THE MEMOIRS OF AN OPERA BUG

By Beaumont Glass

This autobiographical argosy of his own fascinating life is quite a different approach from his highly acclaimed German Lieder translations and IPA transliterations of the complete song texts of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Hugo Wolf and Richard Strauss. Drawing from his more than 50 years as a professional opera coach and stage director (including 19 years with the Zurich Opera and 18 years as Director of Opera Theater at The University of Iowa), Professor Glass shares many vignettes from his personal and professional experiences that will certainly prove interesting, enlightening, amusing and, perhaps, daunting, for the student and professional singer, vocal coach/accompanist, conductor, opera producer, stage director, and particularly, the opera-lover. Although now retired from the University of Iowa, Professor Glass, at age 80, continues to direct professional opera productions, lecture at various universities, and, with his wife, Evangeline Noël, team teach opera and Lieder at A.I.M.S. (American Institute of Musical Studies) each summer at Graz, Austria.

Debra Greschner states in her NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) review in the January/February 2008 issue of Journal of Singing: "In true operatic fashion, Glass offers an overture ot whet the audience's interestwith some random vignettesof his experiences as stage director, coach, and accompanist..A useful aspect of the bookis a discussion of the role of the coach and stage director. Glass explains what is expected of both in opera productions. Aspiring voice students, coaches, and stage directors would be well advised to read these sections. The author's accounts of his association with many of the great singers, conductors and directors of the later part of the twentieth century are interestingto read, and opera enthusiasts will enjoy his recollections. Best of all, Glass is not cynical or jaded about opera; he is still as captivated with the art form as when he first heard Faust. Readers will find his love for opera contagious."

In his review in Opera Now, May/June 2008, Richard Fawkes states: "For 19 years, the American musician Beaumont Glass was a vocal coach at the Zurich Opera House, working with some of the most eminent singers of the time: Rene Kollo (whom he coached for his first Tristan), Teresa Berganza, Reri Grist, Simon Estes, Hildegard Behrens - the list really does go on. He also worked at the Salzburg Festival, spent four summers at Aix-en-Provence, ... and was a stage director... Glass is one of those unsung musicians without whom opera houses could not function. He has seen and observed it all and he recounts his anecdotes in a lively, gossipy fashion. His trenchant views on the role of the stage director will strike a chord with many. Throughout his career (he left Zurich to become Director of Opera Theatre at Iowa University), his guiding principle was always to get others to share his love of opera. His is an enthusiasm that leaps off every page of a book that's very hard to put down."

227 Pages Smyth-Sewn Paper Back

ISBN 1-878617-69-9