Verismo

Verismo Official Blog of The Santa Fe Opera

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Santa Fe Opera

We had almost no definitive plans prior to our arrival in Santa Fe. The four exceptions, and all but one seemed a prerequisite, were plane tickets, a rental car, a rental house, and opera tickets.

We always say that opera is for all ages, but don't just take our word for it. Many thanks to the Traveling Jamesburys for this lovely blog post on their experience at the Santa Fe Opera!

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Santa Fe Opera Invests in its Future: A Conversation with General Director Charles MacKay

Opera Warhorses by William Burnett, 13 August 2015

The following conversation took place in the administrative offices of the Santa Fe Opera, whose facilitation of this interview is deeply appreciated. Following the conversation, the Santa Fe Opera announced that it has commissioned its 15th world premiere for its 2017 season, Mason Bates’ opera “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.”

Santa Fe Opera General Director Charles MacKay; resized image of a publicity photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.

Wm: My first questions  of an opera administrator is when did you first became involved with opera and how did you get into the business?

CM: I had been introduced to opera by age nine. I remember quite vividly coming into the original Santa Fe Opera theater and feeling the power of the music – as if I was hooked up to a powerful electric current. Through the music, the drama and the scenery, I had the overwhelming sense of being transported to another world.

Wm: And how did you become professionally involved with opera?

CM: Even before I was 13 years old, I was one of the kids that shepherded cars into the Santa Fe Opera parking lots. We were all volunteers. Only later did the company have a paid parking lot staff.

During my teenage years I was a serious student of the French Horn. At age 17, I auditioned for a position with the Santa Fe Opera orchestra, playing a movement from Mozart’s Horn Concerto in D Major.

At that time, the fearsome John Crosby was director and was famous for mounting the works of Richard Strauss, whose works use a lot of French horns. I was invited to become an extra player, but principally to be the orchestra’s pit boy, the lowest position in the company, which I did for several summers.

Wm: What is a “pit boy’s” job description?

CM: The pit boy was a “gopher” position that had lots to do backstage, including painting scenery. But in my early 20s, having taken accounting courses, I was invited to assist the company’s controller as a bookkeeper. and thus got into the administrative side of the opera company in 1968, during the time when the theater was being rebuilt from a destructive fire,

Wm: Most of us know about how the Santa Fe Opera rebounded from the fire, but I doubt that many of us have heard about that time from the perspective of a bookkeeper. What was it like then?

CM: Remember, this was a time when banks closed at 3 p.m.  The ebb and flow in the cash receipts was so considerable that sometimes we waited until after 3 pm. on Friday to distribute paychecks.

However, through the process of dealing with financial issues, I became very interested in the management side of opera. I finally approached John Crosby and let him know of my desire to do more on the administrative side.

He said to me, “Young man, I have a job for you starting next Monday”. That’s when I became his administrative assistant and fund drive clerk. It was then that I became fascinated with how the company functioned and what it would take to make it flourish.

Wm: From the orchestra’s pit-boy to the general director’s principal assistant seems quite an accomplishment for a person just in his 20s.

CM: It rounded out my experience. I’ve seen opera both from the backstage nuts and bolts and from the musical side. I have been part of the rehearsal process and helped prepare productions both from the technical and financial side.

Interestingly, John Crosby arranged a three-year management apprenticeship for me at the First National Bank of Santa Fe, even while I was occasionally playing in the orchestra or working elsewhere at the Opera during the evenings.

Composer Mason Bates, who has been commissioned by Santa Fe Opera to write a new opera for the 2017 season, based on the life of Apple CEO Steve Jobs; resized image, based on a Ryan Schude photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.

Wm: The bank management apprenticeship was yet another step in your opera administrative career!

CM: An important one. In a bank, you don’t leave at the end of any day until the credits and debits are balanced.

That gave me a foundation and reference point in how to budget for producing an opera. The artistic plans must be rigorously reviewed in the context of the financial plans.

Getting into fundraising added a new dimension to my experience.

Wm: In the United States in which governmental subsidies, if they exist at all, are very small, and ticket prices do not cover the full costs of producing the opera, fundraising is critical. It also suggests that production costs and fundraising are closely linked. Would you comment?

CM: I hearken back to what Sir Rudolph Bing of the Metropolitan Opera said – that there is no artistic decision that is not also a financial decision.

We are playing a numbers game as we look at repertory and casting. That is the key to the success of any performing arts organization.

