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SCHOOLS UPDATE: School board discusses BOLD initiative PAGE 16
Vocalist auditions with the Met at Ordway
JACKIE BUSSJAEGER | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
Stillwater native Jack Swanson works with vocal coach Roderick Phipps-Kettlewell to prepare for his upcoming audition with the Metropolitan Opera.
BY JACKIE BUSSJAEGER STAFF WRITER
His parents encouraged Jack Swanson’s musical talent from a young age. “I’ve always sung in church,” he said, and he remembers his first stage role in “Oliver Twist.” It wasn’t until a high school voice teacher encouraged him that Swanson thought he might be able to pursue music professionally. Swanson attended Stillwater High School, where he sang in the choir directed by Eric Christiansen, and took vocal instruction. At age 18, he joined the Minnesota Opera’s student program Project Opera, and became an apprentice, which opened into an onstage role in “La Boheme.” Swan-
son is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Rice University in Houston, Texas, following a summer as one of the youngest singers to ever be apprenticed into the Santa Fe Opera. Swanson returned home when Rice University awarded him with a special opportunity to record a musical session with Minnesota Public Radio in early January—just weeks before his Met audition. It’s not the first time Swanson has aimed for the big leagues—he auditioned for the Met and made it past the district round a few years ago, but wasn’t chosen to advance to the regional level. “The judges told me ‘You’re young,’ and gave me advice for next time,” Swanson said. It seems as though “next
time” has rolled around: his schedule for 2016 makes the process possible. “When you sign up you have to act as if you would be available for semifinals,” Swanson said. “I’m not in the opera program at Rice in the spring, so it was perfect timing.” Whenever Swanson is home in Minnesota, he makes time to work with his vocal coach, Stillwater resident Roderick Phipps-Kettlewell. Phipps-Kettlewell also accompanied Swanson in his recent MPR recording, and said that the long-distance nature of their relationship was not a serious obstacle to preparing for the Met. He said that Swanson has a natural aptitude for his method of teaching, and that rehearsing feels more like having fun than
er t n i W “ ials Spec ble!” Availa
buckling down for competition. “Jack’s very smart, he gets it,” Phipps-Kettlewell said. He and Swanson have prepared a repertoire of five selections for the auditions, varying in style and difficulty. “I sing a lot of Rossini. It shows my voice in the way I want people to hear me,” Swanson said. “Jacks sings a lot of Italian,” Phipps-Kettlewell added. In addition to Swanson, he is coaching and will accompany four other Twin Cities-based singers in the upcoming Met auditions. Swanson’s repertoire is rigorous: he plans to perform “Ah, mes amis” from Donizetti’s “Daughter of the Regiment,” SEE ORDWAY AUDITION, PAGE 12
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