Opera Innovator: Grammy-Winning Librettist Mark Campbell Keeps Creating in the New Now

Librettist Mark Campbell, photographed on Fire Island, New York.

(Santa Fe, NM) - When news of Mark Campbell’s librettist prize with OPERA America hit the internet, I sent him a congratulatory Facebook DM. What ensued was a weeks-long conversation that resulted in the wonderful Q&A below. In addition to The Campbell Opera Librettist Prize (COLP), Mark is a man who’s remained just as prolific as he was pre-pandemic, making his ongoing flight into artistic headwinds seem absolutely doable, an inspiration to all of us during these difficult times. With the arrival of new collaborations, operas and another well-deserved 2021 Grammy nomination, this time with composer Paul Moravec for their Sanctuary Road oratorio, we thought a Q&A format would be best, no pun intended. We’re also honored to break some exclusive opera news: Mark’s currently writing a new theatrical song cycle with young, gay composer Matthew Ricketts, inspired by Derek Jarman's book, Modern Nature. Per Mark: “You probably know Jarman as a filmmaker, but he wrote this memoir in 1989-1990 after he’d purchased a fisherman's cottage in a desolate location on the English Channel, soon after he was diagnosed with AIDS.” All this and more revealed below via Mark’s trademark warmth, feeling and humor. JM

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OI: How did you and Matthew Ricketts come together to begin creating this song cycle based on Derek Jarman's memoir? Given the context of Jarman's writings, an AIDS pandemic that's never gone away and the magnitude of our current public health disaster, this is a timely if not extremely real brief. You mentioned that this project would be an opportunity to write "more poetic text." Could you expand on that?

MC: When my husband and I moved into our modest home on Fire Island earlier this spring,  I began imagining my little garden here. Around that time, I read a beautifully written article in The New Yorker by Rebecca Mead about filmmaker and gay activist Derek Jarman and the remarkable garden he created at Prospect Cottage, a scrappy fisherman's shack in Dungeness that he had purchased soon after his AIDS diagnosis. Jarman captured his experiences in 1989 and 1990 at this cottage in his very moving memoir, Modern Nature, and as I read the book, I felt inspired to write a song cycle about it. It sings.

Matthew and I had been "courting" each other as composer and librettist for a little over a year, I proposed the idea and he loved it. (By the way, Matthew who received a Guggenheim Foundation Award last year, is a composer to watch!)

Composer Matthew Ricketts. Photo credit: Michael Kuhn

I had originally thought of the work as a short (4 or 5 songs) song cycle, but the more I write the text, the more I see it as a complete theatrical evening, a contemplative structure similar to the libretto Kimberly Reed and I created for As One. I generally shy away from overt poetry when creating text for operas or oratorios—it tends to call attention to itself and distracts from the music. But with this piece—tentatively titled Unruly Sun—poetry seems right. Of course, I feel many strong personal connections to the story—moving away from a city to escape a pandemic, mortality and the garden, the need for a legacy, a gay man who lost many people to AIDS…the list goes on and on…and the more I enumerate these connections, the more I wince at the obviousness of them.

OI: Let's change directions a bit and talk about West Edge Opera's Aperture program. We love the real-time BTS aspect, tracking almost two dozen original works from the ground up. You're working with composer Kamala Sankaram, breathing life into My Own Country, a longtime dream project that chronicles an immigrant doctor's experiences in Johnson City, Tennessee while caring for people with AIDS during the early years of the crisis. I will sign myself up tout de suite, but what can you share with us about the process thus far? 

MC: As you know, opera companies around the country are trying to find ways to remain connected with their communities during the pandemic. Mark Streshinsky, General Director of West Edge Opera, and his smart and mighty team, came up with the ingenious idea of spending more significant time exploring the process of composers and librettists when they create new operas. They audaciously chose 22 projects to feature and I'm flattered that my name appears on a roster with so many composers and librettists I respect and admire. 

Composer Kamala Sankaram.

My Own Country, which I'm creating with the brilliant (and deservedly overworked) composer Kamala Sankaram is a piece I've been dreaming about creating for 25 years. It's based on Dr. Abraham Verghese's 1994 memoir (another memoir!) of the same name and chronicles his experiences as a doctor and an immigrant in Johnson City, Tennessee as AIDS begins to enter the community. Two years ago, New York Theatre Workshop gave Kamala and I a residency to begin work on the opera and I created an outline and she and I wrote a few songs. If WEO awards us a full commission, we would be able to complete this work.  

OI: Several weeks ago, we started talking about your latest world premiere film project with composer Joe Illick and Fort Worth Opera, based in the now familiar universe of zoom. We've seen the extra Broadway World piece, so we'll have extra popcorn on hand as we watch your A-list cast navigate the "virtual comedy" of an online book club discussing The Handmaid's Tale. This sounds delicious and oh so you. 

MC: Oh, I love working with Joe. We wrote two children's operas which are entering the repertoire very quickly. He asked me for an "adult" libretto and I came up with a story about a mean little book club that meets on Zoom for the first time at the end of April, 2020. It's a pretty bleak view about our country during this crisis and the threat of totalitarianism (expressed in the mute button), but I hope you won't notice that with the work of our director Cara Consilvio, our conductor Andy Whitfield and our crazily stellar cast (Brenda Harris, Bill Burden, Donnie Ray Albert, Joyce Castle and Gabrielle Gilliam).  

Composer Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell worked for three years to adapt Stephen King's The Shining. Photo credit: Euan Kerr | MPR News (2016)

OI: In 2019, we were thrilled when you and Mason Bates won Grammys for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. It was also excellent to see you at Santa Fe Opera last summer to congratulate you in person. Interestingly, I watched the 2021 Grammy nominations via Twitter and didn't realize that you and Paul Moravec are nominated for Sanctuary Road, performed by Oratorio Society of New York (librettists not mentioned in Grammy noms, had no idea). Getting the full memo via Facebook (big congrats to you), I realized that it's impossible to keep up with opera's most prolific creative. In addition to a new, third oratorio with Mr. Moravec focused on voting rights, you mentioned a secret opera and The Secret River at Opera Orlando?

