Jake and Flicka dish about opera

Earlier this week at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Jake Heggie, left (Dead Man Walking and The End of the Affair) and opera star Frederica "Flicka" von Stade braved tornado weather (hard to believe that now!) to discuss the future of opera in America. The two have, of course, collaborated since Jake was in the PR department for San Francisco Opera, and Flicka learned that, besides writing good PR, he was also a darn good songwriter, too.

Even though the session, moderated by Dean Doug Lowry, was mainly a mutual admiration society, the visitors did address some important issues in the opera world today -- such as whether opera and musical theater are in fact merging into one art form. Opera, it seems, is at a crossroads.

"It is still ultimately a European art form. I've been trying to find a way to bring musical theater elements into the opera world," said Jake. "Everyone is waiting for the next big idea, which may even include the pop and rock worlds."

He pointed out that, in most cities, opera attendance is down, so you have singing actors in the opera world who love musical theater, and musical theater stars who are breaking into opera, such as Audra McDonald.

Flicka: Composers like Heggie, Richard Danielpour (Margaret Garner) and John Adams (Doctor Atomic, Nixon in China and Death of Klinghoffer) write exceptionally well for the voice.

"From the singer’s perspective, what's especially exciting in the last two decades is that there are people who know how to write for the voice," she said.

And the topics they choose are "huge issues," she added. "It's heart to heart."

Opera fans should expect more of the above. In San Francisco, for instance, Doctor Atomic sold out more than any operas the company did this season.

Jake: "These are not merely 'CNN operas.' Our own American stories are of interest to people. You have to be aware of what’s in popular culture and what things are on our minds. Doctor Atomic is about much more than the atom bomb – it's the human story."

Then Flicka spoke candidly about her own background as a singer and musician, and about the collaborative art between muse and composer:

"We singers are always not the most confident lot. We are dealing with an instrument as big as a dime, hidden in the throat.

"I didn't know where middle C was when I started my career. Some of our greatest singers can’t read music. That renders singers vulnerable in the musician's world. To develop a relationship of trust is vital. ... It was clear to me that (Heggie) loves the human voice, and not everyone does."

Jake: "What the singers have to say is extremely important," he said. "We’re just writing ideas. If there's no one to champion it, it's just paper on a shelf."

Dead Man Walking, he said, "was an intimate story with huge forces at work. It wasn't about the death penalty. It was about the human struggle, life, death and redemption."

When he and Terrence McNally (who was, in fact scheduled but who canceled his appearance) collaborated on Dead Man Walking, McNally told him, "I'm not a poet – I'm writing a play. The music ultimately has to lead."

That said, Jake pointed out that "you can't make a good opera out of a bad libretto," mentioning the great collaboration of Mozart and da Ponte. "Luckily I was working with someone who loves opera and loves singers."

Is there a different hierarchy of singers, directors and composers today, than say, 100 years, or even 50 years ago?

Flicka: "Yes. Singers (then) were first and foremost, and the public came to see certain singers. For me, it was Callas, Tabaldi, Sutherland – I was maids to them all! It was a singer's world. The voice commanded the greatest respect and admiration. That has changed.

"Then it became a director's world – such as Ponelle's Marriage of Figaro. A great deal has been asked of singers theatrically that was never considered before. ... With all the competition today of movies and DVDs, the opera world wants believable characters. People see more than they hear.

"Now it's a composer's world. Even with the great voices of today, what draws people to the theater are the new works.

"It doesn't mean that singing is any less good. I grew up at the end of the Judy Garland era into the Streisand era. There is no one like that now. There's a saturation of entertainment now, and so much input, it's hard to tell where it's going."

On balancing career and family: "Personally, the greatest thing in my life is my children. It was disasters of kids being sick on opening night. ... Your time is divided. Marilyn Horne, my dear friend, told her daughter, 'You are the most important person in my life, but singing IS my life.' It's more powerful often than you'd like it to be."

As a mom, she said that exploring the role of the convict's mother in Dead Man Walking was "very upsetting, personally, and revealing, and a very large experience. She was a woman who's experienced such sorrow and disappointment."

When pressed by Dean Lowry on what vocal students should aim for, she said,"Solid vocal technique and the classical training is the essence, whether it's pop or classical."

But vocal technique, she added, is "an inexact science."

As for Anne Midgette's story in last Sunday’s New York Times on the inability to train big voices today – Flicka revealed that she had wrapped some dishes in the article.

"That's my take on it," she declared. She believes there are many fine "big" singers today, who waited for the right moment and protected their voices, singers like Jill Grove and Christine Brewer.

"It's the times. The world is louder. The orchestra is playing very loudly, and when you are surrounded, the impulse is to give everything you’ve got."