6A
NEWS / FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
OPERA (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
got in, and only seven were undergraduates," he said. "I was a freshman, and I was super seure."
Austin hadn't anticipated the level of competitiveness inside Murphy Hall. After more practice, he was accepted to the school after his second audition.
Within the opera community, there are many types of vocal styles. Based on those vocal styles, there are roles that each one typically plays.
Sopranos are generally the cute girlfriends, which means most of the leading roles are written for them. Tenors are cast as the lovers or boyfriends of sopranos. Mezzosopranos, like Cooke, are the bad girls. Baritones are the best friends who rarely get the girl and basses are the bad guys.
Right now Austin is a baritone, which means his voice is between the highs of a tenor and the lows of a bass. In the next few years, his vocal style might change completely.
A professor helped Austin find a job at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, where he's currently the youngest singer.
Anna Hoard, a senior from Topeka, is also a music performance student with an emphasis in voice at the University. Hoard said she was going to major in political science before she was given the lead role in a high school musical, "Into the Woods."
While men have to wait for their voices to develop, women's voices generally mature much earlier. Hoard, a mezzo-soprano like Cooke, said her voice didn't stop developing until her sophomore year of college.
Austin said the minimum fee for each performance is around $2,000 for a show singing chorus.
Charles Martinez, a third-year doctorate student in the School of Music and graduate teaching assistant from Wichita, said there was potential to make money in opera. He is 30 years old, so his voice – a tenor – is more developed.
"It's not uncommon to make $10,000 for one or two performances," he said. "It just depends who you are."
Austin auditioned for and performed in his first opera at Murphy Hall in 2009. It was a small role in La Traviata by Verdi.
"It's pretty competitive being at Murphy Hall," he said. "I go to school with my friends, but when opera season rolls around, they are your competition."
Austin said some of the students called Murphy Hall, Murphy High, because it reminded them of a high school at times.
"It's kind of dramatic, but you have to be kind of crazy to be an opera singer," he said.
The drama is compounded by "showmance s." Showmance is the phenom-
to understand your lifestyle than someone who has the same lifestyle?"
enon that occurs when two people in the same performance played characters in love, and they spent weeks together, all day and night, sharing voices, ideas, and developing their characters together.
The life of an opera singer is not an easy road. The six-figure salary is not guaranteed. The economy has also forced several opera companies to close.
"I go to school with my friends, but when opera season rolls around, they are your competition."
Julia Broxholm, voice professor in the music department and Austin's voice coach, said budgets are shrinking in some opera companies, so they're not able to offer the same kinds of fees as before.
"It's like movie stars, you hear about them doing a movie together, and now they're dating," Austin said. "But, who is better going
MICHAEL AUSTIN
Lawrence sophomore
Martinez, who recently finished
"I have friends who make really good money, but they're working toward retirement," he said. "I'm going to stay in this business as long as I can."
He said opera wasn't the typical "work until you're 55" type of job.
"I want to sing until I'm 70," he said.
Broxholm said despite the possibility of not making money as a singer, some people are crazy in love with it, and they just have to give it a shot. Even if that means living alone in hotel rooms, getting to go on stage means everything to them.
"It's also a hard life, there are lots of compromises, and lots of sacrifices," Broxholm said. "Stability of home, family, friends and relationships are almost always compromised."
Cooke said she would tell students trying to follow in her footsteps to sing or play the parts that lifted their spirits.
"Don't only play what you're told or what you're supposed to," she said. "Follow your heart, that's what people respond to."
While the pursuit to be an opera singer may include long hours, heavy competition, and unstable pay. Austin says being a performer is the only thing he feels like he could do forever.
PERSONAL GLANCE
Edited by Taylor Bern
WHO: Michael Austin, a sophomore from Lawrence
OTHER HOBBIES: Martial Arts, frisbee, hiking, fishing
MOVIEs: The Godfather,
The Empire Strikes Back
MUSICAL: South Pacific
Operas: La Traviata by
Verdi, La Bohème by
Puccini
CHARLES MARTINEZ'S
TOP 4 OPERAS FOR
BEGINNERS:
1. ) I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo
2.) La Bohème by Puccini
3.) La Traviata by Verdi
4.) Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart
JOE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
to the University in the fiscal year 2009.
From that amount, $441,000 was designated for student scholarships, about $289,406 to student programming through Student Union Activities and $22,050 to the KU Medical Center bookstore.
The rest of the money from trademarks stays in athletics for its general operating budget, which includes coaches' salaries, supplies and other general costs.