MC: Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous that the Grammys fail to credit the librettist for operas or choral works. (The Pulitzer does the same dumb thing, by the way.) Whining aside, I am very pleased with this nod from the Recording Academy for Sanctuary Road, a work I am very proud of. Paul is a master of musical drama and a fantastic collaborator and, yes, we are about to begin work on our third oratorio to complete a trilogy of operas about freedom. (Our second, A Nation of Others, set in Ellis Island in 1921, was to premiere at Carnegie Hall in May, again with the Oratorio Society of New York.)  By the way, we are turning Sanctuary Road into an opera with stage director Dennis Whitehead Darling, who will also be directing The Secret River (music by Stella Sung) at Opera Orlando. The "secret" opera still hasn't been announced but I will say that it is for Des Moines Metro Opera and is a many-acred thing. Other works waiting to premiere are A Sweet Silence in Cremona (composer: Roberto Scarcella Perino); Supermax (composer: Stewart Wallace, co-librettist, Michael Korie); Edward Tulane (composer: Paola Prestini); again and again. and again (composer: Conrad Cummings) and This Lingering Life (composer: Anne LeBaron, co-librettist Chiori Miyagawa).

OI: The Campbell Opera Librettist Prize (COLP) was announced in late July 2020, in association with OPERA America. The competition opens up December 15th, with the winning librettist selected by a panel of independent experts in May 2021. We did the "opera librettist award" Google and 95% of the entries on that first page were for this award! So, in addition to brilliant branding, what was the inspiration for this nearly only one of its kind recognition for opera librettists? 

MC: I've been very fortunate in that a number of my works (Silent Night, The Shining, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Sanctuary Road, Elizabeth Cree, As One—and more) generate decent income in royalties and will continue to do so after I'm gone. As I was preparing my will about a year ago, I thought about what I might be able to contribute to the future of American opera. It's no secret that I've been and continue to be an advocate for librettists through the Dramatists Guild's Librettist Initiative, which I co-chair with librettist Michael Korie. It was probably through my work there, that I identified that there are no awards specifically for opera librettists. So I decided to create one. And fund it. Our industry has some truly brilliant librettists working in it now; I view the COLP as a way for opera to build on that by continuing to attract the best theatre writers. 

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Learn more and apply for OPERA America’s Mark Campbell Opera Librettist Prize.

Tickets now available for the 14-24JAN digital streaming of Bernadette's Cozy Book Nook.

Press Contact: Barbara Hogenson | (212) 874-8084 | BHogenson@aol.com 

Visit markcampbellwords.com

Opera Nabi Q&A: LA-Based Startup Where Anime, Opera & Stickers Meet, Beautifully

Opera Nabi Founder Kristen Choi: “I was inspired to make these fun creations through the worlds of opera and music, with anime and Manga. So, if you have an interest in any of those subjects, this is the Etsy store for you!”

We’re beyond thrilled for Opera Innovation contributor Kristen Choi. Her recently launched Opera Nabi shop on Etsy is a small business / opera startup built on bridging visual and operatic art forms, as well as a multitude of cultures and cultural art forms (ps “nabi” means “butterfly” in Korean). Through Opera Nabi, Kristen’s operatic and illustration skills and knowledge are beautifully joined as a one-of-a-kind sticker shop. If that’s not “opera innovation” we don’t know what is! Just back from Italy, Kristen took time to do a quick Q&A with us. Links for Kristen’s Etsy shop and more work samples below, keep Opera Nabi in mind for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Holiday Stocking Stuffers. JM

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Opera Innovation Q&A | Opera Nabi Founder Kristen Choi

OI: Could you tell us why this art form inspires and delights and how you arrived at the Opera Nabi small business concept?

KC: I've always loved anime, since I was a kid. The drawing style always attracted me and even more so the chibi style. I mean who doesn't love mini, cute versions of things? It's appealing! And just adorable. I decided to start (Opera Nabi) after tapping back into my old hobby of drawing. As mentioned, I love anime and manga, so I decided to pick up drawing and sketching again. Then, after drawing for a while, I decided to become even more creative with it. While in quarantine, I felt that it was time explore creativity in other places besides music and singing. That’s when I decided to bridge the opera world I miss so much with this revived hobby of sketching and doodling. By doing so, I could reimagine famous opera scenes and composers in the manga or chibi style. I decided to put a poll on Instagram just for fun, to market research the idea, actually getting some positive responses from friends and colleagues.

I also wanted the name of my store to reflect who I am. Of course, it had to be opera-related, so opera had to be a part of the name. I decided on ‘Nabi’ because in Korean it means ‘Butterfly.’ The opera, Madama Butterfly, also has a very significant place in my heart, becoming the main inspiration for my shop’s name. Also, if you know me, I'm a very social person and love meeting people and making friends, so there’s that word play, too. I also wanted to keep the name in Korean to reflect my cultural identity.

OI: Who is your customer and why? For instance if I'm an opera lover but not a sticker aficionado, how would you sell me on the idea of collecting and using Opera Nabi creations?

KC: Well, customers right now are mostly opera and music lovers. Stickers are super accessible and make amazing gifts for opening and closing nights of shows and are also cute accessories to decorate personal items. Singers can add some extra personality to their scores, notebooks, tablets, or waterbottles by putting a sticker on any of these items. I'm still in the process of ordering cards with opera anime scenes depicted, but I imagine they’d be beautiful gifts to give to people.

OI: The opportunity to "sell" opera to people already interested in these art forms is obvious. What are your thoughts for perhaps nurturing a greater interest in opera through the Opera Nabi imagery and products you're creating?

KC: Right now, anime is super mainstream, especially among younger generations. When I was a kid, it was considered nerdy or "dorky" to like anime, but now it’s considered to be a beautiful art form. I think by connecting the two and reimagining opera in this style, Opera Nabi could attract some anime otaku nerds and lovers.

Screenshot from Opera Nabi on Instagram.

OI: The Opera Nabi product line seems like a great new hobby. How are you approaching the holiday season? What are your business goals for the holiday?

KC: Honestly, I’m just trying to add more products to my store and pump out more designs that people have requested. Getting more followers and keeping traction would be good, but it's been kind of a hectic time for me traveling during COVID, so I needed to get back on track with the store and upcoming designs. A new batch of sticker design orders will be coming in, so I’ll definitely make a special offer for the holiday season. Keep on the look out for bundle orders and special discounts!

