Pop Music

Breaking Opera's Rules | OI Insights Q&A with Claudillea

 

(Santa Fe, NM) - We discovered London-based artist Claudillea Holloway by accident. Like many things these days, it started on Instagram. While scrolling through the stories of friend and tenor Elliott Paige, a video of Claudillea performing an operatic cover of The Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black appeared. Given OI’s love of all things that move the dial for opera, we literally fell out of our chair, screaming. Elliott shared that he and Claudillea are friends from their time together at Manhattan School of Music and that she was a contender in 2020’s The Voice UK, originally with Meghan Trainor but whisked away by the one and only Will.I.Am. An online introduction ensued, lots of DMs and even the generous opportunity to hear some of Claudillea’s new music, which we think could change perceptions of opera in popular culture; how classically trained voices can and should be seamlessly integrated with contemporary pop and dance music. 

We recently spoke with Claudillea via WhatsApp, which was an opportunity to learn more about her process, her approach to music and how hard she had been working to prepare for the release of Habanera. As of this writing, in association with Black Box Los Angeles, her Habanera video has captured over 98K views in just three (3) weeks, with organic YouTube search placing her version of one of opera’s greatest pieces at #4 – a huge accomplishment in itself!

OI Insights wanted to spotlight Claudillea as an emerging crossover artist who’s moving the dial for opera, as well as creating important connective tissue between the business of opera and popular music globally. 


OI: We’re thrilled with how Habanera is being received on YouTube and undoubtedly via streaming, too. Based on our recent chat, you’ve long had ideas about how to transform opera from both the inside and the outside. Regarding the latter, we see your Habanera is an homage that invites both opera and pop music fans to join you in a brand new place with, we might add, a signature sound. Your thoughts?

CH: Firstly, thank you so much James and OI for your continued support and encouragement- it is incredibly humbling. When working on Habanera, it was important to me that we respected what Bizet created 147 years ago, but also messed with it just enough to bring it into the 21st century. I think most people who are not used to listening to Operatic voices, often find the vibrato a little startling and then tune out from listening to it again, and so I wanted to blend classical and pop timbres together, to make it a little easier on the ears for a non-classical audience, whilst also hopefully whetting their taste just a bit for more Opera and Operatic vocals. I’ve always admired artists who seamlessly blend different genres together, creating new sounds, and I myself listen to an array of genres, so why not put electronic trap music - which I love - with one of my favourite arias?  I would love people to listen to something like Habanera and realise the beauty of these old works, in that they are timeless, and speak of things we still talk about and deal with today. Opera was the pop music of it’s day!

OI: We’ve long said that opera singers are brands. How would you describe brand Claudillea? Your brand identity, the ethos – or spirit, vibe – that you’re trying to create and make your own?  How does your concept of OPPOP play into it?  

CH: I’m trying to start an Anti-Box revolution! That’s my “brand.” I don’t want to play by anyone’s rules (just as Carmen did not). In almost all aspects of life, we have to check which box we fit into…from gender to sexuality to race to fach. I’m technically a coloratura soprano, so it’s almost sacrilegious to sing a mezzo aria, but why the hell not? During my studies, I wasn’t encouraged to explore the lower, darker sides of my voice, and I find that a real shame because as humans and singers we all have different colours with which to play. And that extends out to persona and music. As a whole, my music is extremely different, and I want to be able to wake up and choose whomever I want to be on that particular day. I also want to exude a strong feminine energy, almost Sasha Fierce-like, because I’ve spent my whole life being “the good girl”; through my music and branding, I will stand in my own power. In regards to OPPOP, I was debating going down the route of using “popera,” but I felt like the term was somewhat stuck in the past, and our current crossover genre needed a bit more fire and edge, hence OPPOP. I guess the vibe is Rebel Without a Cause?! (laughing).

Watch the Habanera video.

