The Penn Opera and Musical Theater Workshop presents performances of opera, operetta, and musical theatre, engaging students to combine believable acting with expressive singing in a workshop setting.
Each fall the ensemble presents a cabaret evening of solos and small ensembles from the American musical theater repertoire and is open to students of all abilities. The spring semester offers a scene program taken from the operatic repertoire. Every 3 years OMTW presents an opportunity to delve deeper into specific repertoire by presenting a fully staged production accompanied by an instrumental ensemble and taught in conjunction with a music department course.
Rehearsals take place every Wednesday from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
Upcoming Events
Widely praised for her musical intelligence and “expressive virtuosity” (San Francisco Chronicle), Meg Bragle has earned an international reputation as one of today’s most gifted mezzo-sopranos. She has recently appeared in concerts with the Seattle Symphony, Atlanta, and Colorado Symphony Orchestras and at the Library of Congress. She has also appeared with the Houston, Detroit, National, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Pacific Symphonies.
As a gifted early music specialist, she has sung in North America and Europe with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, English Baroque Soloists, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Netherlands Bach Society, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Tempesta di Mare, Apollo’s Fire, Arion Baroque and the Dunedin Consort.
Her discography includes four recordings with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists as well as several collaborations with Apollo’s Fire, the complete works of Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Bach’s St. John Passion, Copland’s In the Beginning, Toby Twining’s Chrysalid Requiem, Anthony Newman’s Requiem, and the Five Borough Songbook.
She is in demand as a masterclass clinician across the United States and Canada working with musicians at Georgetown University, McGill University, Penn State University, University of Ottawa, University of Utah, Rollins College, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, and the Interlochen Arts Academy, among others. She currently teaches at the University of Pennsylvania where she is an Artist in Residence and directs the Collegium Musicum and Opera and Musical Theater Workshop.
Contact: mbragle@sas.upenn.edu