As the company grew, I was, at the same, growing professionally. By then, I was Santa Fe Opera’s business manager.

Wm: With a solid foundation in the operatic business, this is when you left Santa Fe for operatic experiences elsewhere.

CM: Yes. I spent six summers with the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Then I joined Richard Gaddes at the Opera Theater of Saint Louis.

Wm: Now that you’re back and have served several seasons as general manager, what are the attributes of the Santa Fe Opera that make it such a distinctive experience?

CM: The company’s most important attribute is this unique setting with the view of New Mexico’s Sangre de Christo mountains that draws people from all over the world. They want to see something different, new and unusual.

They enjoy the physical settings. They may visit the neighboring pueblos or relax in Santa Fe’s hotel properties. The experience is so different from comparably sized opera companies.

Wm: What do you regard as the comparably sized companies?

CM: We have an operating budget of almost 22 million, which places us seventh or eighth in size. Seattle Opera’s budget is close to ours and Houston Grand Opera’s is a bit larger, but they both are in cities with metropolitan areas of five million or so.

Santa Fe has only around 80,000 people, with no large corporate base. Only the tourism industries are a real business presence in our area, and hotels and restaurants are not the type of industries that have a lot of extra money to give away.

The Santa Fe Opera’s John Crosby Theater, with its view of the Sangue de Christo Mountains; edited image, based on a Peter Oglive photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.

Wm: Where does the Santa Fe Opera go to raise money?

CM: That’s an interesting question. Originally, the Santa Fe Opera board was composed of Santa Fe businessmen, who sought large donations. But we’ve moved to a national board and we have shifted our focus towards individual philanthropy from across the nation.

Wm: Having been involved with the Santa Fe Opera for most of your life, what are your thoughts as the current leader of the company?

CM: I feel that I have a special responsibility, because I am not only a direct successor of Crosby’s leadership, but that I will be the last of the line of directors trained by Crosby.

I feel I have to do everything possible to assure that the next generation of leadership has inherited an institution in the best possible condition. We want to achieve both an artistic balance sheet and to assure that our facilities are in good physical condition.

For me it’s thrilling to see the company poised for its next important evolutionary step. We are now addressing the facility deficiencies on both the patron and artistic side.

Wm: Would you discuss the condition of the facilities further?

CM: Our backstage area dates from 1968 when the theater was rebuilt. Now, our productions are much larger and more complex.

As we development more co-productions with other companies, the inadequacy of our current stage becomes ever more apparent.

For me, the tipping point came in 2012 with Lee Blakeley’s production of Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers”.

Wm: Explain!

CM: I was backstage observing the severe traffic congestion with the chorus coming offstage as the different pieces of scenery were being moved around the stage. All the stage management personnel were involved in keeping everything moving properly.

I turned to my Productions Director Paul Horpedahl and said we needed more wing space, even though I couldn’t imagine how it would be possible to expand the backstage area.

Soon we were discussing the issues with the Board of Directors. We found them to be responsive to the idea of discussing the long-term planning for the facilities.

The board members, in their business dealings might be discussing with their property managers the needs of a wastewater plant, or acres of hotel and resort properties. The board related to me as the property manager of a large institution in the same matter-of-fact way.

We have been working together on a list of needs, including new dressing rooms and more restrooms. We looked at the parking lot, that has not been repaved since 1968, and is worn in many places, with potholes.

We are aware that access and egress to the theater can be difficult, particularly on nights when we are sold out.

But it was “The Pearl Fishers” production that created the breakthrough moment. It occurred to us, what if we were to package all of our needs in a way that could be attractive to donors? What if we conceived of a major campaign to upgrade facilities that would meet the needs of at least the next 50 years.

Wm: Was this the first major fundraising effort since the rebuilding after the 1968 fire?

CM: There had been a fundraising campaign during Richard Gaddes’ tenure, about halfway through my time here. But the stock market crash in 2008 caused the Board to resist pursuing a large fundraising campaign, feeling it was too soon.

Wm: And yet they were in time persuaded to go ahead with the fundraising.

CM: An organization that is thriving and strong must be pushing the envelope and forging ahead If you don’t go on forward, the world will pass you by.

There are a lot of theories about fundraising. I am persuaded that a healthy organization should be in one of four phases. First, thinking about what you need and laying out the plan. Second, a quiet phase of preparing for a fundraising campaign. Third, an active fundraising effort and fourth, the completion of the fundraising and use of the funds for the planned project. Then, the cycle should begin again.

