Teacher Spotlight: Douglas Stefaniak Performs in Opera!

While our faculty is well known for their teaching ability and experience, you might not know that many Orpheus teachers also regularly perform as professional musicians at the highest levels! For instance, Douglas Stefaniak, Senior Guitar Instructor at Orpheus and Artistic Director of Pathways Through Music, recently had the opportunity to perform with a professional orchestra in the opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. Mastering his part was a challenging but rewarding process for Doug, and he had many great takeaways from the experience.

​Getting the Part

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs​ is an opera that originally premiered in 2017, and has since received recognition for its rich, inventive original score, even winning the 2019 Grammy for Best Opera Recording. In 2022, the Austin Opera, Atlanta Opera, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City teamed up to create a new co-production of the piece, with performances featured in all three cities.

To find a guitarist up to the task, the Austin Opera asked for a recommendation from the University of Texas' guitar program. As it turns out, yet another all-star Orpheus guitar instructor, Jeremy Waldrip, was initially recommended! Jeremy ultimately decided not to take the part however, and offered it to Doug instead.

​Doug's Preparation

After coming onboard, Doug only had two months to learn the opera's music. With his guitar part being primarily featured throughout (Steve Jobs' favorite instrument was the acoustic guitar), Doug had to master 50 pages of sheet music! On top of that, some of what the composer had initially written for the guitar wasn't actually physically possible to perform, which led to a process of lightly reworking the composition to make it playable.

Preparing for the performance was a huge task, but Doug relied on his prior experience and many of the practice methods that he regularly teaches his own students at Orpheus Academy. To begin, Doug first spent a couple weeks simply going line by line through the sheet music, writing in fingerings and planning his approach. He then broke the piece up into smaller sections and played through each very slowly. Over time, he gradually sped up his pace and started connecting different movements together. In the month leading up to the opera's first show, Doug was practicing around 6 hours a day on average!
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"Doug relied on his prior experience and many of the practice methods that he regularly teaches his own students at Orpheus Academy."

​Full-orchestra rehearsals started only two weeks before opening night, and the preparation Doug had done beforehand proved to be extremely valuable. On the first day of rehearsal, practice began with everyone playing a 20-minute segment of the music straight through together without stopping or talking. With Doug's role being so integral, he also needed to sit and perform directly in front of the conductor so that they could be as synchronized as possible.

Opera is known for being an intense medium, and Doug's part wasn't the only difficult one. In fact, he overheard a horn player saying that certain riffs and portions from the piece were some of the most technically challenging they had ever played! Despite the degree of effort and dedication required, Doug really enjoyed the opportunity to rehearse regularly with a professional orchestra, and considers playing with others in an ensemble setting to be the most fun aspect of making music.

​Time to Perform!

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, as its name suggests, deals with Jobs' personal and professional relationships, as well as his growth as a person. It can also be considered a "modern" opera, and beyond the orchestra and Doug's guitar part, the music incorporates electronics, sampling, and various sounds from Mac computers and other Apple software. These additional elements were integrated in an improvisational way, which meant that despite all of Doug's preparation and practice, he still had to really listen to what was going on around him and often adjust his playing on the fly!

​Certain sections of the music felt more freeform and less metric, and there were other moments where Doug had to build in silence or pause for serious moments or dramatic effect. The show was also 90 minutes long with no intermission, and required almost every area of guitar technique, including mixed meter, tempo changes, arpeggios, chords, single-line melodies, alternate tuning, and multiple movements exclusively made up of harmonics.

The Austin opera shows ran over three days, and ultimately proved to be a big success. In fact, Doug's performance was so well received that he was also offered to take on the same part for the Kansas City production! Doug was flown out to Kansas City and put up in a hotel next to the theater venue there just a few weeks later, where he only had 2 or 3 days of rehearsal with the opera company before opening night. Even with such a quick turnaround, Doug again excelled during his performance and was highly commended by the opera's composer afterwards.

Doug with Mason Bates, composer of "The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs"

​Takeaways and Future Plans

This was Doug's first time playing with a professional orchestra, and he wants to build this kind of experience and what he learned into his own future work and teaching. Doug has since been offered a part in a West Side Story production (that he had to turn down), and might be performing in a production of Sweeney Todd soon as well! He's fairly certain that he will be considered for additional guitar parts affiliated with the opera/theater companies and people he worked with, and has also been collaborating with a composer from the Austin-based orchestra to utilize their compositions in chamber music performances.

Doug continues to be an incredible teacher at Orpheus Academy, working with guitar students to improve their technique and inspire a life-long love of music, creativity, and self-expression. He is interested in working with other local composers, and has been enjoying performing as a duo with another great Orpheus teacher, Mackenzie Hoffman!

​Advice for Others

For others interested in pursuing music professionally or simply elevating their own playing, Doug's advice would be to always remember the importance of preparedness. Doug wasn't initially sure what gear to bring or what he should learn ahead of time for the first The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs rehearsal, and so he simply did and brought with him as much as he could. He maintained this level of preparation throughout the whole experience, and a backup battery he brought ended up saving the day when his first battery died in the middle of a Kansas City performance!

​Doug also learned the level of expectation that comes with playing with a professional orchestra. He emphasizes though that regardless of who you are collaborating with or how difficult a piece may be, you should always remain confident in your voice and trust in yourself and your ability. The only thing you can ultimately control is your own practice and readiness, so make sure that you can say "I did as much as I can" when working on something important.

At the end of the day, you should believe in what you've already done and what you can do. Trust the core concepts you've learned and your own abilities, and put yourself out there! Introduce yourself to others! The more connections you make and people you know, the more they will turn to you when exciting opportunities (like performing in a professional opera!) come up.

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Douglas Stefaniak

Doug is a Senior Guitar Instructor at Orpheus Academy, and received his Masters of Music from the University of Texas at Austin. Doug also serves as the Artistic Director of Pathways Through Music, a non-profit music education organization that he co-created with fellow Orpheus teacher Jesse Crites, to serve schools and communities in Williamson County, TX.