OI: How has the Etsy platform and technology made the Opera Nabi business concept better and/or easier to access?

KC: Etsy makes everything so easy to sell on their platform and since it's well-known, people come to it with built-in trust, ready to order from the site. I’ll probably get more traction as I add more products in the coming days and weeks. It's probably be a bit of trial and error, but so far, so great.

OI: What are your future plans for Opera Nabi? Have you considered special partnerships and collaborations with opera companies i.e. special sets for seasons or particular operas?

KC: I don’t have particular plans or projects, collaboration wise, with other companies as yet. But, I’m always open to collaboration, especially if a given project intrigues me personally and/or artistically.

If the Opera Nabi concept is of interest, I’d love everyone to please follow our Instagram. I promise to post more designs ASAP, and if people have ideas they’d like to share or want to discuss special commissions, please DM me. Happy Holidays to all, and please stay safe!

Letter from Berlin: Insignia Athlone Artists Power Forward in Europe

Tenor Spencer Britten and Baritone Ian Burns in Berlin. Life partners with coveted spots on the newly-formed Insignia Athlone Artist Management roster, specifically built for the European market. Photo: Spencer Britten (2020)

The first time I met Ian Burns, he was a 2019 Santa Fe Opera Apprentice. He and his collegues had just given a stirring concert performance at Four Seasons Santa Fe, an annual event that generally kicks off the Company’s summer season. It was wonderful to see him excel across four (4) different productions (The Pearl Fishers, Cosí fan tutte, Jenufa, and The Thirteenth Child). Thanks to Instagram, I later discovered that his partner Spencer Britten was also an opera singer at L’ Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal. Fast forward to our COVID-19 present, Ian and Spencer have put the long-distance dynamic behind them, now living and working together in Berlin, Germany. Thanks to Spencer’s Instagram, I also discovered that they’re both part of a newly formed partnership between US-based opera management firms Insignia Artists and Athlone Artists - Insignia Athlone, a hybrid agency purpose-built for the European market. Ian and Spencer were both receptive to sharing thoughts regarding Insignia Athlone’s innovative business model and approach, as well as how they’re managing in the age of COVID-19, perhaps supporting a trend of opera professionals relocating to Europe, something Opera Innovation’s noticed, at least anecdotally. Ian and Spencer also echo #Opera2point0 thoughts on the future of opera and changes roiling an industry experiencing its own, real-time evolution. Over to you, gents. JM

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By Ian Burns and Spencer Britten

(Berlin, Germany) - As an opera couple, we feel extremely lucky to have already had a plan to move to Berlin prior to the pandemic that’s continued to crush the arts globally, but especially in our respective home countries of Canada and the United States. Prior to our decision to move to Germany, we’d intended to relocate somewhere in the US, continuing to feed our growing roots in the North American market. However, fate had a different idea when Spencer was offered a position at the International Opera Studio of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. We ultimately decided to put an end to years of long-distance relationship, going to Berlin together, Ian introducing himself to the European market.

Both of us were very gratefully to be represented by Miguel Rodriguez at Athlone Artists - we felt very secure knowing that we’d have his guidance and support during our initial, transitional period in Germany. However, once the pandemic hit, many of our performance and audition opportunities began to disappear; we felt like we’d instantly lost a huge portion of what we’d envisioned to be our market. In spite of it all, Miguel has been wonderful, reassuring his entire Athlone roster that things were in motion and rapidly changing.

Of course, timing is everything.

As we were settling in as an opera couple in Berlin, another type of coming together was happening. On October 7, 2020, Miguel’s Athlone Artists, Gloria Parker’s Insignia Artists and Catriona Bell officially announced Insignia Athlone Artists, a collaborative agency purpose-built to bring select artists from each founder’s roster to Europe; we’re so honored to be represented by these dynamic management professionals, and to be a part of this incredible group of singers, directors and conductors.

From Insignia Athlone’s 07OCT press release, Co-Founder Gloria Parker said: “In a time of transition, we see opportunity.” Putting our business of opera hats on, we see Insignia Athlone’s combined synergies and efficiencies as the establishment of a novel, nimble and effective artist management model for Europe. As singers on IA’s founding roster, we’re so grateful to have the reassurance and optimism of our management team during these uncertain times. And their ability to quickly pivot during a global pandemic, ideating and launching Insignia Athlone…this is completely reassuring.

Spencer and Ian on Athlone Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. Photo: Spencer Britten (2020)

The same, values-driven approach that Miguel shared with us as Athlone Artists also resonates across the new venture. Miguel from the same 07OCT press release: “Insignia Athlone Artists will provide comprehensive worldwide service, bringing to bear a depth of knowledge in our combined skills. That includes extensive personal experience with vocalism and stagecraft, honest evaluation of talent, thoughtful casting, and integrity in our professional relationships.”

We’d also like to emphasize how grateful we are to have planned our move to Berlin before the pandemic happened. Opportunities in Germany seemed like a great starting point for the next chapter of our careers and, despite the global pandemic, we’ve still made some great strides forward, personally and professionally. Also, Vancouver is the most expensive Canadian city in which to live, so Berlin provides us with an affordable cost of living as we continue to work and audition, live and online. Even though we’re working through shutdowns, German opera companies are fighting tooth and nail to maintain operations as they’re able, within government guidelines.

“This career is full of sudden changes and big moves, being on the Insignia Athlone roster brings me a steady partnership while navigating this ever-changing industry. It’s a good feeling having such a great team to work with, the innovative partnership that is Insignia Athlone will be a guiding force through the pandemic and a light at the end of the tunnel when we all come out on the other side.”  - Ian Burns, Baritone | Insignia Athlone

Like every other singer, we’re learning how to master the brave new world of online opera. Ian’s also been successfully navigating a primarily online audition season via pre-recorded videos, as well as live-streamed auditions. We’re really fortunate in Germany since some live auditions are still taking place. Ian’s found that having a live audition in a room (if possible) is ideal and when it comes to technology, he’s keeping it as simple as possible (here come the pro tips). For example, for best results on zoom, Ian uses his laptop with the built-in mic, enabling Original Sound through the Zoom platform. In the event that pre-recorded tracks are necessary, figuring out how to acquire custom-made tracks is ideal; best case scenario is with video, in order to keep in time with the pianist as they play and conduct as necessary for each piece. 

