I have a question for a friend who’s daughter was accepted into both the WNO summer program and Tanglewood. She is a rising Senior and plans on pursuing opera in college. Any thoughts on which program would be better in preparing for college auditions? Tanglewood has a new director in their 2nd year and costs a lot more. She needs to make a decision this week. Thanks!
I cannot help you other than to tell you that my hs son had an amazing time last year at Tanglewood but he is an orchestral player. The environment at Tanglewood is wonderful and he loved attending the many concerts. What I was wondering is when she heard from Tanglewood. Son has applied again for this year and we are waiting to hear. Has anyone else heard yet? Thanks.
I think they expedited for her because the deadline for WNO is this week. Glad to hear your son enjoyed Tanglewood!
My daughter attended WNO the summer of her junior year and very much enjoyed it. She has now graduated from Oberlin Con. WNO is an intense program and a great learning experience. I also recommended it to another singer and he attended last summer and also enjoyed it. I am glad to answer any questions if you want to PM me.
My daughter auditioned this year for the vocal program at BUTI and we are still waiting to hear. Last year we got the e-mail that she was accepted on 3/18. Hope that this helps. We also have a friend who was trying to decide between WNO and BUTI and they were able to tell her that she was accepted to both.
My daughter attended WNO last summer, as a rising Senior. She absolutely loved it. It is modeled on the curriculum of a first year voice major, and includes classes in diction, theory, music history, private lessons (she had a lesson with soprano Harolyn Blackwell), coachings, opera workshop, and master classes. The days were jam-packed with classes and rehearsals and they even had homework assignments. They had an art song recital, an opera scenes recital and the best of both of those were chosen to perform on the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center. It was fairly competitive (30 chosen out of 250 or so auditions). She enjoyed spending three weeks with other students from all over the US and Puerto Rico who shared her passion for classical singing. In addition to their daily schedule, they attended a Broadway tour of the Lion King at the Kennedy Center and an opera (don’t remember the company). It was also a great introduction to dorm life, cafeteria food and how to juggle responsibilities to the course work while having lots of fun. The facilities at American U. were great, as well. I am not as familiar with Tanglewood’s program, as I was put off by the cost and time factor (we had a vacation to Europe planned for the summer and the timing did not fit) when looking for summer programs. I hope this helps. (PS She passed all of her prescreens and felt very confident through all of her auditions, and gave significant credit for her preparedness to her WNO experience.)
Thank you everyone! She decided to attend WNO. I’m sure either one would be wonderful. I appreciate your comments and will pass them along to my friend.