| by Eileen Zimmerman "Photographer Martha Hart was granted largely
unfettered access to the San Diego Opera, and with The Art of Making Opera: Two
Seasons with San Diego Opera (The San Diego Opera, $60; call 232-7636 to purchase)
she's created a very personal photographic record of the experience. Her striking
black-and-white images cover a wide range of aesthetics, from the beautiful and poetic to
the banal. A talented and sensitive photographer, Hart has an obvious love of opera that
comes through loud and clear. Her work gives the reader a kind of backstage pass, letting
us in on rehearsals as well as performances and enabling us to look into the lives of
artists, musicians, stage crews, technicians, designers and directors.
"Hart also penned the accompanying
informative text, which puts the photos in context and gives them added depth. What's
unique about this book is not that it chronicles a season in the life of an opera company
-- those kinds of books abound -- but that it honestly captures artists during the
creative process. There is an almost palpable energy gleaned from photos of a conductor
coaching a tenor, a director caught in a moment of silent thoughtfulness or a a baritone
laughing during a rehearsal break with his mezzo-soprano colleague."
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all material (c) 1998 by Eilene
Zimmerman and San Diego Magazine
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