A. D. Amorosi, October 2014

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

A Night at the Opera

        If Opera Philadelphia’s 39th season was filled with strangely magnetic, angularly dissonant programming—Salome, Nabucco, A Coffin in Egypt—then its 40th anniversary proves to be a nice round number, a little softer on the sonic palette, star-shinier for the fan, and equally as challenging as last year.

        You can blame the schedule for the 40th season, to a large extent, on Opera Philadelphia General Director David B. Devan, as this is the year that his imprint and taste shows through on the company’s scheduling after being here for three years. Along with Music Director Corrado Rovaris, Devan has chosen classics, scheduled premieres and worked diligently on nailing down some of opera’s finest performers: For Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Jonathan Beyer, Jennifer Holloway and Taylor Stayton; for Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, Lawrence Brownlee and Angela Brown; the east coast premiere of Oscar will feature countertenor David Daniels—making his Opera Philadelphia debut as Oscar Wilde—along with Heidi Stober and William Burden; Philly-born bass baritone Eric Owens in his role debut as King Philip in Verdi’s Don Carlo, with Dimitri Pittas, Leah Crocetto and Michelle DeYoung; and a co-presentation with the Kimmel Center and the Curtis Opera Theatre on Ariadne auf Naxos. And this is all before March 2015. Add the fact that Devan brought married opera sensations Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez, “The Jay-Z and Beyonce of opera” who met as students at Philadelphia’s Academy
of Vocal Arts, to sing at the 40th Anniversary Gala before season’s start and you’ve got quite a provocative roster for which Devan is responsible. Though he can’t divulge much of season 41 at present, Devan does let me know that Pulitzer-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain (a co-production between the Santa Fe Opera and Opera Philadelphia with respective premieres in 2015 and 2016) is already booked and scheduled.

         “Since becoming general director about three years ago, this is the first season that I have my fingerprints all over the schedule,” says Devan. “Opera companies are like ships. Once you steer a course, it takes a moment to change direction.”

        Since Opera Philadelphia has long been consistent in offering what Devan sees as a “a broad range of artistic expression,” the general director knew that he wanted first and foremost for this season a “substantial verity” as well as finding pieces that showed off the stalwarts within the company, Opera Philadelphia’s orchestra and its chorus. From there, Devan’s goal was to find the biggest and the best names in the field of opera and work out productions suited to them, and roles they hungered for.

        “We go to star singers and find out what they want to do coming up, what their desires are,” says Devan. Take bass-baritone Eric Owens,  a man at the top of his game presently. “He mentions that he’s always wanted to do King Phillip in Don Carlos, so for us to get him, we consider doing Don Carlos, then, hell, now we  have to cast the rest of the singers at about the same level. And then we have to find a great production or build one worthy of those artists and directors. Finally, you’re thinking about how that one show fits and balances against the other shows that you’re considering for that very same season.”

        The intricate puzzle of Opera Philadelphia’s 40th anniversary season, from bigger shows at the Academy of Music to smaller events at the Kimmel’s Perelman Theater, finds Devan casting globally and competing with the great opera centers of the world for the best artists. “I think Opera Philadelphia has a great tradition of identifying artists as they develop, so we always have new and exciting voices within our productions. Several years ago, though, we were less successful at getting artists at top of their career, so this season righted those wrongs and allowed us the perfect blend of vets and great up-and-comers.” The idea behind that mix of stars and newbies, says Devan, comes from a finely curated set of transcendent moments on stage. Take having Jonathan Beyer in the Barber of Seville in the role of Figaro, for instance: “That’s a big job, but we watched his development, and followed his training at Curtis and heard him sing around the country. He came in and nailed the audition.” When Devan and I spoke, he was getting ready to watch the first costumed run-through of Barber, using an old management trick—“I go when no one is expecting me.” He calls what he witnessed a “massive energy surge” surrounding the production. “We did a lot of great, dynamic and dramatic shows last season. Nabucco? You wouldn’t call that fun. The Barber of Seville? Now, that’s fun.”

        As for Yardbird, Devan says that Opera Philadelphia is getting “crazy press from all over the world” for their story of saxophone bop giant Charlie Parker.  “I wonder if we’ll have enough seats—remember it’s part of our chamber series with only five performances. But that’s all that Larry Brownlee’s schedule will allow,” says Devan of the most in-demand tenor in the world. “For Larry to take on such an iconic role, and do it here first is amazing.” Devan says much the same thing of countertenor David Daniels making his Opera Philadelphia debut as Oscar Wilde in Oscar with a theatrical piece written specifically for him. “It’s tailor made—remember Wilde had a high speaking voice,” notes Devan.

        So what does Devan want Opera Philadelphia’s 40th season to be for novices and veteran listeners alike? He’d like a “WOW” moment. “I’d like people to say that that was the start of Opera Philadelphia 2.0. That this was the season that connected opera to the community in the biggest and best way possible.”


Information for all events and programs can be found at www.operaphila.org

 

David B. Devan

Lawrence Brownlee stars as Charlie Parker in Opera Philadelphia’s production of Yardbird.