Performance Anxiety Workshop

Saturday, March 24, 2012, 2 p.m.

led by Dr. Eva Nagorka, Mezzo-soprano

Few musical performance topics are expressed with more intensity than performance anxiety. Adult music students aspire to perform with just the right synthesis of physical, mental and emotional liberty in an effort to create a valued musical experience. But despite extensive research into stage fright, adult performers continue to struggle with this issue. This interactive workshop will engage participants in discovering tools that can most effectively address their unique, individual performance experiences. The afternoon will include an overview of performance anxiety and an introduction to a wide range of options and approaches that will be helpful in alleviating stage fright.

Music performance anxiety is intense and real and is commonly experienced by many adult music students. Some questions that performers often ask are: What is music performance anxiety and how does it manifest? Why is it experienced by some performers more than by others? Many individuals who experience stage fright recognize the mental and physical responses that contribute to their performance anxiety. With the necessary tools, the realities of one's unique experiences can be understood.

About Eva Nagorka

Mezzo-soprano, Eva Nagorka, an elegant singing actress, and native of Washington, D.C., is a former AMSF member and was secretary-treasurer during the organization's infancy. She returns to us now after years of study and performing to address one of the most vexing issues for us as performers.

Ms. Nagorka received a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts, a Master's of Music Education from Boston University and a Doctor of Arts in Leadership from Franklin Pierce University. In addition to directing a private teaching studio, she currently serves on the music faculty of St. Paul's School (Concord, NH). Previous teaching positions include Plymouth State University (NH), University of New Hampshire and George Washington University (Washington, DC).

Equally at home on the operatic, concert and musical theatre stage, Ms. Nagorka has appeared as guest soloist with choral and opera societies and symphonies, locally and in New England where she now lives. In the Nation's Capitol performances include ones at The Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theatre, Opera House, Terrace Theatre, and Concert Hall; the Lisner Auditorium, The Dorothy Betts Center. She has sung with The National Choral Society, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Opera Society and Opera Camerata of Washington.

Ms. Nagorka comes to us in her role as a specialist in handling performance anxiety. As well as teaching and coaching singers at the high school, college and adult student levels, she conducts workshops and master classes to assist performers with theatrical and musical interpretation, stage presence, self-confidence and the understanding and alleviation of performance anxiety.

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This workshop applies to students of any instrument or voice.

Contact Dorothea Shellow by email or by telephone (301-437-5110) to sign up for this master class.