Reclaiming our Artform

I am in the midst of rehearsals for a wonderful production of The Barber of Seville with the North Shore Music Festival in Port Washington, NY (about 30 minutes outside of the city). The company is fairly new and was started by baritone and Executive Director Daniel Klein who wanted to create an opera company that offers opportunities to up-and-coming singers, fulfilled a need for professional classical music on the North Shore of Long Island and could collaborate with local agencies to present a host of events. After a particularly active rehearsal a group of us went out for drinks to decompress (oddly the way it seems that singers decompress is to talk about singing!) Of course the topic of opera companies struggling came up and one of my colleagues talked about how singers need to reclaim our artform in order for it to survive.

Many of my friends are exceptionally talented singers who have reinvented themselves and not only rely on the “opera world” to give them performing opportunities. The funny thing is that the more control the artists seem to take of their own careers, the more it seems that opera companies take them seriously. Two friends of mine, soprano Adrienne Danrich and baritone Adelmo Guidarelli have found a way to stay connected to their operatic roots by creating shows that not only showcase their talents as artists, but as creatives. By writing, producing and/or starring in their own shows, they have given themselves a way to find their niche in the crowded opera world while also finding a way to generate interest (and income) in opera in a new and fresh way.

Both artists have created shows that reflect their personal interests and tastes. Adrienne’s shows This Little Light of Mine: The Stories of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price and An Evening in the Harlem Renaissance are inventive one-woman shows that highlight history and serve as musical tributes to two great operatic legends as well as the writers and performers of the Harlem Renaissance that forged the way for many African American artists today. Using a combination of live performance, power point, recordings and some original music, she has created a genre called a “living documentary.” Both shows have been successful and it seems that by focusing on doing what she loves, Adrienne has found a way to interest opera companies in not only her talent, but her intellect.

On the opposite performance spectrum is baritone Adelmo Guidarelli’s Operation Opera. The show is an edgy, hilarious and fast-paced glimpse into the world of opera. Aiming to entertain and educate, the program has been a hit with school-age children, families, adults as well as opera lovers and those new to opera. Performances have been seen at the Edinburgh Festival in the UK, Symphony Space in NYC, Off-Broadway and part of Ryan Seacrest’s reality show “Bank of Hollywood.” Playing with the traditional and the unexpected, Operation Opera is a fun way to introduce people to opera while also giving those who know opera a chance to laugh at it though Adlemo’s wit and talent.

There are multiple artists performing their own shows throughout the country ranging from recitals with a twist, cabarets, educational programs and full-scale productions. As larger companies continue to go through economic upheaval and have to restructure, many artists are seeing this as an opportunity to create, reinvent and bring opera back to an intimate scale where the performer is the focus and the audience gets to be up-close and personal with the singer. For every story we read about opera companies diminishing, there should be stories about opera companies (small-scale for the moment) popping up looking to fill the gap left behind. By creating our own works, we thus ensure our artform, the one we have invested so much time and energy into, will continue to evolve and thrive. Go forth and create!

Peace,

Eric