Central City in May: In like a Lamb, out like a Lion

Editor's Note: Here's our first blog post for the 2013 Festival from Public Relations/Marketing Assistant Tyler Hypnarowski. You'll be seeing lots of blogs from Tyler "on the hill" over the next few months. 

You know the old expression about the month of March: “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” In Central City, the month of May is just the opposite, and it has nothing to do with the weather. During the winter months, Central City is a relatively quiet town, although the casinos in town remain hopping. However, as May comes to an end, the dynamic of the old mining town changes a bit with the sudden influx of out-of-state license plates and a ton of new Wi-Fi accounts popping up in everyone’s network. That is not to say the city loses its small town charm or historic ambiance when the opera starts up, but it certainly gives it a new feel every summer.

The 14 interns are always the first to arrive in Central City, along with just a few other key staff members. This year, as in years past, we (the interns) spent the first week doing maintenance on and cleaning the organization’s properties, including company housing, Festival Hall, Williams Stables Theatre and even the Opera House itself. Couches were moved, windows were cleaned, floors were mopped, farmer tans were developed and team bonding flourished as we prepped for the arrival of the rest of the company artists and staff members.

The "O" Man helps Tyler Hypnarowski (Festival Staffer - Public Relations/Marketing Assistant) and Allison Taylor (House and Festival Services Manager) load furniture into the car from Williams Stables.

The "O" Man helps Jonathan Sanford (Festival Staffer - Assistant House Manager/Company Management Assistant) make key copies for all the historic properties.

Walking down Main Street in and out of the casinos and other local establishments has been like night and day from the time I arrived just over a week ago to the time I am writing this. There seems to be a bit more of a bustle now than there was during my first few days in Central. Sidewalks are more crowded, with company members eager to explore what will be their home for the summer. I have seen company members jogging up the Eureka Street hill, enjoying local brews at Dostal Alley, playing basketball behind Festival Hall, and packing the Foundry to get a head start on their rehearsals; all signs that Central City Opera’s 2013 Festival is soon to be under way!

The city is beginning to take on its summer look. The aforementioned surge of colorful and diverse license plates is one telltale sign, including tags from New York, Missouri, Virginia, Texas, and Minnesota, among others. Of course, Central City has always been a tourist hot spot, attracting travelers from all over to check out the mountain scenery and rich history. But there is no doubt that the Festival season brings in an additional element of visitors and part-time residents to the area.

A small sampling of the new license plates appearing around town

Now as the month of May turns to June with Main Street events and the Central City Opera Festival opening on June 29, hear the “lion” roar!

Spotlight on Figaro in THE BARBER OF SEVILLE with Baritone Daniel Belcher

You often sing the role of Figaro in The Barber of Seville, and other Rossini roles as well.  What are your favorite aspects of the role and Rossini’s music in general?

Figaro is like an old friend to me, particularly Rossini's Figaro.  The wit, the vocal pyrotechnics, the insane situations, are a complete blast.  Above all, there is one secret to making Figaro complete....that is making everything sound vocally and seem physically AT EASE.  Somehow, Figaro can always get out of situations.  The moment it looks hard, it undermines the character.  Everything must be a complete joy!!

You sing a wide variety of roles and concert repertoire, from world premieres of avant garde music to some of the earliest Baroque operas.  Do you enjoy singing any specific type of music over the others?  If so, please tell us what kind and why.  If not, please elaborate.

As much as I love the music of the great composers, Mozart, Rossini, Puccini, etc., it's being able to work with living, breathing composers and librettists that excited me the most.  During my training in Houston, I was able to sing in three world premieres.  That has only continued in my career.  We don't have the luxury of going to Mozart or Britten or Puccini and asking why they made a certain musical choice.  However, I can do that with John Adams or Kaija Saariaho or Tod Machover or any of the other composers I get to work with.  A wonderful situation came out of working with Ken Cazan in Central City two years ago.  We are longtime friends, but reconnected on Gianni Schicchi and Les Mamelles de Tirésias.  Ken was approached by a young film composer wanting to write an opera about Oskar and Emily Schindler.  Ken invited me on board and we already have one presenter, the Gartnerplatz in Munich, that will perform the opera in a future season.  I am thrilled I get the opportunities to continue to create music.  Hopefully, the work I do on new works is reflected in the classics.  My goal is always to bring a freshness and spontaneity to whatever I sing.  I hope the audience will find my Figaro just as fun!