Wm: You mentioned artistic balance. That would include operatic repertory, which has observable differences between the Crosby era and yours. Would you comment?

CM: I feel that I was very fortunate to have grown up here and to have attended Santa Fe Opera performances regularly. I would travel from afar to come here, because I liked the repertory. That said, I know there were some real gaps.

Wm: Such as the French repertory, in which such standards as Gounod’s “Faust”, Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” and Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann” were not performed until you mounted them.

CM: It’s true that John Crosby was not fond of the French repertory and that I love those pieces. I was so grateful that this was uncharted territory and that I was able to bring “Faust” and “The Pearl Fishers” to the company, as well as some pieces for which I have a personal fondness such as “King Roger”.

We have more French opera ahead. At the same time, since the time I became general director in the 52nd season, I have been guided by the mission statement created by Crosby to present a mixture of standard, rarely performed and new works.

Wm: Are there other parts of the repertory you would like to showcase here?

CM: There are still a lot of areas I would like to explore. As an example, I am frustrated that our setup makes it difficult to produce Wagner.

Wm: Most Wagnerian opera challenges any company. What are the particular issues for the Santa Fe Opera?

CM: One issue is that we are an outdoor theater. Therefore, lighting rehearsals cannot take place until it’s dark. This places extraordinary demands on our technical schedule.

Wm: Explain

CM: Once we have begun preparations for the season, the theater is in use 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Let’s say there is a dress rehearsal of one of the operas. It will be finished at midnight. Then the changeover to the lighting rehearsal would begin at 2 a.m. and go on until 4 a.m., with work on another opera squeezed in from 4 p.m. to sunrise. By 9 a.m. staging rehearsals for another opera might begin.

But if you have a five-hour long opera, how do you find enough time to light it properly? We’ve studied it, but, unless someone figures out how magically to produce longer days and nights, I don’t see how it is possible.

Perhaps the day will come when we can do more Wagner than “The Flying Dutchman”, that I enjoyed here in my youth, when it was conducted by Edo de Waart.

Wm: If there is no Wagner in the immediate future, where do you see repertory expansion?

CM: The younger operas can be really difficult, but there is a great expanse of unexplored territory in the baroque and bel canto repertories.

Wm: Perhaps one of the most important things to say about the Santa Fe Opera is that there are so many artists that enjoy coming here.

CM: That’s very important. Artists are excited about coming to Santa Fe to spend a summer here. They get a long rehearsal period and then perform over a span of two months. Contrast this with companies in which they have a short, intense rehearsal period, then three or so performances, before leaving for their next role elsewhere.

Dramatic soprano Alex Penda has said that by singing a role like Leonore in Beethoven’s “Fidelio” or the title role of Richard Strauss’ “Salome” once or twice a week for six weeks, she can immerse herself in her role.

Bulgarian soprano Alex Penda as Salome; edited image, based on a Ken Howard photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.

It all comes back to John Crosby’s incredible vision and daring to establish an opera company in Santa Fe surrounded by the beautiful Sangue de Christo Mountains.

Wm: Thank you for your time.

CM: Thank you!

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The SFO Apprentices celebrate Robert Tweten, Head of Music Staff, and his 25th anniversary of working at Santa Fe Opera! “In Bob We Trust.” 

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Lust. Scandal. Obsession. Betrayal. Salome has it all!   

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Cold Mountain closes tonight, but we’re holding onto this PBS Newshour story for as long as possible! We’ll take whatever musical fragments we can get until the CD recording is released next spring. 

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A little Swinging Sixties glam at the Santa Fe Opera, circa 1965. We sort of wish people still dressed like that...

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Anna Christy (Marie) and Kevin Burdette (Sulpice) perform "Au bruit de la guerre" from Act I of The Daughter of the Regiment. 

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The Process of New Opera (Part 2)

by Eric Reda

In my last post I talked about finding a subject, gathering a team, and digging into the long process of writing an opera. Now that the words have been typed and the notes have been copied, it is time to refine, rehearse, and premiere the evolving opus.

With the popular operas you see most often, little can be modified, save for cuts, minor reordering, and–in rarer occasions–adding material from earlier drafts or other works. However, with a newly written opera, the originating performers are vital to the creation process. Working on a new opera, while challenging, allows a singer the opportunity to collaborate with a living composer on fitting the music more beautifully into their voice, the conductor the ability to help refine orchestration to best suit the talents of their pit, and the entire ensemble the responsibility of asking questions that, when resolved, will strengthen the final piece.

