SEASON OPENING Reception & Event:
NYSTA Celebrates The Broadway Musical "In the Heights"
October 6, 2008 Monday, 6:00PM-9:00 PM

Nominated for thirteen TONY awards, members of the cast of In The Heights will share with us their incredible journey taking this musical from its humble beginnings to its triumphant, and groundbreaking Broadway run, and discuss the rigors of this unique vocal music in an eight-shows-a-week schedule. Our panel includes Andrea Burns, (Songs for a New World, The Full Monty, The Ritz, Beauty and The Beast) and TONY Nominee Olga Merediz (Man of La Mancha, Mamma Mia, Les Miz).
A catered reception follows the brief Q&A at:
Laurie Beecham Theater at the West Bank Café, 407 West 42nd St, (just west of 9th Avenue)
Free to members, $25 non-members, $15 students with valid ID.
Please Note: there is limited seating for this event so reservations are required and will be given out on a first-come, first-serve basis. Members use the RSVP form located on the NYSTA website (Member’s Log In page). Non-members must purchase tickets to this event on the NYSTA website Events Page (below).

In The Heights - Montage

CATHERINE MALFITANO MASTERCLASS
andAnnual Holiday Party
December 7, 2008 Sunday, 2:00 PM-6:00 PM

The incomparable Catherine Malfitano whose formidable vocal and dramatic talents are world renowned, will guide young professionals in operatic repertoire, followed by our usual holiday good cheer.
Laurie Beecham Theater at the West Bank Café, 407 West 42nd St. (just west of 9th Avenue)
Free to members and one guest, $25.00 non-members, $15 students with valid ID
Please Note: there is limited seating for this event so reservations are required and will be given out on a first-come, first-serve basis. Members use the RSVP form located on the NYSTA website (Member’s Log In page). Non-members must purchase tickets to this event on the NYSTA website Events Page (below).

Catherine Malfitano - "O Cielo! Dove son io?" Stiffelio

SIXTEEN BAR Clinic
February 9, 2009 Monday, 6:30PM-9:30PM
Back by popular demand, twelve singers get to strut their stuff before a panel of industry experts who give candid and supportive advice often not offered in the audition setting.

New York University, Kimmel Center, (60 Washington Square South, Shorin Performance Space, 8th floor); Photo ID required. Free to members, $25 non-members, $15 students with valid ID.

2009 16 Bar Clinic Presenter Biographies

ACCESSING The Inner Divo/Diva
April 19, 2009 Sunday, 4:00PM-6:00PM

"Help your students to turn performance anxiety into performance energy, silence the inner critic and step into performing with confidence. NLP Trainers and Certified NGH Hypnotists Sarah Carson and Shawn Carson will outline cutting edge techniques drawn from the disciplines of Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology, NLP, EFT, Hypnosis and Clean Language to calm perfomance nerves, change negative self talk into positivbe encouragement and turn those butterflies into soaring on wings of song."

2007-2008 Season

Avril Lavigne at the World Music Awards
"Hot"

Sunday February 10, 2008
4:30pm 
A Musical Theater Master-Class
with Meg Bussert

Tools for Acting the Song
For the singer (and teacher): honing the acting and performance techniques, once the musical preparation is done!

Ms. Bussert will guide participants through a fresh approach to acting the song borrowing tools and techniques from Stanislavsky and Michael Chekhov.  These strategies can be applied by anyone working on the lyric stage whether the repertoire is music theater or opera, standard song or art song.  The workshop will address not only the acting choices but the physical expression of those choices and how the artist can incorporate the psychological and the physical into their performance.

Broadway veteran Meg Bussert is a Tony Award® Nominee, Theater World Award winner, and Master Teacher of acting and music theater studies at NYU Steinhardt. She has recently been presenting workshops applying Chekhov’s psycho/physical techniques to the particular needs of the singing actor.

This event available for viewing by members only
on the online video archive (Log In required).

Meg Bussert (In Camelot with Richard Harris)
"Simple Joys of Maidenhood"

2006 - 2007 Season

Season Opening Event and Reception
A Conversation with Brian Stokes Mitchell
Share an intimate evening with Broadway’s legendary leading man, TONY award winner and recording artist, Brian Stokes Mitchell, as he shares advice about a career in theater, stories from his own career and craft, and an in depth analysis of “The Impossible Dream” from a performer’s perspective. This is a rare opportunity for you and your students to ask questions of this extraordinary and gracious man.  Join us afterwards for a catered reception (soft-drinks available free / cash bar for liquor).

Sunday, October 8, 5:00pm
The Laurie Beecham Theater at the West Bank Cafe
407 West 42nd St, (just west of 9th Avenue - see maps page for directions.)
Free to Members / $20.00 non-member / $10.00 students 
Members please Log In to RSVP for this event online.
Members RSVP by phone - 917-544-5309.

Brian Stokes Mitchell
"The Impossible Dream"

Mozart’s Vocal Performance Practice
A guide to recitatives, cadenzas, and ornamentation
with Kenneth Cooper
and Annual Holiday Party
The renowned keyboard player and conductor will guide singers through the inviting world of eighteenth century musical performance practice with an emphasis on allowing the meaning of text to emerge through the appropriate choice of vocal gesture.

Afterward, members and their guests ring in the holidays with a rousing, and catered, holiday party (and sing-a-long, of course)

Sunday, December 3, MVP 4:00pm / Party 6:00pm 
Turtle Bay Music School
244 E. 52nd Street (see maps page for directions)
Mozart Vocal Performance Practice 4:00pm, Holiday Party 6:00pm
Free to members/ $20 non-members/ $10 students 
Members please Log In to RSVP for this event online.
Members RSVP by phone - 917-544-5309.

