Marc Astafan
Opera Studies
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photo by Tim Morse |
Marc Astafan taught in NEC's opera studies program from 1995 to 2008. In addition to leading classroom studies in stage technique, acting, scene study, and audition techniques, he directed opera scenes and many of NEC's opera productions.
Formerly an actor, singer, and dancer, Astafan has also been a member of the directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera in New York where he has worked on productions of Tosca, Parade, Madama Butterfly, Eugene Onegin, Die Zauberflote, Manon, and Samson et Dalila. He has worked extensively with young opera artists teaching masterclasses and directing productions of L'enfant et les Sortileges at Tanglewood, Le Nozze di Figaro at the Bay View Music Festival, Tosca, The Face on the Barroom Floor, and The Seven Deadly Sins at Central City Opera, I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Cosi Fan Tutte with the Pittsburgh Opera Center and scenes programs at the Music Academy of the West, Chautauqua Opera and the Santa Fe Opera. Other regional directing credits include Il Trovatore at Nevada Opera, La Boheme at Opera Illinois, La Traviata at Opera Theatre of Philadelphia, Rigoletto at the Opera Company of El Paso, Candide at the Florida State Opera, and Die Zauberflote with the Eugene Opera and Opera Orchestra of New York at the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
At New England Conservatory, productions directed by Astafan included the world premiere of Robert Ceeley's The Automobile Graveyard in 1995, and George Whitefield Chadwick's The Padrone in 1997.
Chronological list of main stage production conducted by Astafan during his tenure at New England Conservatory:
Francesco Cavalli's L'Egisto, 2008
Tennessee Williams's Summer & Smoke, 2007
Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, 2006
Giacomo Puccini's Les Mamelles de Tiresias, 2006
Mark Adamo's Little Women, 2005
Jules Massenet's Cendrillon, 2005
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, 2004
Giovanni Faustini's La Calisto, 2004
Leonard Bernstein's Candide, 2003
Aaron Copland's The Tender Land, 2003
Jacques Offenbach's La Perichole, 2000
Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, 2000
Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, 1999
Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999
Carl Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1998
Francis Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias, 1998
George Whitefield Chadwick's The Padrone, world premiere, 1997
Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale, 1997
Nino Rota's The Italian Straw Hat, 1996
Robert Ceely's The Automobile Graveyard, world premiere, 1995
Astafan's students have gone on to win major awards and competitions, sing with prominent opera companies in the U.S. and Europe, and perform on Broadway and television.
Related links:
www.marcastafan.com