OI: Let’s talk about the video. Typically, opera videos are live performance-related, usually as a recital, concert or live opera performances. There have been exceptions like Joyce DiDonato’s landmark work with James Darrah and others, but we’re hard-pressed to think of an opera-infused video that also looks and sounds like Dua Lipa, Kylie or Gaga could walk out at any moment. We’d love to hear about any technical aspects or technological highlights we should know about, as well as how video is a powerful tool for you when working to change perceptions.

CH: Gosh, I’m obsessed with Joyce’s video, and honestly everything she does, she’s a massive inspiration for me - I’ve always stanned her! While Rebekah (Habanera’s amazing director) and I were discussing the concept of the video, I was adamant that we created a video that you’d never expect from or associate with Opera. I wanted it to have urban elements, and we achieved that through LED lighting, styling and the use of dance. Dance is so heavily involved in pop music culture, so it was really important to me that alongside the production, the movement was something that people could also relate to. Video is such a powerful medium. We live in a visually-dominated world and YouTube, in particular, is global. Whereas audio streaming platforms can varyfrom territory to territory, YouTube has uniform, global presence and accessibility. So, as an artist, I believe it’s a must to have a presence there and to use it as a (primary) vehicle to build global audience.

OI: Two things in your biography jumped out at me: “Originally from Cambridgeshire, but raised in Borneo, Malaysia, Claudillea’s multicultural upbringing gave her global perspective and a sense of limitlessness.” Also: “For me, the opera world actively excludes certain demographics, and I want to help make it more accessible. Bring it into 2021.” Lots to unpack there, but also not, in our opinion! We agree that opera’s lack of diversity and, in some cases, lack of vision for reaching new audiences is understood - so much so that even non-opera people recognize and label it. This is why OI Insights recognize Habanera and other cuts on your forthcoming album as powerful tools to shock the system i.e. the “limitless” opportunities to change the culture and introduce new people to operatic voice in a format they understand and find relatable. Could you expand on how a global perspective specifically influences your approach to musical innovation ?

CH: I was fortunate to grow up in Malaysia which is such an amazing multicultural society; my friends growing up, came from all different walks of life. Whilst within my family, we also have a big blend of cultures -my dad is South African by way of Lebanon and Italy while my mother is English by way of the Seychelles. This I believe, informed my perspective that there are no limits. It can be as simple as the many different flavours in different cuisines, you don’t have to like just one in particular, you can enjoy Indian, Italian, Chinese, etc. - one cuisine isn’t reserved for one group of people. I sometimes found it disappointing that while I was studying in New York, I’d go to The Met to watch various Operas, and the same demographic was usually in attendance. While there is some innovation around this and people/companies are striving to make audiences more diverse, I honestly didn’t think there was enough at the time. We still have opera houses doing the same works over and over again, with little to no change, generally without removing barriers to entry for certain demographic groups to attend. Unfortunately, (opera) still has this very elitist veil over it, which is a shame. I believe it should be enjoyed by everyone. I do think fear plays a massive role when it comes to the lack of innovation around audience development i.e. the fear of upsetting people. Fear of damning a sacred piece of art. Fear of the unknown. Perhaps if people exposed themselves to new worlds, cultures, music and so on, fear would dissipate. Because then, everyone would realise there are no limits except the ones we place on ourselves individually or as a society.

OI: Thanks for connecting with us, Claudillea. We don’t toss the term opera innovator around loosely, but we think you’re the absolute definition. Brava and much continued success!

CH: That literally means the world to me, thank you. And thank you for all you are doing for the Opera world - it desperately needs you!!


Visit claudilleaholloway.com

Habanera and other cuts from Claudillea’s “Chaos is My Friend,” her 2022 EP, now on the Opera Innovations Playlist.


 

Pop Music & Opera thoughts from a K-pop dancing, musical theater and jazz-loving opera singer

 
Kristen Choi photographed by Kate Marley.

Kristen Choi photographed by Kate Marley.

