Big talent hits the Jubilee
Every time he welcomes audiences to Calgary Opera productions director and CEO Bob McPhee refers to the nationally recognized company as “your Calgary Opera.”
“It is not my opera it is this community’s opera. I want them to think of it as their opera and feel somehow connected and proud of what we have accomplished and I want them to be aware that we are successful because they were there” says McPhee an arts administrator who began his career as a singer.
“What we do here might not work in other places. Because this city is new innovative and young it is right to do new things take risks. We don’t program to impress other markets or opera aficionados. We program because we think it is right for Calgarians” he says.
Every January as part of his creative programming McPhee takes a risk with an opera that moves beyond a more traditional repertoire. Two commissioned operas — Filumena and Frobisher — have thrilled Calgary audiences and brought international attention to the company. Canadian debuts of other operas — most recently last season’s Baby Doe — or new productions of more commonly performed operas have garnered strong support in Calgary and beyond. McPhee’s policy of hiring Canadian talent first has enhanced rather than hampered the quality of productions and audience appeal.
This month Ariadne auf Naxos the rarely heard work in German by Richard Strauss is slated for the much-anticipated January spot. The character Ariadne is performed by Canadian soprano Wendy Nielsen who is making her debut in the role and partnering with one of the opera world’s leading tenors Canadian Richard Margison as Bacchus.
The prologue shows us the private motivations of two groups of performers who are preparing to entertain the richest man in Verona. Each group the commedia dell’arte comedians and the serious opera group both want to perform first. They are commanded to perform at the same time however and to finish by 9 p.m. What we end up with is comparable to having performers from Saturday Night Live loose on the stage with internationally acclaimed opera singers performing Ariadne auf Naxos in the second half.
Strauss wrote Ariadne in 1912 for inclusion in a Molière play about the classic Greek legend. Ariadne was the daughter of Minos King of Crete and she helped Theseus overcome the Minotaur. Theseus then abandoned her on the isle of Naxos — thus the name of the opera. The story of the opera was expanded to stand on its own in performance in 1916 and has become a standard in European opera repertoire ever since.
Internationally acclaimed Canadian coloratura soprano and voice teacher Tracy Dahl who stepped into the lead in Baby Doe to replace her ailing friend Valdine Anderson is slated to play Zerbinetta in Ariadne . “What companies like Calgary Opera offer an artist like me is a chance to do debuts” she says. “If I do a debut in Calgary people know. It’s like a home company for me.”
“Calgary Opera does good work and because they do singers like me and Richard [Margison] come back. And singers like Wendy [Nielsen] and Stacey [Rishoi] who are making debuts in new roles look for a place that they know is going to give them good quality. You want a safe but really healthy place to be and I think that is why we all like to work at Calgary Opera” she says enthusiastically.
“I’m very thrilled that the company decided [ Ariadne ] was worthy of their January slot. It is Strauss. It is exquisite. I think it is to their credit that they have decided that this period in their calendar is reserved for something unique.”