“Having Miguel, Gloria, and Catriona, working together with this premium roster brings me great faith that we are working towards a great future in opera. Through these tough times, they are providing a light that will shine forward through and past this pandemic.” - Spencer Britten, Tenor | Insignia Athlone

But opportunity knocks outside Germany, too. Just this month, Spencer traveled back to Vancouver (with requisite quarantine time and testing) to be part of an incredible online project with Canada’s Against the Grain Theatre (AtG.)  From the press release: “On December 13th, 2020, the multi-award-winning innovative team at Against the Grain Theatre (AtG) is proud to present a bold interpretation of Handel’s Messiah, created in partnership with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). The daring, seventy-minute filmed performance of Messiah/Complex will showcase multilingual translations, and feature a diverse cast of soloists and choirs from every Province and Territory across Canada, accompanied by the exceptional sounds of the TSO and conducted by Johannes Debus (Canadian Opera Company). Messiah/Complex is co-directed by the Founding Artistic Director of AtG, Joel Ivany, and Banff Centre’s Director of Indigenous Arts, Reneltta Arluk.”

We both admire leaders and companies like Joel Ivany and AtG, along with the aforementioned arts management expertise of Gloria, Miguel and Catriona. They are the forces creating a path forward for opera, innovating new ways to keep the art form alive and accessible, as well as creating artist income opportunities and making diversity central to their projects. It really is a brand new world for opera, or, at least the beginning of one. We’ve embraced the necessity to adapt quickly, to evolve. Both of us, at one time or another, have heard people say that opera is ten years behind the rest of the performing arts. That may or may not be true, but the pandemic might be kicking our industry into a higher, more purposeful gear, forcing us to catch up. - SB | IB

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Spencer Britten is a Chinese-Canadian tenor. Originally from British Columbia, Canada, Spencer completed his operatic studies with J.Patrick Raftery at The University of British Columbia. He recently finished two seasons at both The Glimmerglass Festival and l’Opéra de Montréal. Spencer joined the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in 2020, making his house debut in Ariadne auf Naxos. Upcoming 2020-21 performances include Tannhäuser, Rigoletto, Die Zauberflöte, Der Rosenkavalier, La bohème, La Traviata, Salome, and La fanciulla del west.

Visit SpencerBritten.com and follow Spencer on Instagram and Facebook.

The 2020-21 International Opera Studio of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Founded in November 2007, and under the direction of conductor, pianist and vocal coach Boris Anifantakis, The International Opera Studio “offers young, talented singers the possibility to prepare themselves for an artistically demanding career in opera and musical theatre. The overall artistic direction of the International Opera Studio is provided by Daniel Barenboim, whose primary concern is to provide continuing education and consistent support within the framework of the Staatsoper for the artistic development of promising young singers.” - Excerpted from Staatsoper Unter den Linden’s website

Ian Burns is a Peruvian-Irish American baritone. A recent graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Diploma in Voice program, completing his operatic studies with J. Patrick Raftery, Ian is rapidly gaining recognition for his rich tone and self-assured stage presence. In the summer of 2020, Burns was prepared to cover the roles of Herr Zeller in The Sound of Music and Masetto in Don Giovanni as a member of the Glimmerglass Festival’s Young Artist Program, but instead participated in the company’s six-week virtual festival created in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The summer of 2019 saw Burns as an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera, where he covered the roles of the Foreman in Janáček’s Jenůfa and The Gardener in the world premiere of Poul Ruders’ The Thirteenth Child and Marcello in La Bohème. Berlin-based for the 2020-21 season, Ian and his Insignia Athlone team are focused on building his career in Germany and across Europe.

Visit IanBurnsBaritone.com and follow Ian on Instagram.

San Diego's Opera Hack: Optimizing Opera’s Future with New Technology

The San Diego Opera’s 2019 Opera Hack was held at Microsoft Corporation’s San Diego Offices on July 27-28, 2019. Photo: Angel Mannion

(Santa Fe, NM) - It started when The Santa Fe Opera tweeted about “Opera Hack”. We didn't know about this endeavor, so down the Google rabbit hole we went, followed by an email and phone chat with Opera Hack’s Angel Mannion, who got me up to speed. The top line from Broadway World:

“In July of 2019, San Diego Opera partnered with Microsoft, with support from Opera America and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, to bring together professionals from theater companies, tech companies, and prominent university engineering and theater programs for a two-day hackathon to discover new ways for technology to be used in theater.

Inspired by ‘hacks’ in the technological sector which often brings together experts in disparate fields to work together to solve a presented problem, usually in a limited amount of time, San Diego Opera's Opera Hack partnered participants with local universities and tech companies to come up with creative solutions to scenarios presented by San Diego Opera. Forty multi-disciplinary experts from around North America submitted sixteen proposals to a panel of tech and theater-based advisors.

$40,000 in funding was disbursed to the three winning ideas enabling them to develop their proposal over the course of the year. “

We’re honored to host Angel’s blog below, which details his professional journey at San Diego Opera, from onstage roles to behind the scenes, ultimately arriving at Opera Hack, managing this one-of-a-kind opera industry incubator. JM

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By Angel Mannion

(San Diego, CA) -My career with San Diego Opera began in 2011, working as a chorister while pursuing a music degree in college. I was fortunate to sing with the company semi-regularly until 2015, but following SDO’s 2014 season difficulties, I began to understand how the career of a professional musician could be unstable and expanded my horizons, exploring choral conducting and arts project management.

While my heart hasn’t fully recovered from singing in the company’s final production (at that time), I’ve come to realize six years later that I’m a better person and professional from the experience.

Over the course of ten years in classical music, I’ve learned that each season provides new reasons for companies to consider shutting down. While COVID-19 has brought us unprecedented performance challenges, it’s also forced our industry to sit down and acknowledge longstanding problems. If we could turn back time to the pre-pandemic years, wouldn’t it first be worth asking if prior business models were ever that beneficial? It’s common for a major American opera house to spend over $1MM on a production that the public will see and experience only a handful of times. Ticket sales rarely cover more than 25% of those costs, while the other 75% comes primarily from donations, grants, and government funding; this model hasn’t traditionally worked very well for opera.