(Santa Fe, NM) - The first time I encountered mezzo soprano Kristen Choi, she was onstage as Wowkle in The Santa Fe Opera’s 2016 production of La Fanciulla Del West. At the time, I didn’t realize Kristen was an apprentice artist in a principal role. It wasn’t until her second apprentice season that we properly met and became friends, Kristen having some of my fave musical moments (and 80-90s outfits) in the world-premiere of Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.

It was a delight to get to know this incredible artist through her Instagram feed and DMs as she worked and traveled across the USA and Europe. In addition to operatic roles, Kristen joined the Lincoln Center Broadway Production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I as an ensemble member and Lady Thiang understudy; we were thrilled to see her June 20, 2018 performance of this classic in Albuquerque.

I was hopeful that Kristen would be interested in sharing her pop music and opera thoughts because in addition to opera, her Instagram account is my one-stop shop for all things K-pop - the latest hits regularly shared though dance videos of her original choreography (not to mention avid rock climbing, nature, food and family adventures). Authentic storytelling is the key, as you’ll see below. - JM


By Kristen Choi

(Los Angeles, CA) - “What could opera learn from pop music?” What a simple yet loaded question. Let me begin by introducing my background in music and the journey of my falling in love with opera and then pursuing it as a career.

I was a Disney kid who loved singing along to classic songs from Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Popular mainstream music was always on my playlist, too, along with boy bands, Britney Spears, musical theater and jazz in the mix. My musical tastes have always been eclectic, especially since I love dancing; I was no stranger to 90s and 2000s hip-hop.

In truth, I never really listened to classical music recreationally unless it was to help me practice piano or to focus while studying so, understandably, I wasn’t drawn to opera or exposed to it. However, I was always open to it. So when I was fortunate enough to go on school field trips to see an opera, I was always blown away. But opera didn’t really stick until I was older. I’d begun studying classical voice at university, but was still undecided on what career path to take. It wasn’t until I landed the role of Barbarina in a regional production of Le nozze di Figaro that I truly fell down the opera rabbit-hole. Maybe it was the power of Mozart, but something about telling this hilarious story in Italian captured my full and undivided attention. From that point forward, I was hooked. I’d had my “A-ha” moment and finally understood the big deal of this beautiful art form. 

So, what can opera learn from pop?

What it all comes down to is why “pop” music so appealing. As a K-pop fan, why is this genre garnering so much attention globally and in the United States? How did this South Korean Hallyu (South Korean wave) arrive and then go on to sweep the global music market?

I honestly don’t think opera must conform or change itself to sound more like pop. As librettist Mark Campbell said, it doesn’t need to be “accessible” in order to be successful. Pop music is popular music and right now that means an array of eclectic sounds and styles. Further to this point, artists are actively blending genres and styles. Fusion is most definitely “in”.

If fusion is a pop music trend, couldn’t pop music borrow from opera, becoming even more unique and exciting?

Just like when I was growing up, many people aren’t exposed to opera or their idea/impression of the art form, as a whole, is that it’s archaic, traditional, boring and elitist.

I do have a theory as to why K-pop became popular in the USA. One of the biggest K-pop groups is BTS - you’ve probably heard of them because their song “Dynamite” just hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, making BTS the first all-South Korean group to achieve this; they’ve pretty much taken over the genre and are a global phenomenon. But how did they achieve this incredible success? Their secret sauce is actually quite simple.

BTS uses their music and art to encourage healing, and to spread a universal message of self-love to people of all ages around the world.

This BTS fan knows that group members are heavily involved in the writing and production of their music, and that they consistently demonstrate how they care about their listeners and fans. Like opera singers, their art is genuine. Their storytelling is also genuine and feels that way, too. So often, it’s this genuine STORY-TELLING that gets lost in translation across so much of today’s popular art and music. BTS is different, though, and it shows up in their success and fan loyalty.

We also connect through stories in opera. The majority of us aren't in this industry just to make money or flaunt musical knowledge and/or our egos. And yes, I understand that not all operatic works tell a great or coherent story (ahem, Handel’s music or some Rossini operas), but the spectacle and virtuosic talent found in these works remain integral to the global, musical firmament.

