The Artsy Side of Life at SMU

By Shannon Conboy

My favorite part about being at SMU as a Vocal Performance major is the balance I am able to maintain between focusing wholeheartedly on my training and being social and involved on campus. I’ve heard people speak of Meadows School of the Arts as being a conservatory-style school as far as training and this is something with which I fully agree. I love that I get that intensive training but am still on a University campus and am able to take advantage of all the opportunities outside of my Major. This February; however, I was given the chance to fully submerge myself in my opera major.

As a Meadows student, I have many unique opportunities to participate in shows for the rest of SMU’s campus. The largest production I’ve been a part of thus far recently finished, but it was such an incredible experience! I was cast in the opera this year as a sophomore, and spent my winter break and the first half of this semester completely consumed in the production. This year, Meadows produced Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera. I think my favorite part about the production was getting to experience the life-style and rehearsal setting that I’ll hopefully someday be experiencing as a professional. I loved working alongside the graduate students and soaking up all I could from them as well. Probably the most exciting time for me was putting the production together with the orchestra. Singing with a live orchestra is something not a whole lot of undergraduate students can claim to have experienced, and I definitely didn’t take the experience lightly!

The opera was great for me as well as all my friends who decided to attend! I think it’s awesome when I have a friend who is a Business or English major, someone who never would have previously been interested in watching an opera, and they come to appreciate the Meadows shows. It would be silly not to take advantage of all of the (cheap or free) shows that the school offers its students! It’s all right at our fingertips and I certainly love that all-encompassing aspect of SMU as well as when I get to share my major with everyone through these Meadows shows.