Now that our operating environment is exponentially more difficult, we have the golden opportunity to entirely deconstruct how opera is defined, produced, and experienced.

The theater industry has already entered a new epoch of public performance. While we can’t control how the economic ripple effects of the pandemic will impact our patrons or government programs, it will take a long time for healthy attendance levels to return. If we can’t rely on performing in local theaters, we’ll need to place a priority on exploring other creative avenues - and venues - that serve our communities, locally and nationally. (Note: San Diego Opera did exactly this with its “La Boheme” performances this weekend at San Diego’s Pechanga Arena parking lot, read the San Diego Union Tribune story).

The most prominent figures in opera are conductors, musicians and composers. However, anyone who works in musical theater knows that the success of any opera is dependent upon the level of skilled labor that powers each production, including stage management, sets, wardrobe, makeup, and everything else that happens behind-the-scenes. High-level production for an opera house (especially a unionized one) is expensive to plan, execute, and maintain. So, (theoretically) the more money a company saves on individual productions, the number of productions will increase. And, hopefully, tickets will become less expensive to purchase.

As the cost of living continues to rise in major cities, younger people will have less financial freedom to choose opera as a new experience. We simply can’t assume or rely upon younger audiences to both become fans and financially support 75% of classical music’s costs as they age and (hopefully) become more affluent. As a proactive measure, it would be more prudent for our industry to immediately embrace and seek new technologies that make opera more accessible, relatable, and affordable to/for younger patrons.

Increasing and optimizing the use of technology in opera will make companies more nimble and competitive in an entertainment market catering to Gen-Y and Millennial consumers.

In order to accomplish this, opera needed both the opportunity and venue for coming together; a way to brainstorm how technology could transform the skilled labor side of opera, making it more efficient, more utilitarian, and more widely understood as public service and an art form unto itself.

The first Opera Hack was held at Microsoft Corporation’s San Diego Offices July 27-28, 2019. OPERA America hosted a webinar showcasing first hackathon winners on August, 2020. Opera Hack 2.0 is scheduled for 2021. Photo: Angel Mannion

San Diego Opera General Director David Bennett, center right, talks to participants at the company’s two-day Opera Hack event on July 27-28, 2019, held at Microsoft Corporation’s offices in San Diego. Photo: Pam Kragen for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Opera Hack’s Angel Mannion (left at podium) with Opera Hacker Ellen Fishman, a member of the Synctus (TM) team, July 27-28, 2019. Photo: San Diego Opera

2019 Opera Hack-winning members of the Becoming team (left to right): John Burnette, Francesca Talenti, Shahrokh Yagdegari and Louis Pisha collaborate on their winning project, July 27-28, 2019. Photo: Angel Mannion

Cue Opera Hack. In the Spring of 2017, I was a part of the marketing team for SDO and had heard rumors that David Bennett was hoping to apply for an OPERA America Innovation Grant to fund a collaborative initiative between tech experts and theater artists. This idea immediately resonated because of its community-centric approach, so I volunteered to assist writing the grant application, with the understanding that I’d have the opportunity to lead and manage the project if it was successfully funded. 

Happily, OPERA America awarded San Diego Opera a two (2)-year grant in 2018 and Opera Hack was born; I’ve managed the project ever since. Following the award, I recruited a panel of local and national advisors to help create the platform (Matt Witkamp, Dr. Chris Warren, Vita Tzykun, David Adam Moore, Charles Murdock Lucas, Anne E. McMills, Ryan Hunt, and Victoria Robertson).

The mission of Opera Hack is broken down into the following pillars:

COLLABORATE - To be a platform that embraces diversity and solves problems by combining expertise from all backgrounds of theater and technology.

INNOVATE - To discover new methods for technology to be used in the production and presentation of musical theater.

EVOLVE - To promote new ways to make all forms and aspects of theater more exciting, affordable and sustainable.

As previously mentioned, San Diego Opera hosted the first Opera Hack in July 2019, a two-day hackathon at Microsoft’s San Diego corporate office. Forty multi-disciplinary experts from across the US and Canada convened to uncover new ways for technology to be used in theater. This group included representatives from Disney, Google Brain, and Microsoft; administrative leaders from Austin Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Opera on Tap; as well as graduate engineering and music students from Florida Tech, Yale, Indiana University, University of Buffalo, UC San Diego, and San Diego State University. After submitting a total of 16 proposals to a panel of advisors, $40,000 was awarded to three (3) winning teams - OperaMap, Becoming, and Open Show.

Ashley Tata, a multimedia theater and opera designer and director, uses a virtual reality headset during San Diego Opera’s Opera Hack event July 27-28, 2019 at Microsoft Corporation’s offices in San Diego. Photo via Opera Hack, as printed in a San Diego Union Tribune story by Pam Kragen (August 14, 2019).

On August 26, 2020, OPERA America co-hosted an Opera Hack webinar, showcasing how our three (3) winning teams used their awards for research and development, as well as their results. That webinar may be viewed below.

Opera Hack’s winning ideas were exceptional, as were the equally-impressive thirteen (13) proposals in competition with them, including: wardrobe databasing; an automated winch system as an education tool; a budgeting app for technical directors; a conductor’s baton to automate light cues; a sensory accessibility headset for those with autism; and creative, new suggestions for enjoying opera on-demand at home or at the community level. All proposals are viewable here.

San Diego City Councilmember (District 1) Barbara Bry chatting with an Opera Hack participant. From her July 27, 2019 tweet.

Overall, our first hackathon was considered successful, but our biggest takeaway was that we’d essentially created an event for people to make up their own problems to solve rather than using the expertise in the room to solve the problems that we already had.

We knew that if we had the opportunity to do another Opera Hack, we’d approach it differently and more efficiently. Fortunately, we’re grateful to be doing just that, with assistance of a second OPERA America Two (2)-year Innovation Grant. We’re very excited for the 2021 iteration of our event, which has been redesigned to address our current cultural context and pandemic emergency. Opera Hack 2.0 will:

1) Conduct an industry-wide survey to identify specific, pre-existing challenges facing our industry;

2) Select the Top Ten (10) Challenges and hold an online-based, industry-wide hackathon to discover technological solutions;

3) Award a total of $15,000 USD to three (3) winning solutions selected by our Advisory Panel, and;

4) Provide an online platform to host all submissions so that companies and other interested parties may contact and further develop solutions with respective creators.

