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| ARTIST'S STATEMENT2 "The Opera Project" - Getting Going | ||
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Where do I fit in? People often ask if I was
familiar with opera before I started this: oh yes - my background and training was in
theatrical design and my favorite instrument is the human voice, so perhaps it was natural
to fall in love with opera. When I was about 12 years old, my mother took my brother and
me to the movies - can't remember now what the 'A' movie was, but at the end of it, Mom, a
long-time opera fan, said she just wanted to see the first 10 minutes or so of the next
one. When she whispered it was time to go, I declared "No! we're staying!" That
second movie was The Great Caruso with Mario
Lanza ... and I was hooked for life.
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A couple years later, I saw my first opera on stage. It was here in San Diego, a final dress rehearsal for school-age audiences (a program still in operation – many companies have something similar). The opera was Faust, and the tenor was a then-unknown, very-young, last-minute replacement from Mexico by the name of Plácido Domingo ... but I hadn't remembered, didn't re-learn that part of the story until I started working with the Company. At the left, the now-supernova tenor Plácido Domingo is rehearsing for a concert with soprano Ainhoa Arteta. They happen to be singing the Act II duet from Faust... so here I am, full circle. | |
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The Art of Making Opera was my
project from the beginning. My own vision, however obscured it may have been at times,
definitely had its own direction and form, seemingly a mind of its own - certainly a voice
of its own. Learning to listen to that, allowing the project and the book to become what
they needed to be, that too has been part of the artistic process. I've been living with this vision since early 1995. While in Denver to meet some of my fellow online photographers at a FAB gallery opening, I was tremendously moved by images of the Louisville Symphony in rehearsal made by a terrific photographer named Richard Bram. [Richard will laugh here - 'moved' is somewhat of an understatement!] One of those prints now hangs on the wall of my workroom as inspiration... mostly it got me thinking. I was envious, not just of the images (though that's certainly true) but of the chance he had to make them. Figuring no one was going to hand me that kind of opportunity, I simply made my own, and asked San Diego Opera if I could have access to their operation. |
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That the answer was "yes" was a surprise to me then – it wouldn’t be now. This is an amazing company, headed by General Director Ian Campbell: half visionary, half coldly-realistic number-cruncher, and half (again!) a charismatic and inspiring leader. He saw what I saw, understood the potential pitfalls, ignored the vagueness of my outlines, and was willing to give me a chance to do the work anyway. Like so many others I’ve met on this journey, Ian became a guide, a friend, and a mentor. | |
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Telling the story of this company - of opera
itself - was rather like putting a puzzle together. From the audience to the singing to
the craft and skill of the stagehands and a lot more, all pieces of the puzzle are
important. Balancing the vision with the practical, the ideal with the daily grind,
pulling all this together, was yet another aspect of that artistic process itself. Parts
of it that I anticipated would be easy were not; and elements I had not even initially
considered became required components. The end result of my impossible-dream, request-for-access project was always supposed to be a book. San Diego Opera later became a publishing partner, though that was not the arrangement at the beginning. I became a staff member - not the same as an employee - and was given carte blanche access to every rehearsal, every function, every meeting, any closed-door session that I had the time and energy to attend.
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It's interesting to recall that at about
this same time, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden granted the same kind of access to a
documentary film crew. The resulting TV-film, "The House," exposed
unsound business practices, petty bickering, melodramatic temper tantrums and some nasty
backstabbing, all caught on film. It brought down management in a tabloid-headline
national crisis, closing the venerable company for more than a year. 10,000 miles away, my project celebrated the art form and San Diego Opera. Did I not say it was a remarkable company? It still is - turns out that we fit well together, and our working relationship continued for several years after the book project was complete.
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| THE
OPERA PROJECT GETTING GOING THE PRACTICAL VISION FINAL COUNTDOWN WRAP UP PROJECT NAVIGATION |
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| EXPLORE FURTHER | ||
| EXPLORE MORE | |||||
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"This is the ideal book for everyone who loves opera."
"... a distinguished book with heart." |
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| OperaBasics
- An Introduction The Art of Making Opera - Inside the Book See what people are saying about the book Explore More: Top 10 Ways to Fall in Love With Opera Principal Singers
& Singing WORDS
& MUSIC SHOP |
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original
content © copyright 1998 ML Hart and images/graphics ©
copyright 1996 - 2002 ML Hart except where noted no part of this page, site, or any components may be borrowed, downloaded, acquired, or otherwise used by any person(s) without the express written consent of ML Hart what is copyright all about? |
WEB GALLERY | AT THE OPERA | JAZZ
ON STAGE | THEATRE &
DANCE |
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