The current norm is to do much of this work through a series of pre-production workshops. Borrowed from theater, workshops bring singers together to test out early drafts of material in non-staged performances. A relatively new addition to the development of operas, these events are great way for the creative team to get a handle on what they are crafting, and for the producing company to strategize and fundraise around the material. This is also a chance for the singers to get a head start on learning their music as they are expected to come to first rehearsal “off-book” (i.e. having their music memorized).

The Guggenheim Museum played an important role in the development of Cold Mountain by presenting it as part of the museum’s Works & Process series. 

Coming out of this process, the composer and librettist have the chance to refine the piece before rehearsals start. Whether major revisions or minor rewrites, the score needs to be set for first rehearsal. In my experience, workshops are a blessing. It is hard to hold something as massive as an opera in one’s head while writing it and the simplest mistakes are easily overlooked.

By this time, the director will have been working closely with their designers to develop a concept for the first production. As sets and costumes take a long time to build, these conversations start well over a year before the cast even enters the rehearsal hall. In fact, the shortest process in the creation of an opera is the actual rehearsal period, lasting only 2-4 weeks. During this time, the piece will be staged, choreographed, musically perfected, and all of the stage elements and orchestra will be added. There is an awful lot to do in a very short amount of time.

As a composer, I feel selfish during workshops and rehearsals. There is little on Earth as moving or satisfying as hearing my own notes emanating from the mouth of a world-class singer, often in a space much smaller than an opera house. In these close quarters you feel the pure power of a human voice shaking your entire body. It is a singular experience, one I wish for everyone to experience in their lifetime.

But after years of inspiration, sweat, refinement, design, and rehearsal comes the inevitable moment of truth: the curtain rising on the very first performance. While no one can say what the future holds for any particular new opera, I am a firm believer that the pronouncements of the death of the form are greatly exaggerated. It is impossible to predict if a work will get a revival production, or, if telecast or recorded, that it will gain any sort of popular traction. But young consumers of popular media regularly partake of music and visual forms that are much more challenging than what is seen on the operatic stage.

In 2009, I directed the Chicago premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s first opera, the punk-themed Oedipus myth Greek. This stunning and challenging work premiered just 7 days after Turnage turned 28. At our production, one audience survey received from a hipster type, also in his 20s, said: “I have never been to an opera before. If I had known it would be like this, I would have come a lot sooner.” Here was a young man who, like the composer of the opera, was up for a challenge and found himself wrapped up in the passion of the material. This gives me hope not only for up-and-coming audiences, but also for the future of the form.

In that spirit, my simple suggestion to composers is this: write an opera! I began writing my first opera in my spare time. I wrote purely out of obsession with the material and with no prospect of a production. But my zeal was infectious and soon others wanted to be a part of the work. Write for the love of the music and you will inspire passion. If you sit around all day waiting for a big commission, the notes will never come. Find the subject or the melody that inspires you and follow it as far and wide as it wants to go. You will be surprised where it takes you. And when you get to a place you don’t recognize, that is where you find your own unique voice.

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On August 19, 2015, The Santa Fe Opera celebrated its 2000th performance since its founding in 1957. Here’s a glimpse of the opera then and now. 

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How to Listen to New Opera

by Eric Reda

“If I wanted my ears to bleed, I’d get them pierced.”

The biggest complaint—nay, fear—about new opera is that it is going to be inscrutable, exclusive, and all around fatiguing. And I can understand. While I love the drama of a live Lulu, Wozzeck, or Moses und Aron, I can only take 15 minutes of a recording before my ears decide to give up and leave the room.

Sure, there are plenty of new operatic works that are atonal and angular, but this is not what we are talking about with Cold Mountain, nor most any other recent American premiere. A contemporary generation of Post-Modern American composers have learned from the maverick Serialists (minimalists and experimenters of the mid-20th century), incorporating these lessons into a new language that is lyrical, singable, and, more than anything, moving.

Like me, I am sure you are excited for Cold Mountain. From all reports, and from the sparkling works I know of Ms. Higdon’s oeuvre, it is going to be a thrilling and emotional piece of Americana. With the reputation of this brilliant, Pulitzer Prize–winning composer, one-of-a-kind American company, and stellar cast and production team, I am on pins and needles to experience it for the first time this August. Here are some thoughts on how to approach Cold Mountain in order to make the experience as pleasurable as possible:

1.    Prepare a little

You don’t need to become an expert, just familiarize yourself with the material. Read a synopsis, listen to Ms. Higdon’s previous work to become acquainted with her sonic universe, and look at preview materials on The Santa Fe Opera’s website to get a taste of what you are getting into.

