Vadim Bulitko
Alley Oops turns opera’s rarified rep on its’ head
The phrase “back alley” usually conjures unsavoury images and probably not the same ones “opera” brings to mind. In fact it’s hard to imagine a more unlikely venue for the art form and that’s precisely why Edmonton’s Mercury Opera chose one in downtown Calgary as the location for Alley Oop an event that aims to return opera to its roots.
It’s the brainchild of Darcia Parada a trained opera singer who founded Mercury in Manhattan in 1999 and after a break early in the 2000s moved its base of operations to her hometown of Edmonton. The company has since staged operas (or selections from them) in a variety of unconventional locations there including an underground LRT station seeking to dispel common perceptions of opera as the preserve of the rich.
Several centuries ago says Parada opera was actually a popular form of entertainment. The rarefied reputation it enjoys today may not match the reality but as she acknowledges it still keeps many people away. It’s a lament echoed by local soprano Lauren Woods one of Alley Oop ’s four featured singers.
“Unfortunately there’s this stigma about opera that it’s inaccessible and just for the hoity-toity crowd” says Woods “but I think that’s unfortunate because all the stories deal with everyday emotions and people just like us. I think it’s unfortunate that people feel as though they can’t connect and I find that’s usually before they’ve given it a chance.”
So how do you get a wary public to take a chance on opera? In the case of Alley Oop it involves both a different setting one in which audience and performers are much closer together than usual and a different format a selection of operatic “chart toppers” by composers including Mozart Puccini and Saint-Saëns rather than a full-length production. The performance which will feature accompaniment by local string quartet Volante isn’t meant as a substitute for traditional opera but rather as an introduction to it.
“Basically what we’re doing is we’re taking these pieces of music that are very accessible very memorable people will hopefully leave humming them” says Parada “and then want to go and see the full-on opera.”
She adds: “I’m offering something that’s going to be hopefully a visual feast visual and aural feast that is more like an appetizer than a full-on buffet.”
Visual highlights will include dancing by SaFire a renowned Calgary circus and fire performer and costumes by Edmonton designer Natasha Lazarovic which are better suited to a runway than an alley. But if they look out of place Parada says that’s deliberate.
“They’re pretty arresting visually and the contrast between those and the environment there’s quite a juxtaposition. And then when you have the beauty of the music it’s sort of like ‘wow what is this?’”
For Parada “this” is something that happens all too rarely in Calgary: people taking an interest not just in opera but in the downtown as well. They may steer clear of its alleys in the evenings but it’s not because they’re flocking to the streets most of which aren’t exactly bustling once the sun goes down. By partnering with several downtown restaurants to offer samples of food and drink before the performance Parada hopes to whet attendee appetites not just for opera but for the location as well.
“In the case of downtown Calgary from what I’ve been told people come into the downtown area to work but they don’t really stay to play. They have to have an excuse to come down and what we’re also trying to promote is that the centre of a city should be vibrant at all times.”
Tickets for Alley Oop can be purchased through www.mercuryopera.com
