Twin Tyrants and Frail Beauty: Life after Alcina

November 6, 2007 - Well friends, it's over. Alcina closed to a packed house of enthusiastic patrons on Saturday, and now many of us are experiencing the inevitable post-production blues. Towards the end of Act II, Ruggiero sings a reflective aria on the ephemeral nature of Alcina's beautiful island. "Verdant meadows, charming forests, your frail beauty shall soon die." As I listened to that aria for the last time on Saturday night, it struck me that people who work in theatre really experience the elegiac emotion of this aria at the end of every show. After all the hard work preparing for opening night and the joy of performing the show (a joy that is often very brief in the opera world with its average runs of 4 or 6 performances), suddenly one is presented with a sea-change that is truly astounding. In a matter of hours, chairs are stacked and concessions tables broken down; where a curvilinear psychodelic set once stood there is now a pile of lumber, torn paper, and discarded gels. The singers who so recently stood on this stage singing some of the most brilliant and powerful music ever written for the stage are on to other projects, often in very distant parts of the world. Theatre is indeed a frail beauty.

On the other hand, we have the charge to keep creating this ephemeral beauty because the legacy of the performing arts demands it. Handel's notes and his unknown librettist's words are merely an inanimate, historical document until someone performs them. We feel the great artists of history calling us from the page to make them live again eventhough we know that we can only animate their creation for a brief and irreproduceable period of time. And that's why I include the words "twin tyrants" from Bradamante's Act I aria in the title of this post. Performing artists are constantly being pulled between the tangible, permanent legacy of the past and the inherent transience of making that legacy live and communicate to our audiences.

Alright, that's enough philosophy for one post. Luckily, the tension between the abovementioned "tyrants" is also the cure for the malady. It's what drives most of us on to the next project. And I'm fortunate that I have another project looming on the horizon, namely "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?", our holiday cabaret on December 14th at 8pm. Featuring some favorite OV artists, Joy Greene, Jennifer Blades, Frederic Rey, and Will Heim, singing holiday selections from classic to cutting-edge the show will also have holiday goodies to eat and festive beverages for purchase. To reserve seats call the box office at 410.547.7997. Hope to see you there.

John Bowen

Life on Alcina's Island

November 1, 2007 - Hello all. I'm back. Not that I ever really left, but at the moment I finally have my head enough above water to post again. So here we are on the verge of the second weekend of performances of Alcina, and I must say it feels really good. The show opened to very enthusiastic crowds and garnered very positive reviews from Tim Smith at the Baltimore Sun as well as Michael Lodico at Ionarts.org. The cast feels good about what they've accomplished, and I feel proud of what I've produced. There are still a few tickets left for this evening and Saturday so I encourage you to get a ticket and not miss out on this chance to see a rarely performed work in a really good production. And just to entice you further, here are some images from the show. Pretty groovy, eh? See you at the opera - John Bowen

Putting It Together

October 5, 2007 - One of my favorite Sondheim musicals is Sunday in the Park with George (okay, I love the first act, the second act still seems a bit preachy and heavy-handed to me). And the line "Art isn't easy. The art of making art is putting it together", has been much on my mind this week. As we approach the absolute print deadline for the program, the beginning of the most intensive period of rehearsal for Alcina, the period of crystallization and realization for Tobias and the Angel, as well as make decisions for marketing campaigns and gala hosting (BTW - It's going to be on May 17, 2008 NOT May 10, 2008 but more of that in a later post), I am once again reminded how much of this crazy, wonderful genre is created by the amazing, sometimes chaotic, sometimes miraculous, but always interesting collision of the hearts, minds, and skills of a whole slew of creative individuals. Being the General Director is not so much like herding cats (which while adorable are not particularly brilliant or creative, regardless of what they might say to the contrary) but more like herding gifted and talented teenagers (passionate, creative, interesting, but also unpredictable, erratic, and occasionally unreliable). As any parent of teenagers can tell you, this can drive you to a drinking habit rivaling that of Lindsay Lohan, but I must say, this week as I view our beautiful, vibrant program, or talk with my fantastic designers for Alcina (who all talked me down off the ledge today), or look forward to delving into Handel's masterpiece with a top-notch cast of singing-actors, and yes, even when I'm reviewing press deadlines et al, I'm once again filled with tremendous pride for the people who make OV possible and with awe for this astonishing artform which brings us all together to lift life out of the ordinary, even if it's just for a few hours. Thank you all. It is a privilege to be your colleague.