2.    If you are so inclined, have a glass of wine (or 3)

My basic philosophy is that “all opera is better if you imbibe a little.” I am not suggesting getting blotto, or jumping off the wagon if your seat belt is firmly affixed. Rather, having a little wine before sitting helps one to drop inhibited preconceptions and ease into the experience.

3.    Take your seat early, take a deep breath, and relax

Nothing will make you more stressed before a performance than running to get to your seat as the doors to the auditorium are closing. Sitting down with at least 10 minutes to spare will not only give you time to leave the outside world behind, but will also help build anticipation leading up to the drop of the baton.

4.    For goodness sake, don’t get lost in the words

When listening to a recording, it is great to read along with the libretto. Even the most difficult material can keep your attention when you follow each word. However, at a live opera, I find the exact opposite to be true. I am thankful for supertitles, but find it easy to get lost in them. Rather, I prefer to get lost in the staging, music, and raw emotion that only live performance can provide. Invest in the total experience; you will understand what is being said. However, if you can get your hands on it, read the libretto before arriving. This is usually pretty easy: hit the gift shop earlier in the season and pick it up, usually for under $20.

5.    Stop trying so hard

A dear friend I once convinced to see a mid-century opera with me afterwards observed: “It was like a fancy cheese plate. At first it was all very exciting and I wanted to savor every taste, but after a while it all started to smell like feet.” I think he overwhelmed his palate; he was simply trying too hard to take in every note, word, and nuance. I find it more satisfying to give myself permission to let go and take in the performance as an entirety, rather than trying to dissect it in the moment.

6.    Talk it out

Once it is all over, talk over what you experienced with your loved one, your seat mates, or even on social media. Did you love it? Did it leave you flat? Did it meet your expectations? Exceed them even? What were your favorite parts? What was unexpected? What do you want to hear again? Why? Remember that as an audience member you have an active hand in making sure opera not only survives, but flourishes for the next generation. Make sure your voice is loud. It will be heard.

Ultimately, my advice as you go into Cold Mountain, as with any other modern opera, is this: open your ears, open your eyes, open your heart, and let the experience wash over you. I promise you will be moved.

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Santa Fe Opera ascends with Jennifer Higdon's "Cold Mountain"

The Denver Post by Ray Mark Rinaldi, 4 August 2015

The musical adaptation of "Cold Mountain" arrived at the Santa Fe Opera Saturday night with all of the expectations a very good idea provokes.

Charles Frazier's National Book Award winner is a sweeping tale of life, love and death and opera knows exactly what to do with those things, especially death. There was more promise surrounding the premiere: A first opera from the talented composer Jennifer Higdon, a starring role for the art form's best-loved baritone, Nathan Gunn.

A few notes in, it was clear the pressure brought out the best in everyone. "Cold Mountain," the opera, turns out to be a special piece of American art that examines both our fortitude and failures. It is challenging to hear and true to its source material.

Deborah Nansteel and Nathan Gunn in Santa Fe Opera's "Cold Mountain." (Ken Howard, Santa Fe Opera)

That's a particular compliment considering it took endless compromises on the part of Higdon and librettist Gene Scheer to condense a 356-page Civil War epic into a two-act opera that's less than three hours long. Frazier's 1997 novel sprawls across time and geography, and only so much of that fits on a stage.

The duo pared the tale deftly and what is lost in detail is enhanced by Higdon's colorful score. It is confident, at times indulgent, and it doesn't always connect perfectly with the drama. But Higdon finds sounds for all of her characters and makes it their signature; the musical dimensions she adds would feel right to the millions of people who read Frazier's original work.

Music allows the composer to add deeper layers to a piece that traverses the Old South, following Confederate deserter W.P. Inman's long and violent journey home to his love Ada Monroe in North Carolina. Appalachian sounds influence the instrumentation, as do the solemn hymns of the Baptist tradition. Higdon transforms that church music from somber and rote to haunting in sections written for the chorus.

