March 18, 2003
FOGGY BOTTOM FRIENDS
Von Villas: A Guide to Young Voices
GW’s Opera Theatre and Vocal Workshop Director
By Jane
Lingo
When Washington music lovers hear an outstanding opera performance or
discover a promising student at a recital, this may be due to the professional
activities of Muriel Von Villas. Wearing several hats, she is the director
of the Opera Theatre and Vocal Workshop at George Washington, serves
on the music faculty at Georgetown University, teaches voice and coaches
singers at her home studio, and is the dramatic vocal coach for the
Washington Opera Young Artists Program of the Americas. She also works
with Opera International on its annual production.
Von Villas holds a bachelor’s of music degree (voice and opera)
from Boston Conservatory of Music, where she was a fellow to John Moriarty
in the opera department. She also did graduate work in opera production
at the New England Conservatory.
Throughout her career, Von Villas has been associated with a number
of major figures in the music world, including, Todd Duncan and Boris
Goldovsky. She studied voice with Duncan for 11 years and her son, Zachary
is named for him.
“Mr. Duncan was probably the most influential person in my life,
a brilliant man, I quote him all the time,” she says. At one point,
in working with Duncan on coaching, she said of a singer, “I think
the tongue is a little tight.” He told her, “I think you have
a knack for this.” Goldovsky, she comments “was probably the
most knowledgeable on staging, phrasing, and translations.” Of
Placido Domingo she says, “He is a great man, really remarkable.”
Of her own teaching both at GW and at at the Washington Opera (now staging
three productions at Constitution Hall while the Kennedy Center Opera
House is being renovated), she comments, “I work on just putting
together a comprehensive curriculum for singers. I say there are no
problems, only solutions, which I’m tellling them.”
“I love university life,” says Von Villas. “At GW this
year, we did Amahl (“Amahl and the Night Visitors” by Menotti).
It was probably our best production. We didn’t charge. We just
took donations. It was probably the most diverse audience we have ever
had. We had several people in wheel chairs. There is a line in the show
where Amahl, the crippled boy, asks one of the kings ‘In among
your magic stones, do you have one that will cure cripples?’ There
was a marked reaction from the wheel-chair patrons. The Amahl production
was great for all of us involved in so many ways. Those who gave, gave
well. Those who couldn’t, just loved being there,” the enthusiastic
Von Villas adds.
She says they just had auditions for the GW Opera Scenes program that
will be on April 12 and 13 in the music department, with music direction
by Frank Conlon.
With the Washington Opera Young Artists program, Von Villas is currently
coaching the singers for their own performance of “Don Giovanni,”
in DAR Constitution Hall. The performance will be open to the public,
from March 29 through April 11.
The Young Artists also will be appearing on the Kennedy Center’s
Millennium Stage in April in an hour of scenes from American operas.
“We are premiering ‘Democracy’ by Henry Adams (Scott
Wheeler, composer). One of the scenes will be based on a short amount
of time in Ulysses Grant’s presidency. The widow of Robert E. Lee,
Madeline, moves back to Washington to try to understand politics,”
according to Von Villas.
The 10th anniversary of Opera International will be observed this summer
with performances on Aug. 8 and 10 at Lisner Auditorium. The program
for the anniversary gala will be Act II of “Nozze di Figaro”
for the first half and Verdi scenes for the second half. “Marie
Hom called me in 1994,” Von Villas recalls. “She had been
given some money to produce an opera, so we started.” Hom is now
producer-director of Opera International, which has strong support from
the Chinese community in the Washington area. “We use the GW theatre
and dance costume shop,” Von Villas says. “I call Betsy Francisco
in President Trachtenberg’s office and say ‘It’s opera
time again,’ and Bill Pucilowsky just gives us his keys.”
She continues, “We start the next day for the following year. We
have a quick postmortem and on we move. We try to have professional
people (in the principal roles) and a tiered level of other singers.”
A reunion is in the works for this year.
Asked about her favorite operas, Von Villas says, “Probably the
most perfect opera is ‘Nozze di Figaro.’ My personal favorite
is ‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’ by Poulenc. I find the music
divine, compelling, and beautiful. Puccini is probably the most fun
to direct. He said ‘If I can’t see it, I can’t write
it.’ ”
Working about 70 hours a week, Von Villas is almost totally absorbed
in her schedule but still devotes time to her family. “I love to
cook,” she says. “It’s a balancing act with four kids.”
They are, in descending order from age 20, Rebecca, Courtney, Zach,
and Noah. The first three were born on opening nights of operas so she
missed the first nights of three operas she had prepared. Two of the
children, Courtney and Zachary, just auditioned for “Les Miserables.”
Both earned parts and will appear in late May performances. Oldest daughter
Rebecca, now at the University of Virginia, hopes to attend graduate
school at Yale where she would like to study voice. Noah plays the bass
clarinet in his honor band and recently appeared as Joseph in “Joseph
and the Amazing Dream Coat.”
Von Villas’ husband, Edward Roberts, retired both from the Boston
Conservatory as a musician and from The Washington Post as a systems
analyst, serves as conductor and music director of Opera International
and is a member of liederspeil, an ensemble dedicated to performances
of romantic part songs. This family tradition of music will continue
for a long time.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