A Singer’s Guide to the Marketplace with Dorothy Byrne
Ever wished for a book called Self-Promotion for Dummies? NYSTA has arranged something even better:  a workshop to give you the tools to define your product -- you -- and present it with the greatest appeal to potential customers: conductors, producers, managers, etc.  Dorothy Byrne is a businesswoman turned opera singer who teaches this exciting workshop at young artists programs nationwide.  Participants call it a life-changing experience.  Attention teachers -- if you want to expand your studio and attract the right kind of student, this workshop is for you too!

Monday, February 26, 8:00pm
Ripley-Grier Studios
520 Eighth Avenue, 16^th Floor
(between 36^th and 37^th Streets - see maps page for directions)
Free to Members / $20.00 Non-Members / $10.00 Students
Members please Log In to RSVP for this event online.
Members RSVP by phone - 917-544-5309. 
Limited Seating - General Admission

Poets, Prophets and Queens
an evening of American Song Presented by
NYSTA and the Lotte Lehmann Foundation 

Don't miss NYSTA's upcoming concert entitled Poets Prophets and Queens, on Friday, April 20 at the Yamaha Salon, located at 689 Fifth Avenue. The evening features an outstanding quartet of young singers performing recent American songs by acclaimed composers John Corigliano, Daron Hagen, Lee Hoiby, and Libby Larsen. Along with these well-known composers, the concert features songs by three winners of the 2005 ASCAP/Lotte Lehmann Foundation Song Cycle Competition, all under thirty years old: first prize winner, Scott Gendel, Damine Prize winner Eli Marshall and third prize winner Michael Djupstrom.

You'll hear some of the most exciting recent vocal work by major American composers, illustrating the powerful eloquence of music and text embodied in the art song. Corigliano's Mr. Tambourine Man, based on lyrics by Bob Dylan, forces the listener to reexamine this unforgettable poetry in an entirely new light. Several of the Corigliano songs address the subject of war, as does Lee Hoiby's beautifully unadorned setting Private Jesse Givens, a letter written by a soldier to his family shortly before his death in Iraq. Libby Larsen's Try Me, Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII also offers first-person narrative in the face of death, in a cycle packed with high drama and emotion.

The singers are sopranos Deborah Lifton and Amy Synatzke Blake, tenor Matthew Garret, and baritone Jesse Blumburg, all gifted artists with rising careers in opera, concerts and recording.

Friday, April 20, 7:30pm
The Yamaha Showroom
689 Fifth Avenue,  3rd floor
(entrance on 54th Street between Fifth and Madison - see maps page for directions),
Free to Members / $20.00 Non-Members / $10.00 Students 
Limited Seating - General Admission

Previous Season's Events

Ring, Ping and the Singer's Formant:
Combining the Science and the Art

Wednesday, October 5th, 2005, 8:00pm
Turtle Bay Music School, 244 E. 52nd Street
Free to members, $15 non-members, $10 students

An opportunity to see master teachers Neil Semer, Zehava Gal and Garyth Nair demonstrate how they enhance ring and ping in the voice. This workshop explores whether the science of acoustics and the art of teaching can support each other. Three singers will have their tones analyzed by computer software. After working with the teachers, we will examine whether their voices show acoustical differences and what they mean, with particular attention to the singer's formant, a concept which will be illuminated.

Musical Theater 16 Bar Clinic

Sunday, February 26th, 2006, 1:00-5:00pm
New York University, Shorin Performance Space, 8th floor
Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South
(Photo ID required to sign in at the security desk)
Free to members, $15 non-members, $10 students
Singer Participants, $25

Brought back by popular demand, our 16 Bar Clinic will feature four prominent musical theater industry professionals, Thomas Mills (Director - Musicals Tonight! Faculty member AMDA), Michael Rodriguez (Agent - Hartig Hilipo Agency), Barry Moss (Casting Director- Barry Moss Casting), and Eddie Strauss (Broadway Music Director- Guys and Dolls, ...Forum, Urinetown ).

Twenty singers will present two 16 bar selections each and receive instant evaluation and constructive criticism in front of our esteemed audience of voice teacher members and guests. Open discussion and comments will follow. This is an excellent opportunity to be the "fly on the wall" and assess and evaluate each student's technical and repertoire choices in the audition circumstance.

Crossing Over with John Kander & Judy Kaye

Monday, April 19, 2004, 7:30 - 10:00 pm
Provincetown Playhouse, 133 MacDougal Street
Members $15; non-members $25; students with valid ID $10
Limited seating, Reservations required. Call 917-544-5309

A co-presentation with The Steinhardt School of Education of New York University
and Opera Index; Two Broadway luminaries, composer John Kander (Chicago, Cabaret, Kiss Of the Spider Woman, The Visit) and Judy Kaye (Mama Mia, On the Twentieth Century, Ragtime ) demystify Broadway singing for the classically trained artist. Ms. Kaye will coach several singers. David Sabella-Mills (Chicago, The Visit) will introduce and moderate.

Salome Turns Fifty

May 8, 2004, 3:00 - 5:00 pm
Museum of Television & Radio, MT&R Theater
25 West 52 Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues 
Members: $10, non-members $15

A co-presentation with The Museum of Television and Radio and Opera Index
The 1954 broadcast of the Strauss masterpiece will be screened fifty years to the day and time of its initial live telecast. Starring NYSTA member Elaine Malbin as Salome, directed by Kirk Browning, and featuring John Cassavetes as Jokanaan (sung by Norman Atkins), and Sal Mineo as the Page (sung by Carol Jones).