language,
you can sense what they are feeling and thinking through the way they
sing. The supertitles should never trump a singers responsibility to
give life to the drama in the music.
"Opera often requires singers to act and react in a language not their own," Montgomery explains. "In the last 20 years, more and more opera companies in the U.S. and in Europe have performed opera in its original language. Jonathon wants to ensure that we train singers for today's market, and creating a large production in costume, in an original language, provides invaluable training for our students. Last year's opera production of "Roméo et Juliette," was performed in the original French. Our production of "Così" was performed in Italian. Our alumni are proof of the program's success as our alumni singers are quite active in national performances (at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, San Franciso Opera, St. Louis Opera and Santa Fe Opera, among others) and in the film and recording industries."
Montgomery explains the process. "The first thing I do is to take my Italian score and write a word-for-word translation. Then, when singers come to me, they have a word-for-word translation right in front of them. The initial goal is to make sure all the notes and words and rhythms are correct. Beyond that, I have to make sure that what they are singing comes across to an audience as a language, not isolated syllables. Musical styles, too, come into play. Mozart and Gounod, to name only last year's featured composers, aren't sung in the same style.