• Special note: all participants will have rights over their intellectual property and full discretion over the option to share their concepts via our online platform.

Want to get involved? Let’s collaborate!

Opera Hack’s goal is to use technology to create new efficiencies while bringing us closer together as collaborators. To achieve this, we need help from our community to identify problems to solve, recruit participants for our upcoming 2021 hackathon and develop meaningful work partnerships with other companies. Here’s how you can help:

1) Help us identify specific problems to solve together. We hope to uncover new issues that have yet to be exposed or realized. One of the most important elements of Opera Hack 2.0 will be bringing these new problems and challenges to the attention of all. If you work in the industry and have ideas in mind, please email us.

2) Participate in Opera Hack 2.0, Summer 2021. Our open call for hackathon participants will be deployed in early 2021. As of this writing, we haven’t yet announced dates for this one-of-a-kind online experience, but please join our mailing list to receive important updates.

3) Partner and Collaborate with Opera Hack 2.0. San Diego Opera cannot possibly solve all of our industry’s problems and challenges alone - we are but one company. But do you represent an opera organization that supports our mission and wants to get involved? Or are you perhaps a person of influence at a tech company, interested in the opportunity to shape the future of opera and theater?

Simply email us to arrange a phone call - we’d love to discuss how your organization could:

• Sponsor Opera Hack research, the development of current Opera Hack proposals as well as new ideas;

• Provide resources for Opera Hack participants;

• Provide a platform for us to grow our one-of-a-kind community of experts.

We’d also like to encourage everyone in the theater industry to use past and future Opera Hack results as conversation starters with potential corporate sponsors. Once we’ve fully identified upcoming Opera Hack 2.0 problems to address, we’ll begin strategically building new relationships, expanding our Opera Hack business ecosphere.

In closing, I’d like to recognize and thank San Diego Opera General Director David Bennett, SDO’s Director of Institutional Grants Justin Dake, OPERA America’s staff, the Opera Hack advisory panel (as above) and all Opera Hack participants for the open criticism, guidance and community-building they’ve each provided, ensuring that Opera Hack serves not only its mission but a greater purpose. Let’s get to work!

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In addition to being Opera Hack’s Project Manager, Angel Mannion splits his time onstage and behind-the-scenes working on community music projects. After studying music at San Diego State University, Angel founded Folklore Guild to bring high school, college, and professional singers together to record music for video game and television soundtracks. Folklore Guild may be heard on Chef's Table (Netflix) and Lamplight City (Grundislav Games). In 2018 and 2020, Angel successfully proposed and acquired two (2) $150,000 OPERA America Innovation Grants (via the Anne and Gordon Getty Foundation), funding San Diego Opera’s Opera Hack project and funding San Diego Opera’s Opera Hack project and securing Microsoft Corporation as a lead sponsor. As a baritone and conductor, Angel frequently performs with professional choirs, symphonies, recording studios, and churches in San Diego and Los Angeles.

Connect with Angel via LinkedIn.

Follow Angel on Instagram.

5 Ways To Improve American Opera's Image, Perception and Reception

Duncan Holzhall’s “Voices of Tomorrow’s Songs” showcases frank business of opera interviews conducted during the pandemic. Published in August 2020 and now available via Amazon. Photos: Duncan Holzhall

(Santa Fe, NM) - Opera Innovation asks our followers to “DM collabs” via Instagram and we’re excited that that’s beginning to happen with more regularity. One of the most succinct and compelling pitches thus far came from Duncan Holzhall, creative leader, writer, performing arts producer and New Voices Opera Artistic Director. Duncan’s beautifully researched piece draws from his new book “Voices of Tomorrow’s Songs,” discussing, from the young professional’s point of view, five (5) ways American opera can begin to improve its standing, optics and real-world business success in our right here, right now reality. JM 

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By Duncan Holzhall

 In April of this year, everything was up in the air. The world premiere of an opera I was helping produce was postponed for an entire year along with a switch in artistic direction. The two summer academies that I was planning on helping administer were hoping that the situation would improve before ultimately being cancelled for the year. And with my university’s switch to online-only instruction, all choir and opera-related activities were shut down for the rest of the academic year. In the span of two weeks, my peers, colleagues and I had our occupation and training stripped from us. We felt disoriented and helpless.

But the experiences that were divested from us were replaced with time: time for reflection, and time for observation. Even given my relative youth, it was not difficult to see that the opera industry began undergoing a seismic shift during the pandemic. From playing decades of catch-up in the technology realm to reckoning with structural inequalities in the field, the opera industry’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was on full display for all to see. Wanting to understand how this situation would shape our future, I spent the summer interviewing friends, colleagues, and mentors, trying to gauge their attitudes toward the opera industry. The project culminated in a book, Voices of Tomorrows Songs, a vision statement for the future of American opera. The young people interviewed for this project have highlighted many of the qualities that make opera an inspiring and engaging art form. Equally as present, though, are areas for the field to improve upon. All told, many of these criticisms can fall under the umbrella of one primary issue: Opera in America has an image problem.

The public perception of opera as an "esoteric" and "elitist" art form has crippled the industry's ability to gain traction among a broader audience. Luckily, the professionals I interviewed provided companies with a starting point. The following are five (5) tangible goals for the opera industry, which align with the values of the generation that’s preparing to inherit the art form:

• PROGRAM WORKS WITH MODERN, RELEVANT STORYLINES

Opera has displayed a certain pattern of modernity: Le Nozze di Figaro took place in modern day when it was premiered in 1786, Madama Butterfly took place in modern day when it was premiered in 1904, and Ariadne auf Naxos took place in modern day when it ran in 1912. The issue remains, however, that when these popular works are programmed season after season, they might begin to gradually fall out of relevance as the world these operas depicts falls further and further into the past. And while a popular solution might be to place these canonical operas in modern garb, it doesn't change the fact that the problems and values highlighted in these stories may not translate to modern audiences. Some contemporary operas that successfully reflect issues society is concerned about today include Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale, and Ellen Reid's p r i s m.