See you at the opera - John Bowen

Time

October 2, 2007 - Well, well, well, time certainly does fly when you're doing a dozen different things simultaneously. So as you've probably figured out, in spite of my stated good intentions of posting more frequent, but shorter blogs, more than a week has elapsed since my last one. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men. So, here's a quick update on where everything is right now.

The piano/vocal scores of Orpheus in the Underworld have been completed and most of the singers have either picked them up or sent instructions where to send them. Can't for the life of me figure out what's going on with the ones that haven't responded in any way, shape, or form, STILL, but haven't had time to really worry about them. As Scarlett O'Hara once said, "I'll that about that tomorrow, after all, tomorrow is another day".

Everything is pretty much on schedule for the frame of the Alcina set to be loaded in this coming Saturday. Many thanks in advance to the volunteers who are generously giving of their time to help "tote that barge and lift that bale" (oh sorry, that's another show).

Audition packets continue to come in, although the spate of perfectly completed packets that followed on the heals of my audition post seems to have come to an end. Note to prospective auditioners: Please take the time to read the listing completely and to make sure that your packet is complete.

I took a brief jaunt to New Hampshire last week to meet the production team at Granite State Opera where I will be directing Cosi fan tutte next May. They are a great group of people, and I had a very enjoyable and productive time.

Time has been running out for ads and other items to make it into our season program, and so much of my week has been spent chasing down facts, personnel, ad copy, etc. As you can probably guess, not my favorite activity to be engaged in the week before the deluge which is the Alcina rehearsal schedule begins. But it has to be done, and I must say that our program looks absolutely fantastic. Kudos to graphic designer par excellence Dave Cooper.

The board has had a great deal of difficulty picking a date and time for our big celebratory fundraiser gala bashapalooza, but it looks like May 10, 2008 will be the date. Center Stage is having theirs the same night but hey, I think there's enough party spirit to support two parties in Baltimore on the same night. Call me crazy.

Let's see, there must be more otherwise I'm in a quandry as to why the past ten days seems to be just one big blur. Oh yes, I've begun preliminary design/concept discussions for The Pirates of Penzance that I'm directing at Opera AACC, trained a wonderful office temp named Emily Tobias, run an OV board meeting while simultaneously supervising an Alcina chorus rehearsal, and have been getting up around 6:30am every other morning to give my garden a good watering during this dry time of year. You're welcome, chrysanthemums.

Time for bed. If you have time, I hope to see you at the opera, and I hope you have the time of your life. - John Bowen

PS. I'm still looking for a stage manager who has the time to run Alcina. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact me.

Multi-tasking or Why I Really, Really Want a Clone

September 18, 2007 - Okay kids, this is going to have to be a quick one, because as you can probably tell from the title, I'M SWAMPED! But hopefully a quickie will be sufficient to let all you wonderful people out there in the blogosphere know that we are, in fact, not moribund. Indeed, I was recently told by an avid blogger that, while she found the content of my posts quite interesting, they were a little on the long side for blogs. So. . .here goes! A brief synopsis of the several balls that I'm currently keeping in the air.

Ball #1 - Orpheus translation. All musical numbers are now translated and transcribed into the PV (that's short for Piano/Vocal) scores. I have also complete all the Act I dialogue translation. Goal: Have this all done and to the printer by the end of this week.

Ball #2 - Ongoing managing of the production crew for Alcina. This seems to be going well for the most part, although the set designer has gone a bit incommunicado. I think she may have had a baby, since the last time I saw her, she was literally "great with child". Hmmm, should I be good or bad impresario? Anyway, construction has begun on the set, fabric for costumes is being shopped for, lighting plots have been drawn, and I'm working on my list of props to acquire, so I guess I can let the set designer be for a while. 'Cuz that's just the sort of guy I am.

Ball #3 - Planning a trip to New Hampshire to visit the venues of Granite State Opera, where I will be directing Così fan tutte in May 2008. I'll also be meeting the production staff there for the first time. Good thing for me, my partner works in the travel industry.

Ball #4 - Performing I puritani with Washington Concert Opera. As some of you know, I occasionally get on the other side of the footlights (though in truth it's becoming evermore infrequent with every passing year). So some of the abovementioned balls have been in the air on I95 South this week.

