The Atlanta Opera and Emory University are pleased to offer High School Opera Institute, a one-week intensive study program on the Emory campus, designed for rising 10th-12th grade singers.  Classes include:• Individual and group vocal coaching; diction• Yoga and stretching; movement and characterization• Audition techniques; vocal health• Resume writing; college and career discussion sessions.  Using the audition process as a focus, students receive feedback throughout the week, which culminates in a final mock audition, presented in front of parents and […]

You’re a Georgia native. What is it like to direct a show so close to home? To be perfectly honest, I’ve been so focused on staging the show, I’ve hardly taken a moment to soak it all in!  However, it has been quite a few years since I’ve been on the East Coast in the spring, and I had forgotten how perfectly breathtaking it is when everything starts blooming.  This is such a gorgeous city… it is a real pleasure […]

Did you grow up going to the theatre?  No, not really. I grew up on the far end of Staten Island during the 1960’s and early 1970’s. I remember thinking at the time that NYC was very far away. My parents were not the theatre-going type. In fact, I remember only one experience. It was during one of the holiday seasons. My parents took us to see the Radio City Christmas show (I believe I was 7, 8 years old […]

On February 3rd, we unveiled our lineup for the coming 2015-16 season. We invite you to Join the Adventure as we embark on both the imaginative journeys of the operas, as well as the new pathways that opera in Atlanta has taken in recent years. The operas we have planned will take you on adventures around the world and into an exotic realm of beauty and heartbreak.  We open our mainstage season at the Cobb Energy Centre with a fresh […]

It all began and ended with four simple colors: pink, purple, orange, and green. It was a rainy Friday morning at 9 o’clock, and a raw chill seemed to hush the usual whir of cars speeding down Peachtree. The drizzle dampened the brick exterior of First Presbyterian with a fresh coat of dew. Inside, four composers and four librettists, some veterans and some newbies, sat wondering with whom they would be paired. Four colors sat in a basket, each hand […]

Where did you grow up?  I was born and raised in Odessa (former USSR) which is now Ukraine. A year before the USSR fell apart, my family immigrated to Israel, where I finished school and got a B.F.A. in design for theater at Tel Aviv University. Then I moved to the U.S. to complete my M.F.A. in costume design for stage, and production design for film. It’s been a fascinating journey to live in three countries that are so extremely […]

How did you and Tomer meet? I met Tomer in 2009 when we both collaborated on Richard Eyre’s hit production of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera. I was assisting choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and Tomer was assisting Richard. It was one of those times in creating opera when everything is magical and everyone respects and adores each other! Tomer took over the directorial reigns when Carmen was revived so we spent many years together creating and recreating the passion and desperation […]

How long have you been with The Atlanta Opera? Since the late 1970s. There have been several reincarnations. The stability of the last 20 years has been a great blessing to the city, as well as patrons and practitioners of this art form. At what age did you know that you wanted to be a percussionist, and how did that come about? I began playing drums in the third grade. My parents, on limited income, were visionaries in having all […]

General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun Jeff Roffman    I am so excited to finally kick off the Atlanta Opera 2014-15 season, my first planned season as a General and Artistic Director. I have heard the term “Southern hospitality” before, but in the past 16 months I have seen it daily as I was offered a warm, genuine welcome to a wonderful city that I now call home.  Moving here was an adventure for me, and I believe this new season […]

The celebration of 25 years in this Chorus Master position has brought forth so many folks asking me to write or speak on the highlights of these years. Some past events are a blur, yet some are clear as day. My debut as Chorus Master with Atlanta Opera was in the 1988 – 1989 season. As I think back to that start, I also think of how much the world around us has changed since then.  Believe it or not, […]