She embraces the full power of the orchestra as a tool for scene-setting, and offers accessible melodies for her singers to exploit, though she resists giving into romanticism. Many of today's new operas rely on big numbers, they can feel like Broadway shows. But Higdon writes mainly to convey dialogue. This piece isn't so much beautiful as it is real.

That gives Scheer a big spotlight. Words matter in "Cold Mountain" and he is alternately sparse and poetic, and always on point as his characters suffer greatly from their lost conflict and evolve as humans. They sing:

Some borders can't be crossed, Some wounds will never heal, Some things you can't forget, Hearts buried beneath regret, In the end, how will I feel? Who you are the war reveals.

He has a lot of story to impart and it's a complicated one. The women here are not universally well-drawn, they can be too plucky or virtuous, but as with Frazier's novel, the male characters go deep, conveying within themselves the full scope of human potential and depravity. It's hard to discern the bad guys from the badder guys in this narrative. The ones you end up rooting for are cowards, killers and thieves. Scheer and Higdon mine their dramatic riches without whitewashing their evils.

Robert Brill's scenery allows anything to happen. There is just one set, consisting of a pile of giant beams and boards that jut out in all directions. They evoke, generally, ruin. But the parts move with agility, allowing the heap to stand in as a farm, a boat, a battlefield. The set propels the piece forward as dates and locations are projected on a large timber, making the action easier to follow as time moves backward and forward tracking Inman and Ada's travails.

Director Leonard Foglia has his performers step precariously over all of it and it doesn't look easy, though he guides them into singing that way. Gunn lead the pack at the premier, he's just right for Inman, handsome and tragic and a natural actor. As Ada, Isabel Leonard sang with ample clarity and moved efficiently between the naivete her character starts with the wisdom she gains the hard way. There was considerable support from Jay Hunter Morris, Emily Fons and Deborah Nansteel in key roles.

As with all operas staged for the first time, "Cold Mountain" has some rough edges. At times, the lighting was so dark you couldn't tell what was going on. The final scene, a flash forward in time, came off as excessive punctuation, a too-good turn meant to send the audience out without so much regret over the demise of the protagonist.

It's unnecessary. Higdon and Scheer have already done their jobs well by then. The real reward comes from experiencing the palpable pain the characters sustain to tell a compelling story and take us to the reaches of human endurance. This is opera; happy endings are not the point.

It's all about life, love and death. And on "Cold Mountain," death especially.

"Cold Mountain" continues at the Santa Fe Opera until August 24. For tickets and information, call 505-986-5900 or go online to santafeopera.org. The work is a co-production between the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia and Minnesota Opera, in collaboration with North Carolina Opera.

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David C. Woolard's designs for Cold Mountain are both swoon-worthy and have great back stories. This coat worn by Stobrod (Kevin Burdette) is actually made from a Pendleton rug! Cozy AND cool. 

https://instagram.com/p/5-FXn7hGe9/ 

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The Process of New Opera (Part 1)

by Eric Reda

Like snowflakes falling on Cold Mountain, no two operas are the same. However, there are certain similarities we can explore. In today’s post, the first of two, I will explore with you the process of creating a new opera.

Every opera-loving composer I know is constantly searching for the perfect property to inspire years of work. The material can be adapted from an existing source like Cold Mountain and Emmeline, constructed from various sources like Dr. Atomic and Satyagraha, or wholly new from the minds of its collaborators like Nixon in China. Regardless of the source, it is vital to choose a subject that will also inspire the librettist and director who sign on to the development process. While no one will spend more time with the material than the composer, each of these collaborators will spend years conceptualizing, conversing, arguing, and, hopefully, agreeing on a final vision for the piece.

Next to marriage, I cannot think of a more intimate, long-term relationship than that between librettist, composer, and director… and it is often just as volatile. Finding just the right team is not as easy a matter as “I marry you. I marry you. I marry you.” This triumvirate can be developed organically between artists who are already acquainted, or can be assembled by the commissioning organization. Once a team clicks, however, these artists might work on many pieces for years to come. As in marriage, the keys to a successful alliance are communication, trust, and a willingness to compromise.

Cold Mountain’s creative team (L to R): librettist Gene Scheer, director Leonard Foglia, and composer Jennifer Higdon. Photo by Kate Russell.

Once a team is set, the subject decided, and the scope of the project agreed upon, there comes oh so much reading. This is the period in which the shape of the opera begins to take shape. While writing Reagan’s Children, I read nothing but tomes about that family for over three years. Same with The Suitcase Opera, for which I have oodles of research on underground New York. My studio’s shelves have literally collapsed under the weight of books. But immersing one’s head in the literature and philosophy of an era is vital to creating an opera that is accurate, honest, and believable.