Ball #5 - Discussing/crystallizing design ideas for my January production of Pirates of Penzance at Opera AACC. I'm thinking of going with a "theme park ride" idea. Pirate King as the seasoned, "seen-it-all" theme park entertainer, Frederick as the naive, fresh-faced, "I'm gonna be a star someday" kid, well you get the idea.

Ball #6 - Making housing and travel arrangements for some of the artists involved with Tobias and the Angel. I've secured a beautiful room at the 4 East Madison Inn for David Walker. I think it's a fitting accomodation for an artist of his high-caliber. Thanks Sandy!

Ball #7 - Getting the final bits of information to the graphic designer for our program book. This is much like moving. You never realize how much stuff you have until you try to give it to someone else.

Okay, so let's see. I think that accounts for all my balls. Must dash! Love you all and see you at the opera!

John Bowen

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

September 8, 2007 - Okay, so first off, I didn't really have a summer vacation. Unlike when I was the child of not one, but two educators, summer was indeed a blissful, unscheduled sequence of days. Even when I did my brief stint in the special kind of hell known as a "9 to 5" job, there was still the sense of vacation being a set aside (and predictable) period of time that one was guaranteed by contract. If you had cleared it with your boss or supervisor it didn't matter what happened during the agreed upon time of your vacation, you were not expected to fix it. Ah, who would have thought that one day I would be nostalgic for a "9 to 5" job? I'm not really all that nostalgic for it, but the one element that increasingly gets lost in the life of people involved in the arts (particularly those involved in any kind of executive capacity) is the idea that you can actually a) take the attitude that no matter what happens during your vacation, you're off the hook or b) find a time in which your organization is actually not in any way in need of you. So, during this time of "back to school" which was almost genetically ingrained in me by those two aformentioned educators, I'm often left wondering where the summer went and if it actually has any impact on me any more. I think that most artist reach a point in their lives where they realize that our basic modus operandi is "We work when there's work". And we all hope that there will always be work, and consistent work at that, or otherwise we wouldn't be able to actually support ourselves as artists. And don't even get me started on the idea of retirement. That will be fodder for a later blog, a much, much later blog.

But enough of these philosophical musings. I'm sure you're all just on the edge of your seats wondering what's been happening here at Opera Vivente since the last post. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but if you're reading this, you're probably at least mildly curious. So. . .here's the scoop:

Design work for Alcina is virtually complete at this point. The carpenter has been given his first installment so that he can begin work on the set, the costume designer is in the process of getting measurements for everyone, the lighting designer is pondering options for creating light boxes (BTW as a sidebar you might be interested to know that a big part of being a lighting designer is sitting observing the wonderful world of light. I know a fantastic husband and husband team of lighting and set designer, and the set designer has often remarked that it appears his partner is not working at all until production week. But I digress), and I'm working my thoughts about blocking out in evermore detail. The conductor has already had individual coachings with several of the singers, and the chorus will have its first rehearsal on Monday. Speaking of the chorus, we're still in need of one more soprano, so if you're a soprano reading this and you're interested, send me an email.

The first production meeting for Tobias and the Angel has also taken place. This piece continues to challenge us all to think outside the box so be prepared for many things which you may not have seen at OV before: puppetry, abstract choreography, surreal lighting, self-illuminating fabric, well the list goes on. But more on that in ensuing months.

AND - here's my own personal point of pride at the moment - this morning I finished translating the last musical number of Orpheus in the Underworld. WOOHOO! Now to whip through the dialogue, a task so much easier since dialogue doesn't have a rhyme scheme, a meter, or any of those other annoying things mentioned in my previous post about translation. So things look good for the October 1st deadline that was put in all the singers' contracts.

Finally, singers continue to send in their materials to be considered for an audition. Since my blog about that whole ball of wax, the packets have been complete and professionally appropriate. Behold, the power of the blog! Just kidding, it might just be complete coincidence, but whatever the cause, it's very nice.

So that's about it on the OV front. I hope that all of you are transitioning into the "back to school" mode with a minimum of melancholy and regret. Perhaps a trip to the local 5 and dime (now there's a phrase that certainly dates me) to buy a new notebook, some colored pencils, a fresh tub of paste and a protractor will take the edge off. It always worked for me, but then again, I was kind of a "learning geek". Anyway, I hope this post finds everyone reading it engaged in something energizing, empowering, and enjoyable, and, as always, See you at the opera!

