Since 2002 Scott and Lisa Altman have operated a rare form of mom and pop enterprise in which not just one but both of them “are doing what we absolutely love to do,” says Lisa. ##M:[more]##
She is the executive director and her husband is the artistic director of the West Windsor-based New Jersey Opera Theater. With a focus on educational and emerging artist programs, the company had its first production season last summer when it produced three full-length operas and more than six concerts at the Hamilton-Murray Theater on the Princeton University campus.
This summer the season features three full productions with orchestra at McCarter’s Berlind Theater including Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Mazzenet’s Cherubin. Concerts will be performed at the Berlind Theater and Pettoranello Gardens in Princeton, and outdoors at Nassau Park in West Windsor. Other events take place at the Nassau Club and Princeton Public Library in Princeton. There are two evening concerts at Pettoranello Gardens in Princeton featuring musical theater.
“I think it’s very important for the general public to interrelate with the artists and realize that what we do is very tangible and very much a part of society for the past hundreds of years,” says Scott Altman. “These events gives the company a chance to bring opera to life and show the accessibility of opera.”
The Altmans came to West Windsor when Scott appeared with the now-defunct Opera Festival of New Jersey and was subsequently hired as adjunct voice faculty at Princeton University. They bought a house in Charter Club, West Windsor, last summer. They are the parents of Zackary, three. Their second child is due in November.
Lisa Altman was raised in Indiana. Her father, a clinical psychologist, grew up playing the cornet and had a classically trained voice. Her mother, a professor of nursing, played instruments throughout high school. “I recently re-taught my mother how to play the clarinet so she could join in with her marching band when they celebrated a 50th class reunion,” she says. Altman’s two brothers also played instruments through high school.
She began sitting in on her father’s voice lessons when she was six and she had her first solo vocal performance in front of an audience when she was only seven.
She played piano, clarinet, and saxophone, and was involved in symphonic band, orchestra, polka band, jazz band, and marching band. “My band director was shocked when I decided to major in piano and voice,” she says. She graduated from Millikin University in Illinois with a degree in music and received a master’s in opera performance from University of Washington.
“When I was in college I ate, drank, and breathed music,” she says. Later she lived in Chicago where she worked as a nanny for a voice teacher. “After she introduced me to directors, conductors, and cast members, I started thinking ‘Do I really want to do this?’”
She was in San Francisco as an emerging artist when she chose to change her career objectives to the music business. In 1997 she moved to New York, working first with Sony and then at Columbia Artists Management with classical performing artists James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, and Sir Colin Davis.
In 2000 she began working as the artistic administrator for Opera Festival of New Jersey. She left the company in 2002 and began working to form New Jersey Opera Theater. “Everything works out for a reason and all my experiences were built on one another,” she says. “My experiences as an artist have helped to develop NJOT’s emerging artist program and my music business background gave me a good background for what I am doing for NJOT.”
Scott and Lisa met in front of Tower Records on the corner of Broadway and 66th Street in New York City when Karen Ferguson, a mutual friend, introduced them. They didn’t talk or meet again until a year later. When Ferguson, a lyric soprano, was playing Micaela in “Carmen” at NJPAC, Lisa didn’t want to travel from New York alone to the performance and asked Ferguson if she knew anyone else attending from Manhattan. Scott and Lisa talked by phone to make arrangements and traveled together by train. They married in 2000.
Scott Altman was born and raised in Bethpage, Long Island, New York. His mother was a homemaker and his father worked for the state lottery system. Neither sang but his grandfather, a furrier in New York, sang and often took Scott to museums.
When he was 10, he joined the select chorus in junior high school, which traveled all over the country, including Disney World. When he was in eighth grade the choral director wrote a new arrangement to feature Altman, then a high tenor, as a soloist. His lower voice range developed when he was 16.
During his school years he played lead roles in musicals as well as performing on piano and viola. He graduated from SUNY Purchase with a major in vocal performance and received his master’s from Manhattan School of Music.
A professional opera singer, he is a bass-baritone. He debuted at the New York City Opera for the 2002-’03 season. Additionally he has performed with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Opera Festival of New Jersey, the Austin Lyric Opera, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Connecticut Grand Opera, and the Wolf Trap Opera Company. He made his stage director debut during NJOT’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in 2004.
On Saturday, July 30, at Nassau Park in West Windsor, NJOT presents a semi-staged event in cooperation with West Windsor Arts Council. “We are thrilled to become part of the West Windsor community,” says Scott Altman. “It is another opportunity for NJOT to give back to the community and a chance to work with another non-profit organization.”
— Lynn Miller
All of the fully-staged opera productions are at the Berlind Theater at McCarter, 609-258-2787. For other events call 609-799-7700 or visit www.njot.org.
Preview of Summer Performances. Works from Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” Rossini’s “Barber of Seville,” and Massenet’s “Cherubin.” Mingle with NJOT members and ask questions. Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, 609-924-9529. Friday July 22, 7:30 p.m.
West Windsor Arts Council. All music semi-staged event featuring excerpts from all of the summer productions operas. Free. Nassau Park Pavilion, 609-919-1982. Saturday July 30, 7 p.m.
Musical Theater Under the Stars. Staged scenes and solos from Broadway shows. Free. Pettoranello Gardens, Princeton, 609-258-2787. Friday and Saturday, August 5 and 6, 8:30 p.m.
Kids Day at the Opera. Backstage tours of the Berlind Theater, final dress rehearsal of “The Barber of Seville,” meet the artists, and create a scene from the opera. Bring brown bag lunch. Register. $35. Berlind Theater. Thursday, August 11, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Le Nozze di Figaro. The Marriage of Figaro in Italian with English surtitles. Berlind Theater. Friday, August 12 and 16, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, August 20, 8 p.m.
Beaumarchais Symposium. All-day symposium presented by a theater historian, a social historian, and a musicologist. Coordinated by Cori Ellison, New York City Opera dramaturg. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Register. $55. Nassau Club, Princeton. Saturday, August 13, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Beaumarchais Plus. Staged rarities from Paisiello, Milhaud, and Corigliano performed by Summer Institute Singers with piano accompaniment. Conducted by Anthony Barrese and directed by Lawrence Edelson. $25 and $35. Berlind Theater. Saturday and Sunday, August 13 and 14, 8 p.m.
Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The Barber of Seville by G. Rossi introduces the character of Figaro in a comedy full of disguise, plots, and lovers. Conducted by Brent McMunn and directed by Rhoda Levine. Featuring Gian-Carla Tisera, Rosina; Jason Kaminski, Figaro; Jorge Garza, Count Almaviva; and Stephanos Tsirakglou, Bartolo. Italian with English surtitles. $35 and $45. Berlind Theater. Sunday, August 14, 2 p.m.; Wednesday, August 17, 7:30 p.m.; and Thursday, August 18, 8 p.m.
Cherubin. Cherubino by J. Massenet is a comedy exploring the affairs of Cherubino, the amorous page in Le nozze di Figaro. Conducted by Mark Flint and directed by Mark Verzatt.Featuring Amanda Polychronis, Cherubin; Michael Anthony McGee, Philosophe; Elizabeth Rosenberg, L’Ensoleillad; Paige Cutrona, Nina. In French with English surtitles. $35 and $45. Berlind Theater. Thursday, August 18, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, August 21, 2 p.m.