This commitment to period is one of the things I most value about opera. Often in musicals, modern vernacular and pop tunes take precedent. Opera, being a genre invested in inner musical landscapes, is uniquely situated to sonically represent its characters, setting, and text more honestly.

In opera, also unlike most musicals, the words come first. Librettos can be verse or prose, can be linear or abstract, can clearly mark distinct musical numbers or leave that decision up to the composer. The only key rule is that a libretto needs to be much shorter than a play…by about three-quarters. This means condensing a lot of drama and character development into a very small space. Whatever the librettist ends up creating, it is the composer’s job to create an honest, emotional musical response to the words. The music supports the words, and the words support the music.

This is not to say that the composer has no hand in crafting the libretto. Some composers will set exactly what is on the page, while others will cut, rearrange, and recraft language to meet their own musical needs. Some ambitious composers write both libretto and score. Regardless, the words are mostly extant before the first note is set.

Then the notes take over. Morton Feldman once said: “The composer makes plans, music laughs.” Oh how right he was. The process of hearing this “laughter” is painstaking and takes much longer than expected. For example, while I predicted mere months, my first two chamber operas took four years each to complete. I have learned my lesson. My current property is well beyond that point and I am waiting for it to tell me when it is ready.

Every composer approaches the process of writing music differently. Philip Glass says he writes straight through by hand. Other composers write the last act first and then work backwards. Others write the introduction, the finale, and then fill in the middle. As the old Zen saying goes: “There is one mountain and many paths to the top.”

I tend to start with emotional high points, giving each moment its own chance to breath, and then connect these moments together. My main goal is to listen to the words and find the natural, honest music behind them. Sometimes the words put up a fight and I have to step away, let them have a private conversation, and then come back to listen from a hidden spot in the room. Other times, the words follow me around the city, making patterns in my head with every footstep until they beg to be put on the page. The process feels similar to transcribing, and I enjoy spending time away from my piano writing directly on to manuscript paper with pen. I will then spend just as much time refining and orchestrating my sketches as the final work slowly reveals itself.

Like a novel, draft after draft might be produced before the first production, and huge sections of material may be scrapped or reframed in order to make a more successful work. Doing these rewrites in tandem with the musicians who premiere the work is one of the unique blessings of working on a new opera. But we will talk about this more in my next post.

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Check out this Salome mini-doc on our YouTube channel! You’ve never seen Salome like this before...

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A night of stars, both on-stage and off! Just when you think the night is perfect, shooting stars appear...

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And rain will make the flowers grow...

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Singing for Their Future: The Apprentice Singers

by Craig Smith

An apprentice is someone who learns a craft by observation, example, and plenty of hard work. It isn't easy to go from imitative beginner to capable journeyman to creative master, but it's the best way to blend the theoretical with the practical and yield a rounded artist.

For nearly six decades, The Santa Fe Opera has maintained one of the arts world's historic apprentice opportunities for young singers. Company founder John Crosby inaugurated the program in 1957 with just eight participants. It was an immediate success — and, over the years, has directly led to scores of similar opportunities being implemented at opera companies around the country.

Santa Fe's program now boasts an annual cadre of around 42 singers chosen from an average of 1,000 applicants per year. Overall, some 2,000 singers have passed through these portals — an amazing record. (A companion technical apprentice program, which began in 1965, annually fields around 75 persons out of an average of 900 applications.)

The Apprentice Singers of the 2015 season. Photo by Robert Godwin.

Crosby was determined that his apprentices would receive good training and high-level experience in return for their dedication and perspiration. He wrote in a 1967 letter, "My own personal experience…rather soured me with regard to what might be called 'alleged apprentice programs,’ [where] a great amount of work was extracted from young people with a minimum of training and help offered, and an extremely poor caliber of instruction provided.” As a result, "…I have always wanted to feel the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program was in every way meaningful, helpful, and honest about the service it expects from the Apprentices and the instruction with which it provides them."

Certainly the vocal apprentices work hard. Their main task is to form the chorus for the season's repertoire. That means fully mastering different interpretive styles, languages, and vocal demands under the guidance of chorus master Susanne Sheston — while learning, if they don't already know, how to maintain vocal health and efficiency under rigorous conditions.

