True Magic from Classroom to Stage with the Santa Fe Opera Young Voices and University of New Mexico Students
Release Date: 05/21/2025
Charting New Destinies: Native Voices in Opera with ShanDien LaRance, Robert Mesa, and Ehren Kee Natay
Key Change
Join Key Change for one last spin around the season six universe. Co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora recall their favorite moments, including reflections on the exciting collaboration between Santa Fe Opera and the University of New Mexico. Then, the Key Change team transports us to the first-ever libretto reading workshop for NOVA. Meet the cast of this intergalactic opera and discover how they're interpreting familiar sci-fi tropes, such as colonization, survival, and belonging, through a uniquely Indigenous lens—featuring Robert Mesa (Navajo Nation and the Soboba Band of...
info_outline![TEASER: A Journey to the Stars With the Cast of NOVA [VIDEO] show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/content/193646475?height=50&width=50)
TEASER: A Journey to the Stars With the Cast of NOVA [VIDEO]
Key Change
A sneak peak behind the scenes of our first reading of the libretto for NOVA, our latest new works commission at the Santa Fe Opera! *** Key Change is a production of , Department of Community Engagement & Education. Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: Produced and edited by Hosted by Anna Garcia & Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz Production Support from Alex Riegler Show Notes by Lisa Widder Theme music by with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello Cover art by Dylan...
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NOVA: Opera After the End of the World
Key Change
Ready for a choose-your-own cosmic adventure? On this episode of Key Change, co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora make way for old friends and new. Andrea Fellows Feinberg returns as guest host to introduce the creative team behind the intergalactic opera NOVA, a subversive meditation on responsibility and personal choice set against the end of the world––featuring Composer Brent Michael Davids, Librettist Marcie Rendon, and Music Director Sara Jobin. “We’re gonna mess with the traditional opera genre of tragedies and comedies, do something interesting with it, and make two...
info_outline![TEASER: Could The Latest Opera For All Voices Launch Us Into Space? [VIDEO] show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/content/193102215?height=50&width=50)
TEASER: Could The Latest Opera For All Voices Launch Us Into Space? [VIDEO]
Key Change
Set for a choose-your-own cosmic adventure? Get ready to meet the creative team behind the intergalactic opera, NOVA, on the next episode of Key Change. *** Key Change is a production of , Department of Community Engagement & Education. Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: Produced and edited by Hosted by Anna Garcia & Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz Production Support from Alex Riegler Show Notes by Lisa Widder Theme music by with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell,...
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True Magic from Classroom to Stage with the Santa Fe Opera Young Voices and University of New Mexico Students
Key Change
Fire up the Key Change time machine! We’re charting our course for the collaborative partnership between Santa Fe Opera and the University of New Mexico (UNM). Never experienced time-machine travel before? No problem! Key Change co-hosts Olga Perez Flora and Anna Garcia are experienced pilots. They introduce us to students participating in the Young Voices residency and steer our audience through an exciting day of master classes and workshops on the UNM campus. And don’t worry if you’re new to this bold, creative initiative. Olga and Anna provide episode recommendations to help...
info_outline![TEASER: Rising Voices in Opera [VIDEO] show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/content/188294950?height=50&width=50)
TEASER: Rising Voices in Opera [VIDEO]
Key Change
What have our favorite high school aged singers been up to? Hear from the Young Voices of the Santa Fe Opera themselves on the next episode of Key Change... coming soon! *** Key Change is a production of , Department of Community Engagement & Education. Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: Produced and edited by Hosted by Anna Garcia & Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz Production Support from Alex Riegler Show Notes by Lisa Widder Theme music by with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and...
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Where Talent Meets Opportunity: Career Trajectories in Opera with Kristin Ditlow & Jamie Flora
Key Change
We often say that the road to a successful opera career can be a winding one—and we’ve got the receipts to prove it! Join Key Change co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora as they discuss career trajectories, academic journeys, and artistic life with two legendary performers and educators: Kristin Ditlow, Associate Professor of Vocal Coaching and Opera Conductor at the University Of New Mexico, and James Flora*, acclaimed American tenor and Lecturer in Voice and Opera, also at UNM. Our conversation sets the stage for an exciting collaboration between Santa Fe Opera and UNM. “The...
info_outline![TEASER: Swimming the English Channel with Renée Fleming [VIDEO] show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/content/187684155?height=50&width=50)
TEASER: Swimming the English Channel with Renée Fleming [VIDEO]
Key Change
Coming up on the next episode of Key Change... the trajectory of an opera career from academia to the main stage with musicians & opera educators Jamie Flora and Kirstin Ditlow. *** Key Change is a production of , Department of Community Engagement & Education. Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: Produced and edited by Hosted by Anna Garcia & Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz Production Support from Alex Riegler Show Notes by Lisa Widder Theme music by with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano,...