Farrahi said she didn't know how the profits from trademarks were distributed.
scholarships every year."
Early in the night Farrabi said she thought the event was
Marchiony said it was "unfortunate" that students didn't understand where the money goes.
Topeka, attended the event and said she went to help raise some money and support for Ioe College.
going well and attendees were excited. She said this event was a trial run and there may be more events in the future, depending on the outcome.
"It doesn't detract us from what we think is an important stance," Marchiony said. "We think it's very important to protect the University's trademarks and one of the most important reasons is that so much money goes to student
"It's very exciting to know that people are coming out to support us. It touches me."
"These proceeds are going to help the
LARRY SINKS
Joe College owner
little guy bring the court case to the next level." Farrahi said. "It's community support; it's not even about the financial aspect."
"I think I'm here because I support Joe College and their right to print the T-shirts that they print and I had time and it sounded like fun," Hogan said.
Larry Sinks, Joe College owner, has filed an appeal to get the attorney fees dropped and said it may take up to 18 months for the case to be heard.
Kate Hogan, a junior from
Sinks said he
was thrilled by the showing of support and was hoping that his legal battles with the University were over.
“It's very exciting to know that people are coming out to support us,” Sinks said. “It touches me, it really does.”
Edited by Taylor Bern
Becca Wise, a Dexter junior, right, and Will Anderson, an Arkansas City junior, listen to the band Sobriquet Thursday night at the Granada. Students said they were happy to support Joe College's fight against Kansas Athletics Inc.
Tanner Grubbs/KANSAN
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
A plane is escorted by a law enforcement vehicle to a terminal at Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday, Jan. 21. A spokesman for US Airways says a flight from New York to Louisville, Ky, has been diverted to Philadelphia International Airport because of security concerns.
NATIONAL
Kentucky-bound airplane diverted for security scare
BY KATHY MATHESON
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — A Jewish teenager trying to pray on a New York-to-Kentucky flight caused a scare Thursday when he pulled out a set of small boxes containing holy scrolls, leading the captain to divert the flight to Philadelphia, where the commuter plane was greeted by police, bomb-sniffing dogs and federal agents.
The 17-year-old on US Airways Express Flight 3079 was using tefillin, a set of small boxes containing biblical passages that are attached to leather straps, Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore said.
When used in prayer, one box is strapped to the arm while the other box is placed on the head.
"It's something that the average person is not going to see very often, if ever," FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver said.
The teen explained the ritual after being questioned by crew members of the flight, which had left LaGuardia Airport around
7:30 a.m. headed for Louisville and was operated by Chautauqua Airlines, authorities said.
Philadelphia about 9 a.m. without incident and was met by police, bomb-sniffing dogs and officials from the FBI and Transportation Security Administration.
Authorities said the plane was searched and passengers were questioned. The teen, who is from White Plains, N.Y., and was trav-
Officials with the airline, however, said crew members "did not receive
"Security today is a serious issue. You can't become educated up in the air."
SHMUEL GREENBERG
a clear response" when they talked with the teen, according to a statement issued by Republic Airways, which owns Chautauqua.
"Therefore, in the interest of everyone's safety, the crew decided to land in Philadelphia, where a more complete investigation and follow-up with authorities would be possible," the statement said.
The flight landed in
eling with his 16-year-old sister, was very cooperative. Vanore said.
"They were more alarmed than we were." Vanore said.
Klaver said the teen and his sister were never in custody and were cleared to continue their travels.
"He hadn't had the opportunity to pray, so that is why he did it on the plane." Frances Winchell said.
The teen's grandmother, who was waiting for him at Louisville International Airport, said the early flight left no time to pray before leaving New York.
She said the episode was traumatic for the boy, whose mother requested that he not give interviews.
H N C
"But in any event," she added, "all's well that ends well, and maybe some good will come to the world because of it."
The teen, who belongs to the congregation Young Israel of White Plains, is "a brilliant student" from "the sweetest family," said Shmuel Greenberg, the synagogue's rabbi.
The morning prayer ritual is supposed to take place within a few hours of sunrise, so it's understandable that the teen was doing it on the plane. Greenberre said.
The rabbi said he could see how someone unfamiliar with the tefillin could be alarmed.
"Security today is a serious issue. You can't become educated up in the air," Greenberg said. "I can definitely see a pilot or a crew that never saw it before in today's environment be very, very concerned."
The Republic statement said the airline would use Thursday's event "to further strengthen our commitment to both security and customer service."