Some are assigned as covers for major roles. Others are granted smaller but vital parts in the various operas. Community outreach appearances are also not uncommon. Being a singer apprentice means being constantly on the go during an entire summer.

But the benefits are many and generous. The apprentices gain valuable stage and musical experience. They observe and interact with professional members of the company. They enjoy master classes with vocal and repertoire experts. They receive intensive language and diction coaching, and advice on interpretation. Finally, they are able to sing for visiting managers and agents, as well as being featured in the two annual Apprentice Scenes concerts held toward the end of each season.

Unplanned Debuts: Success on the Line

However, sometimes young artists gain experience that is…well…less expected. Apprentices have stepped in often during regular seasons when illness or indisposition has sidelined an announced artist, says David Holloway, head of the singer program.

In 1961, he points out, Sharon Tebbenkamp took on the important role of Augusta Tabor in Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe when the scheduled singer fell ill. She then repeated the role during the company's European tour. In 1964, David Sundquist "took over the role of Leukippos [in Richard Strauss's Daphne] because Glade Peterson had injured his back in a horse-riding incident," Holloway says.

In more recent years, Jennifer Holloway stepped in to sing Prince Charming in Massenet's Cendrillon. Danielle Pastin took on the lead role of Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème. Jonathan Michie essayed The Vicar in Britten's Albert Herring while Alyssa Anderson took the stage as Florence Pike in the same opera. Last season, Shelley Jackson sang Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, while Joseph Dennis took on the title role in the American premiere of Huang Ruo's Dr. Sun Yat-Sen.

2014 Apprentice Shelley Jackson (Norina) in Don Pasquale. Photo by Ken Howard.

Some artists make important, last-minute appearances during their apprenticeships; many also return in later years as principal artists at The Santa Fe Opera. There are five former apprentices taking mainstage roles in the current season. Soprano Georgia Jarman (a 1997 apprentice) sings Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. Soprano Susanna Phillips (2004) and tenor William Burden (1989, 1990) are Arminda and The Podestà in Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera. Mezzo-soprano Emily Fons (2008, 2009) and tenor Jay Hunter Morris (1990, 1991) create the roles of Ruby and Teague in the world premiere of Cold Mountain.

"The most important thing I took away from my apprentice experiences was the breaking down of limitations I had placed on myself," says Burden. "School, though an important and nurturing time, can often promote a sense of the fragility of the voice. There is an abundance of time for 'navel gazing' and singers can micromanage themselves into craziness!

"No time for that in the Apprentice Program. Apprentices often rehearse in the day then perform at night. There are coachings, lessons, scene stagings, and master classes. The sooner a young singer learns that good, healthy singing promotes good, healthy singing, the better! Summers in Santa Fe are the perfect crucible for learning that lesson."

Phillips confirms Burden's dicta. "While I was an apprentice I sang in four choruses, covered Ana Maria Martinez who sang Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, sang a scene from The Rake's Progress for the Apprentice Scenes Showcase, and auditioned for numerous international opera houses — in what we affectionately called our 'death by aria' audition.

"Covering Ana Maria was a real gift in the sense that I got to watch a singer who built an international career in the rehearsal process," Phillips says. "It's not always a glamorous process, but the nitty-gritty is where you actually learn the lessons… it's an experience that I draw on to this day."

Soprano and former SFO apprentice Susanna Phillips in this season’s La Finta Giardiniera. Photo by Ken Howard. 

Echoing Crosby's statement that apprentices need to get as well as give, Phillips notes that "Santa Fe is unique in its commitment to a familial atmosphere while demanding an excellent caliber of performance."

Certainly it has successfully stocked the world's stages. Asked how frequently he encounters fellow former apprentices in his work, Burden economically replies, "Often!" Phillips adds, "I'd say that it's very rare (1 time out of 10) that I do a production with someone who was not an apprentice or a frequent performer in Santa Fe."

Asked what advice they have for their younger colleagues, both artists stress the need for commitment and adaptability.

"Be open to the whole experience," Phillips urges. "The environment encourages growth, support, and excellence. It's unlike any other apprenticeship that I've experienced, and one that will stay with me." Burden responds, "My advice is, come ready to learn and grow. Spend most of your time listening — to artists, coaches, directors, conductors. There is always something to take away from every experience and encounter."

So when you're next at a Santa Fe Opera performance, keep your eye on the choristers as well as the leading artists. You never know when you might be seeing future greatness in the making, in the crucible of apprentice commitment.