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Rise to the Occasion of Your Opera Career with Chandler Johnson, Director of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers
Key Change
We love an encore! And this one's got it all: audition trends, futurecasting, and pragmatic advice for young opera talent. Key Change co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora also serve up plenty of musical memories, behind-the-scenes intel, and a little love for the Santa Fe Opera as a venue as they continue their visit with Chandler Johnson. When we last met Chandler, he had introduced us to career paths less traveled. "There's more to this business than just singing,” he continues. Chandler knows this truth better than most. After discovering opera in his early teens, he pivoted from...
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Taking Care of the Art with Chandler Johnson, Director of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers
Key Change
Pop quiz: Name an opera training initiative that creates space for self-discovery, serious fun, and a bit of Broadway adoration. Spoiler alert: there’s only one answer. On this episode of Key Change, co-hosts Anna Garcia and Olga Perez Flora get to know Chandler Johnson, Director of Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Program for Singers, and uncover what early-career singers selected for this internationally acclaimed program can expect from their 13 weeks in the desert. “It’s a pressure cooker!” exclaims Chandler of the four-month-long apprenticeship, initially developed by John...
info_outlineFire up the Key Change time machine! We’re charting our course for the collaborative partnership between Santa Fe Opera and the University of New Mexico (UNM).
Never experienced time-machine travel before? No problem! Key Change co-hosts Olga Perez Flora and Anna Garcia are experienced pilots. They introduce us to students participating in the Young Voices residency and steer our audience through an exciting day of master classes and workshops on the UNM campus. And don’t worry if you’re new to this bold, creative initiative. Olga and Anna provide episode recommendations to help you navigate the journey.
“It’s such a wonderful opportunity,” says Jamie Flora, esteemed tenor and professor at UNM, of the university’s collaboration with Santa Fe Opera. The dynamic program includes master classes on technique, audition logistics, performance critique, and resumé building, all designed to bridge the academic and professional opera worlds.
“We’re planting seeds in their minds that this is possible!” explains Kristin Ditlow, Associate Professor of Vocal Coaching at UNM and Music Director of its Opera Theater. “We have pathways and relationships that get you from school to being a working singer.”
Quiara Cortez followed one of those pathways to UNM, where she is now studying. She credits the collaboration with Santa Fe Opera for nurturing her artistic development. “Being able to talk with the best of the best and seeing what our next steps as people who are already in college might be. And having something big and professional to look forward to is wonderful.”
KEY CHANGE RECOMMENDED PLAYLIST
Where Talent Meets Opportunity: Career Trajectories in Opera with Kristin Ditlow & Jamie Flora
What’s Opera to a Bunch of High School Students? Young Voices, “The New Crop”
Safe Space for Creative Risks with Community Engagement and Education
Hometown to the World: Discovering "Postville" with Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed
Making Learning Sticky: Creative Compassion for Kids & Educators Through Opera with Charles Gamble
Harmony in Process: The Young Voices of the Santa Fe Opera with Amy "Process" Owens
An Opportunity to Encounter Excellence (and Big News!)
FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE
Kristin Ditlow - Associate Professor of Vocal Coaching, University of New Mexico; Music Director, University of New Mexico Opera Theater
James Flora - Lecturer II in Voice and Opera, University of New Mexico Opera Theater
Michael Hix - Chair, Department of Music University of New Mexico; Professor of Voice, University of New Mexico
Andrea Klunder - Producer, Key Change Podcast
Amy Owens - Director of the Young Voices of Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera Young Voices participants – Rylee Baca, Elsa Dhonau-Egan, Landen Kessler, Eleanor Lucas, Ava Mitchie, Alexander Nicholas Neas
University Of New Mexico participants - Maria Bollinger, Quiara Cortez, Alexandra King, Ryan Lopez, Taylor Stanley
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Hometown to the World | Santa Fe Opera
Eugene Onegin | Santa Fe Opera
University Of New Mexico - Department Of Music
Apprentice Program for Singers | Santa Fe Opera
Opera Storytellers Summer Camp | Santa Fe Opera
Opera Makes Sense | Santa Fe Opera
The Inner Voice: The Making Of A Singer
***
Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera, Department of Community Engagement & Education.
Share your favorite opera moments and questions with Community Engagement: agarcia@santafeopera.org
Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios
Hosted by Anna Garcia & Olga Perez Flora
Audio Engineering: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe
Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz
Production Support from Alex Riegler
Show Notes by Lisa Widder
Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello
Cover art by Dylan Crouch
This podcast is made possible due to the generous support of the Hankins Foundation, Principal Education Sponsor of the Santa Fe Opera.
To learn more, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange