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Angela Niederloh ’99, seen here in a Houston Grand Opera production of La Traviata, is a founder of the Oregon Lyric Opera Association.

A new company started by alumni will produce operas in English.

Opera in English. It's an old concept that has given new inspiration to two PSU graduates. Jason Ogan '98 and Angela Niederloh '99 recently launched the newest opera company in the nation. The nonprofit endeavor, christened the Oregon Lyric Opera Association (OLOA), will hold a gala fundraiser in Portland this month and present Verdi's La Traviata in English at the Crystal Ballroom in February.

The muse to create a company of their own hit a year ago, as Ogan and Niederloh contemplated whether to move from their Houston home to New York City or back home to Oregon.

"I simply threw out the idea to Angie on a whim," says Ogan. "What if we produced an opera in English in Portland? Angie thought it was a good idea and the next thing we knew, we had stayed up all night on the computer typing out possible mission statements, who we would want to be involved, possible shows, and where we could perform."

It took the pair only 10 minutes to arrive at the name Oregon Lyric Opera; they liked the OLO acronym. By the next week they had a Web site up and a board of directors and staff were soon to follow.

"By singing in English we can meet our audience halfway," explains Ogan. "I read a survey by Opera America that focused on audience development, including how to attract a new, younger audience to opera. One of the main reasons people stay away from opera is that the language barrier intimidates them. They think that they will not understand the story even with the help of surtitles (words on a screen above the stage rather than sub—below).

"Our idea is to present opera in English in an intimate setting, bringing the audience into the drama, and making it accessible and innovative."

Ogan and Niederloh expect to accomplish this by taking advantage of nontraditional opera venues such as the Crystal Ballroom and the Newmark Theater.

The transition from performing in operas to staging their own has come quickly for the singers. After graduating from PSU they continued to hone their musical studies in Texas, where tenor Ogan studied singing and conducting at the University of Houston, and mezzo-soprano Niederloh joined the Houston Grand Opera Studio. Niederloh sang for the Houston opera, as well as San Francisco's Merola program, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Chautauqua Opera. This summer Niederloh served a three-month residency with the Wolf Trap Opera in Vienna, Virginia, where she won its $5,000 Foundation Artist of the Year Award.

During this time Ogan earned a aaster of music degree in conducting from the University of Houston and sang with Houston Grand Opera. His professional credits also include Chautauqua Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera, the Seattle Symphony, and the Oregon Symphony.

As Oregon Lyric Opera's general manager and conductor, Ogan has ordered La Traviata scores from English National Opera in London and is preparing the fully staged production with orchestra. As artistic director, Niederloh eagerly anticipates providing the stage direction for La Traviata and a future production of Evita.

"Jason and I are busy hiring the singers and orchestral players. The business side involves a whole level of new skills that I'm becoming intimate with," says Niederloh. "It has been a real education to see how everything fits together."

While in Houston, Ogan and Niederloh were impressed with the extensive exposure to opera in the public schools. Consequently, they plan for OLOA to develop a program for high school students who are interested in a career in the performing arts. Classes will take place at local high schools and at the new Gresham Center for the Arts, a 400-seat theater that is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2005. OLOA's educational program will be led by the group's director of education, Amy Russell Cathey.

"We will also go into the high schools with a small scenes program to give students a taste of opera and musical theater," says Ogan. "Since a lot of school programs for the arts have shriveled up, many students have never heard a professional singer up close and personal."

One of OLOA's key board members and guest instructors is PSU's own Katie Harman, the 2002 Miss America. Trained as an opera singer, Harman has recently earned her first professional operatic experience in the role of Katie for the Gold Coast Opera (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) production of The Student Prince. As a guest instructor for the OLOA High School Performance Studio, Harman will lead workshops on stage presence and audition techniques.

Jason Ogan ’98, who is a singer and conductor, founded Oregon Lyric with fiancée Niederloh.

To raise funds for their programs, Oregon Lyric Opera will hold a gala at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Portland on October 16 that will feature Harman, Ogan, Niederloh, and Nathan De'Shon Myers, a special guest baritone from New York City, in a pastiche of tunes from operas and musicals.

"For the gala, I'll sing numbers from La Boheme, The Flower Drum Song, Show Boat, Cabaret, Into the Woods, and Candide," says Harman. "I just love performing, and I'm looking forward to working with our students."

"We're delighted to see Oregon Lyric Opera in the community," says Jim Fullan, public relations manager at Portland Opera. "Their work with young people speaks to the growing popularity of opera in the region. Opera in English will help to grow opera audiences and singers."

Additional aces on the OLOA team include Ruth Dobson and Christine Meadows. Meadows is a highly regarded teacher and singer who has appeared numerous times with Portland Opera and New York City Opera. Dobson has anchored vocal studies at PSU and has built PSU's Opera Theater into an opera powerhouse. She has enjoyed watching the careers of singers who have starred in PSU opera productions.

Niederloh's singing career has had several recent highlights. One of her shining moments occurred when she shared the stage with Renée Fleming, the reigning diva of American sopranos, in Houston Grand Opera's production of La Traviata.

"It's a real joy to work with Renée," recalls Niederloh. "In each performance, we sang together in an ensemble, and right afterwards she would turn to me and say, 'You have a great voice.' That was just incredible!"

Both Ogan and Niederloh intend to juggle their singing careers with their responsibilities at Oregon Lyric Opera. In July Ogan was the tenor soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the Astoria Music Festival. This summer Niederloh sang in productions of Salieri's Falstaff and Donizetti's Elixir of Love at the Wolf Trap Festival. Niederloh also has upcoming engagements with Houston Grand Opera for Verdi's Falstaff and with Portland Opera in its season opening production of Rossini's The Journey to Reims. In Journey, she will create the role of Melibea, a Polish-born marchesa who is pursued by a Spanish admiral and a hot-headed Russian count.

Amidst the excitement of starting an opera company, hiring, teaching, singing, traveling, and making hundreds of long-distance phone calls, Ogan and Niederloh also have one more production to consider.

"We're engaged," explains Ogan.

"It has been an exciting year," agrees Niederloh. "We've got a lot to look forward to."

James Bash, a Portland freelance writer, wrote the article "Voce Fortissimo" for the fall 2002 PSU Magazine.