• INCREASE REPRESENTATION, ON STAGE AND IN STORIES

For a majority of opera's history, stories have revolved around white aristocratic themes and characters: Le Nozze di Figaro takes place within the estate of Count Almaviva, Ariadne auf Naxos occurs in the house of the richest man in Vienna, and La Traviata surrounds a wealthy family marrying a wealthy courtesan. Having fair and accurate representations of non-white stories and characters is crucial to repairing the aristocratic image that opera has in America today. Examples that eschew exoticism in favor of sincerity and humanity include Gregory Spears' Fellow Travelers, Jeanine Tesori's Blue, and Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas.

Duncan Holzhall, Mya Lucille King and Karli Forte at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (September 27. 2020). Photo: Duncan Holzhall on Instagram.

• PROGRAM OPERAS WITH ACCESSIBLE MUSICAL LANGUAGES TO STIMULATE GROWTH

Many potential new opera audience members are intimidated by the perceived “sophistication” of classical music. Understanding that, composing operas that incorporate genres of music such as electronic, gospel, or jazz can bridge a gap between new audience members and the operatic canon, making the art form more accessible to a wider range of people in this country. Exceptional examples of this include Mason Bates' The (R)Evolution of Steve Jobs, Terence Blanchard's Champion, Julien Bilodeau and Roger Waters' Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera, and Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar.

• INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY AND UTILIZE EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Opera audiences in the United States tend to be older, wealthier, and disproportionately white - demographics which are reflective neither of culture consumers nor the country at large. There are several causes to which this can be attributed, including esoteric sentiments, poor arts/language education, and institutions perpetuating a "traditional" canon. To increase access to opera in America, there are several solutions:

1. Invest in smaller companies that cater to the cultural desires of the communities they serve. Smaller companies provide young artists and producers opportunities to hone their craft, combat homogeneity through independent programming and spur meaningful economic activity within the immediate area of the theater. 

2. Put opera productions on popular streaming services. By meeting audiences where they currently consume media, there’s a higher chance that viewers will matriculate into seats at live performances, and more people might discover that they have an affinity for opera. 

3. Deviate from the traditional method of presentation. There is no requirement that opera be presented in a proscenium theater. Using unconventional spaces (such as a presentation of Faust in a library) can increase new audience engagement, or perhaps an anime-influenced film adaptation (anime fans have demonstrated that subtitles are not a substantial barrier to entry).

• REMOVE THE HIGH-BROW SENTIMENT

While the above will help draw more people to the theater, potentially for the first time, this recommendation aims to keep new opera patrons returning. While there are intra-audience interactions that cannot be fixed, there are steps that companies can take to create a more hospitable environment for new audience members. First, providing social opportunities that serve to enrich the artistic experience of the opera will maintain the interest of audiences better than a purely educational opportunity (i.e. the traditional pre-show lecture). Secondly, the perception of “The Diva” is hurtful to the sustenance of the art form. New audiences are already intimidated by opera for many reasons, and creating an air of aloofness does nothing to help potential patrons. Whether inviting friends to the opera, having a robust and diverse social media presence, or engaging on- and off-line with newcomers and experts alike, the process of creating a welcoming aura around performing artists removes a barrier for new opera audiences and helps foster more inclusive environments at the theater. Many of the artists that professionals in my generation admire (Lisette Oropesa, Jamie Barton, and Lucas Meachem, to name but a few) have gained as much admiration for their authentic online persona as for their talent.

The above is a sample of the vision that many young people hold for opera over the next twenty years. Criticisms of the industry do not stem from hatred, but from love. Based upon the sentiments expressed in my Tomorrow’s Voices interviews, if young people truly did not care about opera, they wouldn’t bother providing suggestions on how to approach and improve the practice of our art form. To the young people who are interested in opera, please continue making your voice heard. Fill out those pesky audience surveys and tell companies that these are the changes you want to see. Donate to opera companies that you see as fulfilling this vision. And definitely support companies that are making good faith efforts to integrate opera into everyday American culture. Everything is up in the air at the moment, for all of us, so let’s use this time to restructure the foundations of this business to ensure a healthier future.

Voices of Tomorrows Songs: A Vision Statement for American Opera According to its Next Generation of Leaders

By Holzhall, Mr. Duncan Patrick

Buy on Amazon

Duncan Holzhall has solidified a reputation as a creative leader, writer, and performing arts producer, with work spanning several genres of music and culture. Most prominently, he assumed the position of Artistic Director of New Voices Opera, a company devoted to the development of contemporary opera. He has also worked in a variety of other capacities within the performing arts industry, including as an Artistic Intern/Interim Supernumerary Captain at Cincinnati Opera and as Production Manager for Opera Lucca. He is based in Bloomington, IN.

Follow Duncan Holzhall on Instagram.

Stagetime Aims To Level Opera's Playing Field

Mobile and full-screen renderings for soprano Alexandra Smither’s Stagetime domain. Photo: Jennie Moser

(Santa Fe, NM) - In August, I came across an opera-singing friend on Instagram who was lauding a new platform called Stagetime, which she was proudly beta-testing prior to its public launch. Directed at opera singers, companies, agents and management firms, my initial assessment was a beautifully designed business ecosphere for opera industry individuals and entities (it’s actually more, but hold that thought). I also knew of Stagetime’s founder Jennie Moser and her graphic and website design achievements across opera. It took us a little while to connect, but when we did so last month, our chat was a delight. As hoped, Jennie was open to sharing her experience as the female founder of a VC-funded startup in the opera space. If contemplating your own startup or already on the entrepreneurial path, read on for insights and takeaways from an opera innovator forging her own path. JM

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By Jennie Moser

My year at the intersection of tech startups and classical music has been exciting and strange. When I looked around for other female founders in the art, technology, and venture capital space, my pool of peers was pretty much nonexistent, which meant that the frame of reference when I walked into a room to pitch lent me no support. No investor looks at me and thinks, “ah yes, we saw an excellent financial return last time we invested in a young woman with a background and market of classical music. This pitch is going to be great.” Don’t get me wrong — they don’t want me to fail either, but imagine giving someone your grocery list and then realizing that they don’t even know what a grocery store is. I have about 30 seconds to make sure that instead of an ill-informed tech wannabe with music degrees and subpar Excel skills, I come across as an articulate, multi-disciplinary professional whose diverse background makes my case stronger, not weaker. 

