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McKinney HS grad makes sound waves in opera scene
Submitted Photo -- McKinney High School graduate Joshua Dennis was chosen as one of 40 singers nationwide for The Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers, among the country's oldest and most respected opera apprenticeships.
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
Joshua Dennis arrived on the opera stage in a later act of his young life. His voice says otherwise.
Dennis, a McKinney High School graduate, this summer is one of 40 young singers in The Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice Program for Singers, a 56-year program among the oldest and most respected in the nation.
He was chosen from nearly 900 applicants nationwide this past fall, months before completing his Master of Music in Opera Performance from Stephen F. Austin University (SFAU).
Such renown was likely foreign to Dennis until two years into his college experience. He grew up a basketball player, moving with his family to McKinney from Sacramento, Calif., before eighth grade.
He and his twin brother Joseph, already a singer, attended Faubion Middle School, then McKinney High. Dennis didn't join his brother in choir until senior year.
"I found out that girls like guys who can sing," he said. "I think that's what got me really into it."
He studied theater at Collin County Community College (now Collin College) as a freshman and sophomore, then chose opera and transferred to SFAU, where he first obtained his Bachelor of Music in Voice.
During his pursuit, Dennis sang the roles of Eisenstein in "Die Fledermaus," Sam Polk in "Susannah," Turiddu in "Cavalleria Rusticana," and the Circus Director in "The Bartered Bride." Last year, he was named Singer of the Year in the National Association of Teachers of Singers Competition, for which he prepared 15 songs for 15 straight minutes in front of judges.
His babe-magnet motives have crescendoed into a piercing passion.
"There's something about the raw human voice filling up an auditorium over an entire orchestra, without any microphones, that I like," he said. "It's just me and my body."
And, in recent weeks, thousands of other bodies intent on his voice. As they have every year since 1957, when the apprentice program opened with The Santa Fe Opera, some of the world's most respected conductors, directors and singers have descended on New Mexico to perform and work with potentially the next generation of opera fame.
"It was the first training program in the United States that had intentions of preparing opera singers for a career," said David Holloway, a Santa Fe apprentice in the 1960s, a career opera singer, and now the program's director. "It's always been a professional-level program."
This year's apprentices, representing 26 states and Venezuela, form the backbone of The Santa Fe Opera's 56th summer festival season, which runs through Aug. 25 and features 36 performances of five different operas: Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca," Georges Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers," Gioachino Rossini's "Maometto II," Karol Szymanowski's "King Roger" and Richard Strauss' "Arabella."
Dennis is understudy for the role of Elemer, one of three suitors in "Arabella," a German lyric comedy that debuted in 1934 at London's Royal Opera House. Though he wasn't needed for the opening show this past weekend, his time will come -- in Santa Fe or elsewhere.
"There are six or seven more performances, so we expect him to be ready," said Holloway, who selected Dennis for his unique tenor sound. "I saw him in a run-through this week, and it's a wonderful thing to watch. He's really ready."
As well he should be, given his daily agenda. When not rehearsing for the five operas, apprentices receive one-on-one coaching and lessons in diction, style and performance from faculty from The Julliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music, San Francisco Opera and Manhattan School of Music.
They attend master classes by esteemed artists like Reri Grist, a pioneer African-American opera singer, and Marlena Malas, an internationally renowned recitalist.
It isn't that dream Santa Fe vacation, but a dream nonetheless.
"It's really just a privilege and a pleasure to be able to soak in some of the knowledge that they're giving freely," Dennis said. "We're always singing and always learning, so it's quite the adventure."
His still-short-lived adventure's most crucial test may not come in "Arabella," but in a couple of weeks during Apprentice Scenes. The evenings of Aug. 12 and Aug. 19, apprentices will audition for opera executives from 25 big-name companies, such as the Metropolitan Opera (the Met), the English National Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, many of which have former Santa Fe apprentices in leading roles this season.
Now a learned apprentice, Dennis has a chance to take center stage. And voice his appeal.
"He carries a certain weight, a good, strong sound," Holloway said. "When he opens his mouth, he's really something special."
For more information about The Santa Fe Opera and its apprentice program, visit www.santafeopera.org.
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