John Bowen

Life after Little Patuxent Opera Institute

Thursday, August 2, 2007 - Well this past weekend marked the final performances of the maiden voyage of the Little Patuxent Opera Institute. I have to say that every single one of the participants not only rose to the occasion but exceeded expectations. In the context of what is essentially an academic program, the most important thing is that everyone make progress towards becoming a better singing actor. It's not that everyone gets to a completely polished, ready for the real world ratrace of auditions and callbacks, etc, but rather that each person (no matter how inexperienced they were at the beginning of the process) has gained skills, learned things about themselves, unlocked inhibitions, increased confidence, and progressed towards their goal of becoming professional singers. All the students of LPOI experienced this growth, and I'm very happy and grateful to have been a part of the that growth. I look forward to working with next year's crop of students.

On the OV front, we have now opened sales on individual tickets (as opposed to just season subscriptions), set the dates for the autumn round of auditions for the 2008-09 season, and have begun the first parts of our marketing campaign for our 10th season by securing ad space in the Fall Arts Guide of the Baltimore Sun, the inaugural issue of Opera America's new magazine, and by entering our season into various datelines and databases including the Peabody Magazine, and Operabase.com. In conjunction with this marketing campaign, we've been very fortunate to have secured a Marketing Consultant through the Baltimore Community Foundation in order to maximize the long-range impact of this very significant season in our history. The board and I are very excited about implementing the suggestions of this expert.

The designers for Alcina are hard at work crystallizing and finalizing the initial sketches that they brought to our design meeting a few weeks ago. The schematics for the set will go to the carpenter (Fisher Theatrical) at the end of this week for pricing estimates and hopefully will not require much revision so that construction can begin in plenty of time for our October 6, 2007 load-in date. More on that as details become available.

That's about it for now. I encourage all you opera lovers to get your tickets for Alcina, and all you singers to send in your materials for auditions. It's a very exciting time for Opera Vivente, and we want to share that excitement with as many people as possible. So spread the word and as always - See you at the opera!

John Bowen

Life after Artscape

Tuesday, July 24, 2007 - Well friends, Artscape has come and gone and what a fantastic experience it was! Opera Vivente's production of Trouble in Tahiti played to two very enthusiastic audiences on Sunday. The cast outdid itself, moving the audiences to respond with vociferous applause. Many patrons had not heard of Opera Vivente before but were so impressed by our work that they plan on becoming subscribers to our regular season. The staff at MICA were great and expressed their hope that we would be back AND Randy Vega of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts was very impressed as well, so hopefully this will be only the first of many visits to Artscape.

This week, I'm embroiled in crunch time for the Little Patuxent Opera Institute which will present its program of operatic scenes and arias this Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30. This intrepid band of (mostly) amateur singers is looking a little shell-shocked at the momen, but everyone is working very hard, so I have high hopes that they will all find reserves of energy that they didn't know they had. It's good for them to experience the intensity of a "production week". Like the old adage says: That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

At Opera Vivente, the design elements of Alcina are crystallizing. The production meeting last week was very exciting. Milagros Ponce de Leon has come up with a set design that blends the vibrant patterns of Op-Art with an ever-changing translucent skyscape that lighting designer A. J. Guban is chomping at the bit to fill with the psychedelic colors of the 1960s; you know - tangerine, lemon, chartreuse. Costume designer Debra Sivigny is working with a visual metaphor of sheer fabrics in vibrant colors to characterize the fluid, ephemeral, sensuous world of Alcina's island dwelling love-slaves. All in all, Alcina promises to be one "groovy trip". Put on your bell-bottoms and fringe vests, hop aboard your own personal "yellow submarine" and "drop out, tune in, turn on" at the opera.

With Alcina well in hand, I've been able to turn my attention to the next show in the season: Tobias and the Angel. This North American premier is, to quote Posh Beckham, "major". Incandescently beautiful music, incredibly moving story, and featuring the incomparable counter-tenor David Walker as the Angel, this opera incorporates singers (both professional and amateur, adult and children), dancers, instrumentalists, and audience members into an extraordinary communal experience. This is the largest thing attempted by Opera Vivente to date; consequently I alternate between extreme excitement and abject terror. Don't worry, the extreme excitement is increasingly replacing the abject terror. It will definitely be a noteworthy experience and will bring national (and possibly even international attention) to Opera Vivente, to Emmanuel Episcopal Church (the venue for the production), and to Baltimore's cultural scene. The composer of this fantastic piece, Jonathan Dove, will be in Baltimore for the final performance on Sunday, March 2, 2008 to speak about his music. Once again: "Major".

