He directs all of the operas here, and he definitely just has a talented way of bringing them to life. It all makes sense with him. There’s not one movement you make that doesn’t have an intention behind it. There is intention behind every character’s movement.
In Opera Workshop you just learn and learn, not just about your singing but how action comes after the thought process. When you get on stage you forget normal, everyday habits and everything flies out of your head. You forget that you actually have a thought before you do something. Jacques Trussel has an artistic way of bringing the opera alive and making sense. His directing is absolutely incredible. It is an artistic way of elucidating a character’s action without one unnecessary movement. Not many people can do this.

REACHING OTHERS EMOTIONALLY
I chose to attend Purchase because of the wonderful Opera/Vocal Studies program that is offered. I wanted to get first-rate professional training that was inexpensive. This program offers a variety of courses that help prepare you to be a qualified, competent, and proficient singer.
I majored in Opera/Voice Studies because I have this passion for classical singing. I feel alive when I am able to communicate and touch the hearts of people coming to performances. My utmost goal is to bring music into the lives of others—to affect them in a way that nothing else can. Purchase has enabled me to do this extremely well because of the training I have received here. While being a student in the Opera department, I receive student tickets to see Metropolitan Opera performances that help my own personal musical growth.
The Opera faculty is all so gifted and important to the program. By receiving coaching and voice lessons, singing classical music has become so much easier and my level of musicianship has grown tremendously.

COMING BACK FOR MORE
I loved it so much that I am returning for the master’s program. I am primarily staying to be with my voice teacher, to receive more coaching, to have more experience in the opera. At the graduate level, we take an Opera Lit./Aria Lit. class. We also take more generalized theory and music history, but we go more in depth.
Meanwhile, I will work in the Performing Arts Center as an administrative intern at the box office. This gives me a perspective on the marketing side of opera. Currently, I have been learning lessons that will help me throughout my singing as well as my professional working career.