Broadway and West End stars of the future got an exclusive look behind the scenes of the world’s largest performance arts centre, when over 1,000 De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) students travelled to New York.
Students from the Performing Arts BA (Hons) and Arts and Festivals Management BA (Hons) courses at DMU, visited Manhattan’s Lincoln Center on the unique #DMUglobal once in a lifetime trip.
During the visit students witnessed a breathtaking rehearsal of Barbiere di Siviglia, saw the grand performance halls the center has to offer and visited a History of the West End and Broadway exhibition at New York's Public Library.
Jordan Parker who studies Performing Arts said: “We got to experience all the theatres at the Lincoln Center and it’s just breathtaking.
“The trip has really brought back my passion for theatre. It’s something I faded from, but after seeing all of the facilities here, I certainly want to revisit my past theatre roots.”
Built in 1955, the 16.3 acre site welcomes national and internationally renowned acts, including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as well as hosting international film stars at the New York Film Festival.
Situated in Central Manhattan on the Lincoln Square site, it’s architecturally stunning buildings and flamboyant interiors, could one day be the home of some of our students from both courses.
Senior Lecturer in Drama at DMU Mark Crossley said: “Students will incorporate experiences from this trip into their final year work.
“We are very lucky to be in a position to provide students with fantastic overseas opportunities and this is not the first time we’ve been able to do so.
“Students recently produced a piece of work inspired by a trip to Malta and with performing arts you can be very clever in the way you take experiences and make something of them, as our students did and I’m sure will continue to do so.”
Over the past four years, the Lincoln Center, which attracts over five million visitors a year, has undergone a $1.2billion renovation, with an additional $500million being spent on the David Geffen Concert Hall and Metropolitan Opera House.
The campus also features the famous Juilliard School of Performing Arts providing some of the world’s highest calibre of artistic education for musicians, dancers and actors and also incorporates The School of American Ballet.
Students got a behind the scenes look at the highlight of the centre’s facilities, the spectacular Metropolitan Opera House, with its red velvet carpets, walls and banisters as well as huge artistic canvases surrounding a glass candelabra.
It was here that students were invited into the sound booth to witness a full dress rehearsal of the upcoming performance of Barbiere di Siviglia, which highlighted the sheer scale of the set, production and management of an international opera event.
The walls were also lined with history, featuring past stars of the Lincoln Center stages.
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Jordan added: "Going abroad with #DMUglobal has not only made it easier financially to go to an amazing place like New York, but it improves you culturally to further develop employability skills.
"The course specific trips are eye-opening and I can further my knowledge somewhere I wouldn't have imagined going without the help of #DMUglobal. It's extremely overwhelming, I love it." Arts and Festivals Management student, David Martin said: “Everything is probably double the size of a UK theatre, in fact triple the size and it’s just astonishing seeing it all.
“Certainly with the management side of theatre and managing music festivals, I would most definitely be interested in managing something like this on this scale.”
David also took over DMU’s snapchat account on the trip, highlight the tour from a student perspective, giving viewers a real insight into how trips such as this influence students.
The extensive tour ended with a visit to the New York Public Library on the Lincoln Center site, which is currently exhibiting a history of London’s West End as well as Broadway.
Featuring theatre productions of the Lion King, Wicked, Chicago, Phantom of the Opera and others, the exhibition contained historic memorabilia from decades of performing arts, giving students a real insight into the industry.
Students now return to DMU to complete their studies, hoping that this incredible experience will inspire their future work.
Posted on Monday 16 January 2017