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“Enduring the Risk”: PMP’s Symposium on Contemporary Opera and Musical Theater by Peter Burwasser
Peter Burwasser is the classical music critic for the Philadelphia City Paper and a regular contributor to Fanfare magazine and Philadelphia Music Makers. As a freelance writer, he has also contributed articles and reviews to The Philadelphia Inquirer, WRTI Program Guide, and Carnegie Hall Playbill.
Producing opera is one of the most expensive and risky endeavors in all of the performing arts. It is a logical extension, then, that producing new opera is even riskier, perhaps bordering on madness. This was the concept lurking behind the shadows at a PMP symposium on contemporary opera and musical theater. Marc Scorca, the president of OPERA America, moderated a discussion with three arts managers from the trenches: Steven Osgood, artistic director of American Opera Projects; Diane Wondisford, producing director of the Music-Theatre Group; and Yuval Sharon, Vox Project director of New York City Opera. The audience represented a microcosm of the Philadelphia scene, including the directors of the Opera Company of Philadelphia and Center City Opera Theater—the two professional
companies—as well as educators and students from Settlement Music School, Curtis Institute of Music, Temple University, and University of the Arts. There were also small dance companies expressing interest in collaborative musical ventures. A number of attendees identified themselves simply as composers, including Jennifer Higdon, Dave Burrell, Tina Davidson, Richard Belcastro, and Jennifer Barker. As one audience member put it, producing new opera is “absolutely vital for the future of
the art form.” Scorca echoed the sentiment in his opening comments; he wants to make sure that programs include more work by living composers. The key has to be a careful balance of risk, artistry and management, or, perhaps to put it more realistically, “not managing the risk as much as enduring the risk.” Public financing has been crucial. The National Endowment for the Arts invested over $2 million in a program called Opera for the Eighties, and by the mid 1990s there were 15 to 20 new works a year appearing at companies across the country. That funding does not merely prime the pump for new productions, it sustains them; as soon as the dollar amounts decreased, so did the number of new productions. Public perception is an issue here. Scorca calls the distinction between commercial and non-commercial musical theater “a false dichotomy,” but sees hope in the maturing of the scene. That hope has been stoked by the patient, hard work of Diane Wondisford and the Music-Theatre Group, where she has toiled for 26 of the group’s 38 years. This is, as is typical, an artist-led institution. Their mission is encouraging new composers, writers, directors and designers to come together to make new work. It could be a musical, but most likely would be operatic. There has been a tone poem song cycle, and puppetry became an important element of the productions. “This is not just a place for one-offs. We look for repeated performances. We’ve been a launching pad for directors and composers.” Music-Theatre Group’s resume backs up this claim—past participants have included Tan Dun, Tommy Tune, Bill Irwin, and Julie Taymor. Music-Theatre Group is always active in shaping the piece. They are never given a work that is ready to go, and the whole process can take anywhere from a year and a half to seven years. Wondisford’s work ethic is rooted in her love for the medium, and her high aesthetic standards. “I can’t imagine producing something I didn’t have a strong personal attachment to.” American Opera Projects has a slightly different operating model. Steven Osgood views it more as a workshop and development company, with an emphasis on everyday nuts and bolts. “Sixty to seventy-five percent of our time is in the workshop phase, including public performances, but generally with no staging and with piano
accompaniment only.” Training has been a crucial element, such as master classes by soprano Laura Flanigan for young singers, or a series of workshops on how to write for the operatic voice. But there is also that remaining third of their energies that go to producing. They have ushered in 15 world premieres. Funding is also something that is mentored; it is “a continual challenge—the bulk of our funding is project oriented.” That funding also supports general operating expenses. Vox Project does not produce fully staged operas, but, as an outgrowth of the New York City Opera, presents new American works in concert versions. “This May will be the ninth year. We have featured 82 works, 35 of which have gone on to future life,” says Sharon. The vision of Vox is to be as inclusive and democratic as possible. “We actively try to get as many of our colleagues to come to these workshop readings and hear the works in three dimensions.” Sharon seems to echo the sentiments of his colleagues when he speaks of his desire to create “cultural diversity, but also a place that highlights aesthetic diversity. There is no one definition of what opera can be. We want to promote opera as an open art form that has no definitions anymore.” But nobody said that it would be easy.
Left to right: American Opera Projects’ Darkling, photo by Gerry Goodstein The Summer King, photo by Matthew Gray THIS IS THE RILL SPEAKING, photo by Matthew Gray
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