Daniel Belcher as (above) the title role in Gianni Schicchi and (below) Le Mari in Les mamelles de Tirésias (both 2011)

Editor's Note: The above questions are just part of an interview with Daniel Belcher in the 2013 Opera Insider. This Festival resource guide will be available for download soon - stay tuned!

Opera, Orchestra and the Magic of Figaro:

A Remarkable 10-year-old Girl Takes the Stage

Upcoming Maestra Kaiya

This blog post was written by Maestro Tom Jensen of Inside the Orchestra

We see tens of thousands of kids each year with Inside the Orchestra, but at Iowa Elementary School in Aurora last Monday, one charming fifth grader named Kaiya stood out from all the rest.

Kaiya is not your ordinary 10-year-old. During our concert, she sang along with Chad Reagan, our baritone from Central City Opera. Kaiya knew the Italian lyrics from 'Largo al factotum' the "Figaro" aria we showcase at every program. She knew all the words, and the orchestra members took note!!! Later, when we were doing the guest conductor portion of the show, cellist Wayne Templeman literally jumped out of his seat telling me to call on this little girl who was conducting a three pattern with her body and soul! 

Central City Opera singer and Maestro Jensen

Needless to say, Kaiya was a brilliant conductor. I had to find out who this person was and where she found her passion for music at such a young age. As it turns out, Kaiya plays guitar. Her father is her instructor and she refers to him as a "master" guitarist. She loves chords and one of her favorite bands is Metallica (Really? A fifth grader who is in to a heavy metal band??) Kaiya started guitar at age seven, so she has been playing for three years. She practices one to two hours each day, owns three guitars - one of which is a Gibson, which I believe she favors. She discovered the opera aria from a TV show and watched it over and over memorizing the lyrics.

Kaiya loves all kinds of music and wants to learn the piano, clarinet and the tuba. Wow! The best part is that Kaiya wants to be a composer. I believe with the nurturing from her remarkable father and her Iowa Elementary music teacher, Ms. Peacock, she will achieve her goal.

For the third year, Central City Opera is partnering with Inside the Orchestra to introduce opera and orchestra to elementary school children across Colorado. Check out Central City Opera's calendar for Tiny Tots Inside the Orchestra (ages 6 and under) performance dates in January.

The Welsh Musical Tradition - Past & Present

 This blog post was written by Irene Rawlings of KBCO FM.

On a recent trip to Wales, I visited the poet Dylan Thomas' hometown of Swansea and stayed in his childhood home at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive (now an authentically restored B&B that also serves great dinners). I expressed an interest in the Welsh choral tradition and was invited to a rehearsal of the Swansea Male Choir, founded in 1946 to “further the art of music and support local charities.”

A member of the Swansea Male Choir

I was moved by the joy that the Swansea male-voice choir members took in their singing but I was not surprised. There is a rich musical tradition in Wales—especially the male-voice choirs—whose songs provide the vibrant soundtrack to everything from chapel to the rugby field to the boisterous late-night sing-alongs in the local pubs. 

Who are these men? They are miners, steelworkers, quarrymen, farmers and shopkeepers. Many of the current members were brought to the choir by their male relatives back in a simpler time when choirs were a big part of village life. Yes, there were a lot of gray heads and even a wheelchair or two, but there were also plenty of young men in leather jackets and slicked back undercuts (think Boardwalk Empire) which makes me think that the Welsh male-voice tradition has a strong future.

As I sat at the Swansea rehearsal and heard everything from hymns to show tunes, I thought of the Central City Opera House back home in Colorado, built by Welsh and Cornish miners in 1878. How they must have missed the camaraderie of the choral tradition in their home country. And what a lovely opera house they built for us to enjoy still today.

Central City Hard-Rock Miners in 1889

I took out my cell phone and recorded one of the songs to share with you. It is not the quality that I would have liked but I'm thinking it will give you a good idea. And they were sitting down. Think of the power they unleash when they stand up and raise their voices in a concert hall. 

[Editor's Note: You may want to jump ahead to 30 seconds in or so.]

--Irene Rawlings from Swansea, Wales

1930s Paris to the English Countryside in Under 3 Hours!

Last Saturday afternoon, the Central City Opera House stage featured Rodolfo and Marcello's brightly lit Parisian garret for a matinee of La Bohème. By 7:30 that same night, the stage was transformed into the dark Bly House setting for The Turn of the Screw. On days like this, our hardworking stagehands have only a few hours to make this transformation. They remove all of the set pieces, pull up the marley floor, change pieces hanging from the counterweight system, refocus lights, change gel colors, bring on new set pieces, and apply all of the finishing touches in time to reopen the house for the evening performance.

