Book 10

So You Want to Sing Light Opera

by Linda Lister

Published 15 January 2018
So You Want to Sing Light Opera is a concise handbook for performers, teachers, and directors who want to learn more about the delightful genre of light opera, including Viennese operetta, English comic opera, French opera bouffe, and Spanish zarzuela. Award-winning opera director and singer Linda Lister brings clarity to this often misunderstood and overlooked category of music with detailed information on how to prepare and perform roles with stylistic and musical sensitivity and to deliver spoken dialogue and choreography with confidence.

Lister focuses on the attributes of a light opera performer, light opera singing style, historical references, audition advice, directing insights, extensive repertoire recommendations Singing professionals, teachers, students, conductors, stage directors, coaches, and choreographers will find this book to be an ideal resource for the style.

The So You Want to Sing series is produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Light Opera features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.

Book 16

So You Want to Sing Music by Women opens wide a vast repertoire of vocal music written by women to advocate for widespread inclusion of this too-often neglected work in performance repertoire. Hoch and Lister provide a historical and contemporary perspective, chronicling the Western art music canon while also addressing contemporary trends in music theater and CCM.

In addition to providing a historical overview and social context in which women created music, this volume explores the music of hundreds of historical and contemporary women composers, such as Hildegard von Bingen, Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, Cathy Berberian, Erykah Badu, and Sara Bareilles. In addition to discussions of art song, opera, choral music, and avant garde/experimental music, Erin Guinup and Amanda Wansa Morgan also contribute chapters devoted to music theater, CCM, and advocacy for women composers. Interviews with high-profile composers including Lori Laitman, Rosephanye Powell, Meredith Monk, Georgia Stitt provide accounts from the frontlines of today's composing world. Additional chapters by Scott McCoy and Wendy LeBorgne address vocal technique and health, and Matthew Edwards provides guidance for working with sound technology.

The So You Want to Sing series is produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Music by Women features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.