My case - the case for Stagetime - was not born on a white-board in an MBA classroom. It came through the repetition of helping artists and arts organizations become digital by building their websites (which I’ve now done 126 times), a process that takes me and my team around 100 hours and costs our clients thousands of dollars, while the rest of the world has long been connected via LinkedIn at a nominal cost.

When we place the burden of large-scale digital problem solving on individual artists and regional arts organizations, we set the financial barrier to entry damningly high. When we cut artists and the arts out of the conversation about technology and data, a disservice is done to everyone. 

Innovation is creative at its core, and I know that my tech and entrepreneurial colleagues would only benefit from having creative minds contributing to the future of the technology that is shaping reality before our eyes. Similarly, I see firsthand how my artist colleagues have more time to hone and distribute their craft when technology has the ability to make administrative tasks quicker and easier. Automation and digitization are not the enemy here — they free up invaluable resources, time, and labor, so that the arts can focus on, well, the arts.

When the arts are reliant upon manual, in-person processes to build bridges from the arts to the rest of the world, and vice versa, we create an insular vacuum. Our primary task is to find a digital home that shows us at our professional best as individuals, so that we can spend more of our time leveraging that technology to establish professional relationships that become symbiotically beneficial — first within our own industry, but ultimately, with the rest of the digital, professional world, which determines the technology and consumer-driven products that increasingly shape our global future.

So, how do creatives join the conversation?

“Siri, what is ‘venture capital?’”

“Alexa, what is 0.67% of 1.5 million?”

“Google, can you teach me how to sing?”

One of these questions is not like the other. In a world where data is queen, I felt alienated walking into meetings heavy on tech lexicon and MBA slang. I’ve watched the Khan Academy videos on venture capital a truly embarrassing number of times, I’ve had to text advisors at 11pm to ask how a pitch deck is different from a super fancy powerpoint presentation (spoiler alert: it’s not), and my social media confidence plummets when I realize I should share a recent pitch competition win on LinkedIn because, well, I don’t really know how to use LinkedIn.

If we’ve been on a Zoom call in the past year, you can pretty much guarantee my right hand was out of frame writing down words I’d need to look up later. “They didn’t teach us this in music school,” I say, followed by a smile. This happens more than I’d like, but it tends to remind people that I’m not ill-prepared or naive — I’m just hyper-trained in something totally different.

More importantly, all of those things I just mentioned are attainable via Google, textbook, calculator, or Khan Academy video. Numbers and jargon are automatable, replicable, search engine optimize-able. The way that I learned to sing isn’t. The creative side of my brain can’t be replaced by Google. 

Securing venture capital is tricky enough and my particular profile as a female classical musician made my job even harder. After our first meeting, one investor texted a mutual colleague “I think the opera girl might be onto something.” I had to find ways to go from “opera girl” to “potential colleague,” so I spent a lot of time figuring out how to equate our experiences (we can talk about the 'girl' part of this in another article).

The first few months of my path to investment were spent endlessly explaining the music industry and gig economy to people who were “familiar” with something called “the arts.” In this context, I’ll define “the arts” as the subconscious action of reducing creative-driven careers that don’t fit a typical corporate structure into a lump sum commodity containing vague job titles, zany creatives, big personalities, and bohemians waiting to be “discovered”. I maintain that if you go to music school to become mainstream famous, you should perhaps try another line of work.

“I remind the venture capitalists in the room that although I have degrees from the same institutions as they do, my career has never appeared in their LinkedIn feed. ”

Photo: FAYMOUS Studios / Fay Fox

My job was to become really good at painting a different picture for investors. My business pitch was mostly centered around my ability to provide context and draw parallels to the professional experiences of the investors in the room. “The arts” started to take the shape of opera and ballet companies with administrative and production staff. They had roles, titles, and pedigree just as structured as that of the investors in the room. It shifted from nameless singer/songwriters and piano lessons for their kids to a realization that, yes, there are indeed buildings where Chief Financial Officers and principal violinists do their work under the same roof, for the same organization. They were surprised to learn that a set designer was not a high school woodshop fanatic who jumped into the professional trade at 18, but someone with an MFA in Set Design from Yale.

That’s when the fun part starts. I remind the venture capitalists in the room that although I have degrees from the same institutions as they do, my career has never appeared in their LinkedIn feed. I remind them that although we’ve been discussing my pedigree and career for the better part of the hour, they still don’t know what I sound like - and how would they be able to glean that from my LinkedIn? Sure, I have a website, but how would they ever come across me in a professional context? They aren’t going home and stumbling across my website after some late night just-for-fun pre-professional opera singer Googling, I can promise you that. Pain points become apparent, and I go from “opera girl” to “colleague” with education and experience in an industry that is different than theirs, but that still has value.

www.stagetimearts.com

Our investments thus far have come from Elevate Ventures and the IU Angel Network who, once they had relatable insight into the arts industry, saw the value in investing in the arts via Stagetime. I win pitch competitions because Stagetime meets the requirements for technology, business model, market size, and financial projections, sure, but it’s also just...fun, and it looks good. The arts excite people. Whether it’s through their home city opera house or their favorite Netflix show, every one of my investors has a relationship to the product. Once they realize that, they start to feel an attachment to Stagetime, an emotional investment — and they like that. More than the capital, I’m excited that Stagetime has the resource of these investors’ experience in building viable, successful technology products. These are insights that are invaluable to the performing arts ecosystem, as the digital world is one where we have some undeniable catching up to do.

The best part about my job is that I don’t have to choose between the structure that makes a business successful and the subjective elements like attractive design and beautiful media — Stagetime is viable because both of those seemingly dichotomous things strengthen the product from opposite ends of the spectrum. I wouldn’t give up my music degrees or my financial models for anything. In fact, I’m really proud to have both sitting on my desk right now.

Learn more about Stagetime on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Visit stagetimearts.com