Whether it’s K-pop, opera, musical theatre or pop music, we all benefit from genuine stories told through song.

Kristen Choi as Suzuki in Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s Madama Butterly (2018).  Photo by Julius Ahn.

Kristen Choi as Suzuki in Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s Madama Butterly (2018).
Photo by Julius Ahn.


Mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi has been hailed by Opera News as a “powerhouse in the making” for her portrayal of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. Her 2019-2020 bookings included a house debut in this signature role, with performances at Opera Omaha. Kristen is set to make her Opera Philadelphia house debut in their 2022 production of Puccini’s masterpiece. Recent engagements also included a role and house debut with Opera Maine as the Third Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute, as well as creating the title role in a brand new production of Murasaki's Moon, a completely new work in partnership with Onsite Opera and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Wall Street Journal review here). Kristen Choi is represented by Stratagem Artists.

Visit Kristen Choi on Instagram | kristenchoi.com

 

Librettist Mark Campbell on Pop Music, Opera and 'the Lucy/Jessie Saga' of it all

 
Photo: Frances Marshall, Final Note Magazine.

Photo: Frances Marshall, Final Note Magazine.

(Santa Fe, NM) - In August 2015, I met librettist Mark Campbell at the press conference for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, his opera with composer Mason Bates. Consulting with Santa Fe Opera public relations, I took photos of the gents, live tweeted and (with coworker Anh Lê) launched the first live Periscope broadcast of a breaking news event by a North American opera company. Fast forward through (R)evolution workshops at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in September 2015 and September 2016, the 2017 Santa Fe Opera world premiere, in addition to the workshops, events and 2019 world premiere of Opera Parallele’s Today it Rains. Together, these events span the five years that my partner and I have become better acquainted with Mark’s landmark work, his authentic warmth, one-of-a-kind wit and a killer sense of humor. We’re glad to be friends as well as fans.

When I launched this series, I’d hoped Mark would agree to share his ideas (so grateful he did). Shortly after (R)evolution’s world premiere, I asked if he thought his and Mason’s opera could be successful on Broadway. “YES!” As Mark shares below, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs did, in fact, find its inspiration in pop music. Without further delay, a Grammy-winning librettist with some brilliantly crystallized thoughts. - JM


By Mark Campbell

What a useless and corrupting little label “pop music” is. The word reared its ugly short head around 1926, reduced to a three-letter palindrome from the phrase “music with popular appeal,” and was devised by marketeers to distinguish music that you could hum or dance to from an equally inane label, “Classical music,” which might break your ears off. Separating music into labels like this does a disservice to both: pop music is considered cheap and lowly but fun and Classical music intellectual but boring. The comparison kind of reminds me of the Stephen Sondheim lyric from Follies, “The Story of Jessie and Lucy.”

“You see, Jessie is racy
But hard as a rock.
Lucy is lacy
But dull as a smock.
Jessie wants to be lacy,
Lucy wants to be Jessie.
That's the pitiful précis.
It's very messy.
Poor sad souls,
Itching to be switching roles.
Lucy wants to do what Jessie does,
Jessie wants to be what Lucy was.”

 When we try to apply the term “pop” to music composed for opera it becomes even more complicated. For a very long time—indeed throughout most of opera’s history—opera music was considered pop music. People listened to arias from operas as they would listen to the latest hit from Taylor Swift today. Sadly, critics and academics started to condemn anything that might be perceived as pop music in opera as frivolous and pandering about the same time audiences began to condemn contemporary opera for its lack of “tunes.” It’s the “Lucy/Jessie saga” all over again. And that has pretty much created a lose/lose situation for opera. 