Check out this super-sped-up video of Saturday's changeover to see how it's done.

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists in the Spotlight

This Thursday afternoon (August 9 at 2:30pm), you can witness the splendid young artists of Central City Opera's 2012 Festival as they take the stage in the lead roles of La Bohème during our Nina Odescalchi Kelly Family Matinee. These hardworking and extremely talented artists, most of whom are in their college years, are usually seen in the chorus and in minor roles of our main stage operas. They also star in their own smaller productions like Short Works and The Face on the Barroom Floor, but on this date they get the chance to shine in the spotlight front and center.

Kaitlyn Costello starred in the Family Matinee performance of Carmen last year; this summer she made her main stage debut as Ado Annie in Oklahoma!

Earlier this year, the Opera Insider caught up with Marc Astafan, who has recently taken the reins as administrator of the Program.

Marc Astafan,  Administrator

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation

Artists Training Program

CCO:  You’ll be returning to Central City Opera this summer in a new capacity; Administrator of the Bonfils Stanton Artists Training Program.  You’ve been here many times as a Stage Director, and before that as an Assistant Director, working directly with young artists. The Training Program, as established by John Moriarty, is known as a rigorous preparation for young artists pursuing a career in opera, with required classes in diction, audition techniques and stage movement, and opportunities to perform full roles on the main stage as well as scenes and recitals.

As a Central City Opera veteran, what are your observations about the challenges and opportunities for young artists in this program?

MARC:  The challenges and opportunities faced by the young artists who participate in the Central City program are many, but the main one that comes to mind is: stamina. We work six days a week and nine hours a day (sometimes more!) for ten to twelve weeks straight over the summers in Central. Every part of the body, heart and mind will be called upon for these young singers to use. Not to mention the voice. They have classes every morning and rehearsals and/or coachings for the rest of the day, sometimes until ten or eleven at night. But year after year I've witnessed the fact that the more the singers put into the program, the more they gain. They will not only feel great, but perform better than they ever thought possible by the time they leave Central City in mid-August. When one is immersed in creativity for such an intense period all of the senses are at work. They might leave exhausted, but with a tremendous sense of accomplishment, knowing they've been a part of something extraordinary. They'll have personal and artistic growth that they never thought imaginable.

The full interview with Marc Astafan (as well as the Program's Principal Coach Michael Baitzer) is available in the 2012 Opera Insider (Festival Resource Guide - PDF). 

Tickets are still available for the Family Matinee performance this Thursday. You can also see these talented Young Artists during Lunch & A Song, Short Works, and in the chorus and secondary roles of the remaining La Bohème performances. All performances of Oklahoma! are sold out.

"Malo" in THE TURN OF THE SCREW

Composer Benjamin Britten

This year’s opera The Turn of the Screw doesn’t have the ever-popular songs that Oklahoma! does, or even the familiar musical moments of La Bohème, but composer Benjamin Britten did include very tuneful children’s songs in the opera.  One notable song that could have several meanings is Miles’ song “Malo.” This verse was originally a pneumonic device to help beginning Latin students remember the different meanings and conjugations of the word “malo:” 1) verb “malo” meaning “I wish;” 2) the noun “malus” meaning “apple tree” and “malum” meaning “apple;” and 3) the noun “malum” meaning “evil” – but his song seems to have dark undertones, especially because Britten set it to very melancholy music. 

Here is the text of the song:

    Malo: I would rather be

    Malo: in an apple tree

    Malo: than a naughty boy

    Malo: in adversity       

Click here to hear Thomas Parfitt as Miles sing this song at the 2011 Glyndebourne Festival.  Remember this song, because you’ll hear a variation of it at the end of the opera. 

Britten’s The Turn of the Screw may not be mainstream, but it certainly leaves an impression.  We hope that you will get even more out of your experience having learned a little more about the music.  Enjoy the show!     

The Turn of the Screw plays its final performance on Saturday, August 4 at 8pm. Hurry to see it before it disappears!

Want to know more? This blog post is part of the article What to Listen for in The Turn of the Screw, found in the 2012 Opera Insider (Festival Resource Guide - PDF). We also excerpted the section on The Turn of the Screw’s twelve-tone row in a previous blogpost.