Well, that's it for now. I'm off to polish the Little Patuxent Opera Institute folks some more. I wish all our readers, patrons, and friends a relaxing, safe, and "cool" rest of July.

See you at the opera - John Bowen

The Inaugural Posting of Opera Vivente's Blog

Hello Opera Aficionados, Opera Virgins, those of you who are Opera Curious, and yes, even you poor misguided souls who would identify yourselves as Opera Haters. Welcome to the inaugural posting of the Opera Vivente Blog. When I was originally contemplating starting this blog, I had thought that I would start by giving a brief history of Opera Vivente. However, upon further consideration, I think new technology should be used to talk about new things. So the brief history is going into an expanded History Page on our website and the blog is going to be used to keep those of you who are interested abreast of what's going on right now at Opera Vivente. So let's dive right in. Oh, by the way, I'm John Bowen, the General Director of Opera Vivente.

At this point, our 2007-2008 season has been completely cast. Indeed casting was completed in early April. As is usually the case, however, the various and sundry pressures of life that affect us all also affect singers causing all sorts of changes in their personal lives, their professional lives, and their finances. Consequently, this time of year invariably finds me looking for replacements of singers who for one reason or another have had to withdrawal from one of our upcoming productions. The first week of July was occupied with two such recastings. I am pleased to say that I have succeeded in finding replacements and am keeping my fingers crossed that this will be the end of cast changes. Hope springs eternal, eh?

This week, I have been busy assembling the props, furniture, and costumes necessary for our upcoming production of Leonard Bernstein's jazz-infused short opera Trouble in Tahiti. Opera Vivente will be performing this short 20th century masterpiece at Baltimore's annual arts festival, Artscape. It's a rather sarcastic look at the American Dream through the eyes of a 1950s couple who are having trouble in their marriage. Since the budget from the city is, shall we say, modest, I'm totally thrilled that I've been able to find most of the requisite items for cheap or, even better, for free. However, I have to say, prop shopping continues to be one of my least favorite tasks. It's time consuming, and often involves days of driving from thrift store to thrift store in search of things like a vintage toaster, a psychiatrist's couch, a locker room bench, or a tiki cup (to name just a few of the items that I've recently been on the prowl for). Ah, how I dream of someday having the budget to hire a full-time props master or mistress! But I digress. Trouble in Tahiti is now basically totally planned and shopped for and ready for rehearsals next week. Since our rehearsal space is not air-conditioned, all I need to do now is pray to the weather gods for less sauna-like conditions.

Anyway, in addition to rehearsals for Trouble in Tahiti next week, I'll also be meeting with the design team for the show which opens our 2007-2008 season in October: George Frideric Handel's decadent baroque masterpiece, Alcina. This fantastic piece deals with the tension between a pleasure-driven utopian society that hides a violent, selfish underbelly and a harsh, duty-bound "reality". Consequently, I've chosen to set this 18th century opera in the psychodelic 1960s. I've met with the lighting designer, the costume designer, and set designer individually to give them my take on the piece. They've now all gone off and done research, sketches, etc. Next Wednesday, we all come back together for what I'm sure will be a very exciting brainstorming session by the end of which all the pieces have to add up to a coherent whole. Unlike prop shopping, these design meetings are one of the great joys of my life. The energy sparked by putting a group of creative people in a room together is incredible and almost always ends up with each of us expanding our perceptions beyond what we had imagined individually. This will probably be particularly the case working on an opera being set in a decade which was highly focused on mind-altering experiences.

In my spare time (he said with tongue slightly inserted in cheek), I'm also stage directing a scenes program for a new organization called The Little Patuxent Opera Institute, which is performing at Howard Community College at the end of July. Tonight will be the first staging rehearsal and I'm anxious to see how all these talented operatic newbies that I auditioned back in June with the voice faculty of HCC have risen to the challenge of the scenes we've given them. Although I mostly work with professional singers, I always find working with amateurs or beginners highly rewarding. Everything is new and exciting to them and their learning curve is often a wonder to behold. No jaded cynics or haughty divas in this crowd!

Well that's it for now. I'm off to rehearsal. But look for more behind the scenes info in the coming days. And if you have any questions about anything or would like to hear about anything in particular, let me know.

See you at the opera! - John Bowen