 It has also created a horrible struggle when we have to find words to describe a new work. We are sometimes forced to use the word “accessible” to define a composer’s sound, lest we scare off our audience and sell no tickets. But “accessible” only means “similar to music you’ve heard before,” which reduces the composer’s voice by making it seem unoriginal. And composers get the damned if you do/damned if you don’t scenario when they are taught to write as complicated and alienating as they can to appease critics’ and academics’ claim of superiority over audiences. 

 My own work as an opera librettist isn’t seriously affected by this issue. But what actually makes a tune a tune is not how the notes are arranged but an audience’s familiarity with it—or how often a composer chooses to repeat a melody. And the repeat of a melody usually requires a librettist to know how to write using song structure in which sections of songs repeat in scansion and rhyme scheme—like you find in “pop music.” 

 There should be no shame in stealing from pop music. There should be no shame if a composer hears a sound in pop music that will help them tell a story truthfully. Mason Bates’ music for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs certainly finds inspiration in pop music—but it also perfectly captures the period and the soul of its titular subject; and there is not a moment in that score that isn’t a challenging and complex as any in the modern repertoire. Similarly, Paul Moravec’s brilliant music for the score of The Shining contains true arias—even those that follow the pop song structure of AABA. But it always does what the story demands and never panders or strives to be “accessible.”

Since I don’t believe in the separation of pop music and Classical music and love both forms, I don’t think one or the other can save opera. What will save opera—if it needs saving—is music by composers that doesn’t fall on either the Jessie or Lucy side of these labels.  Opera will only succeed if composers are good storytellers and continue to write in their own voices. And…if we tell stories that are relevant to the times in which we live.   

Mark Campbell is represented by The Barbara Hogenson Agency

Visit markcampbellwords.com

Mark Campbell at The Santa Fe Opera | August 10, 2019 | Photo: James Mowdy

Mark Campbell at The Santa Fe Opera | August 10, 2019 | Photo: James Mowdy

















 

What Could Opera Learn From Pop Music?

 
Teatro di San Carlo de Napoli’s production of Bellini’s Norma, Teatre Principal, Palma, Spain (June 2018).

Teatro di San Carlo de Napoli’s production of Bellini’s Norma, Teatre Principal, Palma, Spain (June 2018).

By James B. Mowdy

(Santa Fe, NM) - When I arrived in Paris last summer to see what were thought to be French pop icon Mylène Farmer’s final concerts, I didn’t realize how these experiences would not only transform how I see pop music, but opera, too.

Mylène Farmer 2019 began with “Coming from the Vortex,” our alien queen Mylène arriving onstage in a glowing orb lowered from the ceiling, followed by two hours of highly choreographed, Jean-Paul Gaultier-costumed extravaganza - successive, visually impactful vignettes with uniquely talented musicians and dancers. The finale was the dramatic full circle of "L’Horloge,” a poem by Baudelaire set to the music of decades-long collaborator Laurent Boutonnat, as well as the explosive opening of her first 1989 tour. Like the high priestess of the Druids, the high priestess of French Pop seemed to channel Bellini’s Norma, exiting the stage though a massive wall of projected flames augmented by billowing steam or smoke, climbing to the top of her own funeral pyre. After seeing this concert twice at Paris’ La Defense Stadium, I realized that the French word “spectacle” would forever describe the incomparable career bookend I shared with 50,000 fans over two nights. Stepping back a bit, Mylene’s oeuvre has always been quasi operatic in vocal style (high soprano), dramatic video visualizations and her ability to make an arena intimate. For over 30 years, across screens and on stages in the French speaking world, Mylène has presented universal human themes, touching on revolution, rebellion and renewal. The dark and the light. Sex, blood, murder, death and various forms of rebirth. If that’s not operatic, I don’t know what is.

WATCH: Mylène Farmer performs “L’Horloge,” the finale of her “Mylène Farmer 2019” series of concerts and the final performance of her Paris residency (June 22, 2019).

After seeing Mylène for the second and final time, I returned to my Air BNB between Opéra and Place Vendome, but not before having the foresight to video some of these operatic thoughts in front of the Palais Garnier Opera House (swipe left until you reach the 8th video).

