A Big
Life
Opera singer
brings global
experience to
students
PERFORMANCE PHOTOS COURTESY NOVA THOMAS ’ 77
For Nova Thomas ’ 77, opera has always been
an art form that was as big as her own imagination — not bigger than life but as big as life.
“Opera kept fueling that fire of my own
imagination,” Thomas said. “It is the most inclu-
sive and eclectic of all the art forms and big
enough to house what goes on in life, in our
hearts, and in the world.”
Life, hearts and imagination were well-
represented at a New York Carolina Club event
in May as Thomas, an internationally acclaimed
soprano who has appeared in great opera houses
in this country and around the globe, received
the John L. Haber Award, given in collaboration
with the New York Carolina Club, the UNC
department of dramatic art, Carolina
Performing Arts and the GAA. The award is
named for John Haber ’ 70, a theater production
executive, and is presented annually to alumni
for outstanding contributions to the arts.
Thomas said receiving the award was an
emotional moment, to stand before a room full
of strong, successful Tar Heels — Broadway
directors, writers, opera singers — in the elegant
banquet hall.
“Anything from Chapel Hill is a thrill,” she
said. “That was my window to the whole rest of
the world. It was an amazing community of
people to be part of in a beautiful setting.”
Thomas has performed the heroines of La
Traviata, Aida, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and La
Boheme. But after years of performing, she
slipped into the role of teacher as easily as she
would the costume of Mimi in La Boheme.
Thomas has been a professor at the New
School for Drama (formerly the Actors Studio
Drama School) in New York, from which she
received the school’s Excellence in Teaching
Award. She is an assistant professor of voice at
Rider University’s Westminster Choir
College. Thomas sees the classroom as another
stage, where talented young opera and classical
singers and young music educators can find
opportunity and responsibility. She described
her classrooms as smart, active and combative.
“At the end of the day, all the training means
nothing if the per-
son doesn’t have
something special
to say,” Thomas
said. “My prayer is
to inspire these stu-
dents to have a
voice for themselves
and to the world.”
