The University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music invites applications for a Part-Time Interim Stage Director for an appointment beginning around January 9, 2023.  This appointment is for approximately four months, ending around April 28, 2023.

Combining the benefits of a world-class conservatory and a leading research university, the USC Thornton School of Music offers students the opportunity to pursue a thorough music education in a real-world context.  A new educational model for undergraduates in the Classical Performance & Composition Division, launched in fall 2019, renews Thornton’s commitment to a virtuosic education and asks students to reimagine what it means to be a classical musician in the 21st century.  Thornton offers students a full range of musical disciplines across a demanding innovative curriculum, and the opportunity to work with a faculty of national and international renown. For more information, please visit us at http://music.usc.edu/.

USC Opera has built a reputation for non-traditional productions of repertoire varying from composers such as Uljas Pulkkis, Thomas Adès, and Britten to Gluck, Wagner, Handel and Mozart.

The student body at USC is extraordinarily diverse: it is racially and ethnically a majority/minority population with a full range of expressions of gender, ability and sexual identities which we embrace as a source of institutional strength and community pride. The successful applicant will be adept at teaching, communicating and empathizing with our diverse student community.

The University’s commitment to building an academic environment hospitable to this wide range of diversity is full and complete. To that end, we are seeking to create as diverse a pool of candidates as possible, one which reflects the broad diversity of identities and experiences that comprise the country as well as the field of Vocal Arts and Opera.

Duties

Principal duties will include:

• Staging a scenes program of approximately two hours in length in the Newman Recital Hall at the end of the first week of February.

  • The repertoire is to be determined.

  • The scenes program is modest in terms of production - utilizing no sets and minimal props, lighting, and costuming.

• The larger assignment is the Spring 2023 opera production.

  • This repertoire is also to be determined.

  • The production will be performed in a to-be-determined space in Los Angeles, more than likely an experimental space.

  • The production will be staffed by our full-time faculty Music Director, Brent McMunn, as well as a full-time production manager, a professional technical director, a stage manager, and professional set, costumes, and lighting designers.

  • The time commitment is approximately twelve weeks with rehearsals beginning in mid-January of 2023 and the mainstage production taking place on selected dates between April 7-23.

• Individual mentoring of student a Final DMA elective field project, if needed and assigned.

Qualifications

Candidates’ résumés must demonstrate experience in both the professional and academic operatic realm. 

To Apply

Interested candidates must apply through the USC online system. Candidates are asked to provide a résumé, cover letter, links to clips of past productions (the total duration of the call clips should not exceed 15 minutes), and two references who may be contacted for letters if needed.

This position will remain open until filled.

The University of Southern California is an equal-opportunity educator and employer, proudly pluralistic and firmly committed to providing equal opportunity for outstanding persons of every race, gender, creed, and background.  The University particularly encourages women, members of underrepresented groups, veterans, and individuals with disabilities to apply.