Rehearsing and Performing at Curtis (December 2025)

It has officially been a week (and one day!) since my debut with Curtis Opera in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo.

After a month’s rehearsal, we performed two sold-out shows on the 14th and 16th of November at the Princess Theatre, located inside the Philadelphia Film Society Centre. Involving almost the entire vocal department, soloists and the chorus alike poured in hours of effort and passion – often rehearsing six days a week. Judging by the applause of the audience I think those were hours well spent.A photo of the Act V set within Princess Theatre during the last week of rehearsals

We began rehearsals on the 13th of October. Previously, we had had coaching and time set aside to practice our parts, but as soon as it hit that Monday, we were expected to be off-book and ready to begin staging. While not always for the full four hour duration initially set for us each night (6pm to 10pm), a chorus member could be expected to be called almost every night of the week as well as on Saturday from 11am to 6pm. While finding a balance between our other academics and our rehearsals was intimidating, most teachers were incredibly understanding when homework began trickling in a little later than usual, or our scales on the piano didn’t seem to be getting any smoother during lessons.

In L’Orfeo this year, I was assigned to the Chorus (I’m in the green suit beside the tree in the photo above!), but I also featured as Spirito III – a part with a single but powerful line uttered as Orfeo preemptively turns to look at Euridice before they have reached the surface: ‘Rott’hai la legge e se’ de gratia indegno!’ (Thou hast transgressed the law and art unworthy of grace!), and as part of a short duet with one of the Shepherds as we try to convince Orfeo to think positively (E dopo l’aspro gel…).

Additionally, I had the opportunity to understudy Speranza, which translates from Italian to English as Hope.

Curtis is responsible for three fully staged operas each year, with both the shows and casting chosen by the heads of the department in discussion with students’ respective vocal coaches. Curtis’ next two operas will be:
La Passion de Simone, by Kaija Saariaho (26th and 28th of February, 2026), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten (30th of April and 2nd of May, 2026). While I will not be featuring in either, I’ve found I’ll have no lack of performances to prepare for! Already we are getting ready to perform operatic scenes in our Department Recital on 8th of December, where I will sing the Third Lady as part of a quintet from Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

Then this coming Spring Semester I will be fortunate enough to perform as part of a women’s octet in Gabriela Ortiz’s Revolución Diamantina, an influential work selected by a conductor here for her graduation recital, and additionally I will perform Korean art songs as part of a fellow singer’s student recital – I hope to perform a student recital of my own as well!

I’m so excited to share the process of rehearsing and performing these fantastic projects, as well as to discuss so many of the other wonderful performances one can witness happening here at Curtis – their motto is ‘Learn by doing’for a reason after all! But before that, this coming week will provide a break for the students, allowing them to return to their families for Thanksgiving celebrations before classes resume again on the 1st of December. While I will be staying at Lenfest Hall, I will be lucky enough to attend some ‘Friendsgivings’ hosted by those staying around Philadelphia during the week. I’m once again reminded how wonderful it is to be here, and the ones who made it possible xx

I look forward to sending out my next update and as always, thank you for reading!

Isabella