Et voilà, the perfect segue…

Fast forward to April 2020. Isolated in New Mexico, the pandemic spreading, I accidentally discovered Christine and the Queens’ new EP as short film, the brainchild of “Chris” herself (a.k.a. songwriter, dancer, and creative extraordinaire Héloïse Adelaïde Letissier). Filmed entirely on the premises of the Palais Garnier de l’Opéra de Paris, “La Vita Nuova” is, in fact, an opera of sorts, augmented by visually arresting moments and incredible dance sequences, all powered by five of Chris’ dreamy, activated electropop cuts sung in English, French and Italian. Letissier says this in the New York Times, relating a preliminary conversation she had with director Colin Solal Cardo: “ I want to use the postcard of Paris, and I want to be the broken clown inside it. And then a faun will haunt me.”

Héloïse Adelaïde Letissier and actor Félix Maritaud as The Fauna begin their ill-fated entanglement atop the Palais Garnier in Christine and the Queens’ La Vita Nuova, a short musical film released on February 27, 2020, directed by Colin Solal Cardo…

Héloïse Adelaïde Letissier and actor Félix Maritaud as The Fauna begin their ill-fated entanglement atop the Palais Garnier in Christine and the Queens’ La Vita Nuova, a short musical film released on February 27, 2020, directed by Colin Solal Cardo. Photo: Vogue Magazine and Christine and the Queens.

In the opening shot, the Paris skyline in sight, the gorgeous dandy Chris encounters The Fauna, a mystical creature with lustful intent (as above). Loosely drawing from Dante’s work, a series of fabulous sequences follows, viewers literally falling into the Paris Opera Ballet’s dance studio with Chris, then onto the Garnier stage, into the Grand Foyer and then into the bowels of the building. At this point, she sucks the creature’s life away to herself become a lustful Fauna who pines for vocalist Caroline Polachek in the title track’s club-like sequence that Vogue dubbed as Thriller meets Paris is Burning. Is it a classic text fairy tale set to pop music? A “fever dream”, as described by an artist who “(likes) to think of everything as a novel” because she enjoys them? A melding of dramaturgy, fantasy, pop and dance set in the one of the world’s greatest monuments to classical arts?

Yes.

And we should factor in how many Christine and the Queens fans might now consider a visit to Opéra de Paris, based upon how beautifully La Vita Nuova showcases - and markets - it and the art that’s created there. The same could be said for Kylie Minogue’s Music’s Too Sad Without You, filmed at Venice’s famed Teatro La Fenice in 2018 (this Kylie fan’s interest doubled).

Yes, Christine and the Queens is one of France’s hottest pop acts and La Vita Nuova is an incredible achievement. However, Letissier isn’t an opera singer and her work isn’t considered operatic. But like Queen of French Pop Mylène Farmer, she creates musical connectivity to a visual story as a composer and librettist might, drawing upon universal human themes often found in literary works of high renown, their art songs for our time. And we can’t forget that when opera arrived, it was the pop music of its day. Now that operatic performance is mostly banished from the stage (as we knew it and for an unknown period of time), what could 21st century opera learn from contemporary pop music and the pop music concert experience? To create greater appeal and adoption by global audiences in a world primed for reconnection through music? To become a better, more widely appealing and durable art form?  

This is the open question we’ve posed to several professionals, all of whom have deep operatic experience and training, as well as an understanding of pop music’s unifying power and mass, cross-cultural resonance. Each individual has been encouraged to utilize their personal definition of pop music. Their interpretations and/or opinions will center around their primary area of expertise (or not, that’s their call). Looking forward to their thoughts i.e. how does opera innovate, perhaps borrow elements of pop music that make the most sense, evolving into something that still includes classical voice?  Our first contributor’s thoughts arrive soon. In the meantime, watch Christine and the Queens’ La Vita Nuova and, like opera, enjoy the visit to a visually arresting sound world. JM