The University’s School of Music is debuting a new Lyric Theatre Program next semester that will be under the direction of internationally acclaimed opera singer Nathan Gunn.

It will be a comprehensive program that will cover opera and musical theater to reflect the artistic demands of the 21st century musical stage, on which performers must exhibit the highest standards of singing, acting and movement, said Jeffrey Magee, director of the School of Music.

“(Lyric Theatre) is an umbrella term that embraces everything a singer might have to do in the professional world today,” Magee said. “Stage singers now need to have more systematic training in acting and dancing. The demands today are very much calling for singers to be able to move and act and in naturalistic ways, and what we’re doing is just trying to respond to the professional world.”

The new program comes in the wake of a year-long discussion to come up with a more integrated approach that would embrace both opera and musical theater, Magee said.

Gunn, a University graduate and voice professor, is internationally renowned for his performances in many of the world’s well-known opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Philadelphia and Royal Opera House, Magee said.

In upcoming months, Gunn’s personal performance schedule will include touring Australia with Mandy Patinkin, performing the role of Papageno in “The Magic Flute” with the Metropolitan Opera in December and January. He will also star as Figaro in “The Barber of Seville” with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in February, Gunn said.

“I love teaching, and I love being active at Illinois, but I also have to perform,” Gunn said. “A part of what I do and what I bring to the University is a result of my performing from all across the world.”

Gunn hopes to use his connections from all over the world to engage guest stage directors, conductors, performers and composers to come to the University to work with students with the goal of providing them with not only the tools, but also the connections that they need to pursue performance careers.

“In a production that I was working on in Vienna, I was talking to one of the assistant conductors who said that he would be interested in coming down here and working with the kids,” Gunn said. “So, it’s things like that that (are) going to be critical with this program.”

The new program will also be placing a heavier emphasis on fundamental skills than ever before and will include more plans to perform a wider variety of different works, Gunn said.

“I think this program will focus on fundamentals in the world of musical theater and opera more than ever because you need those fundamentals nailed down in order to succeed in the performance world,” Gunn said. “We’re also trying to make our program better, where we can actually workshop new pieces.”

In an effort to engage more systematically with the departments of theater and dance, other Lyric Theatre faculty members will include Gunn’s wife, Julie Gunn — a pianist, vocal coach, song arranger and also a University music professor. She will be the director of Lyric Theatre studies. 

University voice professor Jerold Siena will be the artistic administrator for the program. Tom Mitchell from the University’s theater department and Rebecca Nettl-Fiol from the University’s dance department, will serve as liaisons to the program.

“Some things with this new program are going to stay the same,” Julie Gunn said. “What will change is the guest conductors and directors, and the degree that we are collaborating with theater and dance is going to be greater. We’re going to do more scenes and one-acts, and we are going to give undergrads more opportunities to pursue things that they are really interested in.”

Julianne can be reached at [email protected].