COVID-19 hasn’t stopped TU’s intrepid Student Chapter of the National Association of Singing from providing opportunities for music students to connect with the professional singing world.
By: Judith Raiford, Associate Professor of Music in Voice
The University of Tulsa’s Student Chapter of the National Association of Singing (TU SNATS) has continued to provide opportunities this semester for music students to connect with the professional singing world, despite the restrictions brought on by COVID-19.
On Oct. 9, TU SNATS members attended the first live opera production in the United States since the pandemic hit in March: Tulsa Opera’s groundbreaking performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto presented at ONEOK Field, imaginatively restaged to incorporate the baseball theme by James Robinson, artistic director of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, who just happens to be a TU School of Music alumnus.
On Oct. 17, a blustery but beautiful Saturday afternoon, TU SNATS members met at The Gathering Place to chat with bass-baritone Heday Inoue, who has sung several roles with Tulsa Opera in recent years. He shared some of his personal and professional experiences as a rising star in the opera world and spoke with the students about his creative activities as a performing artist during the time of COVID-19.