The First Decade

Posted on October 4, 2012 by mnopblog

An Interview with Norton Hintz – Founding Board Chair

Norton Hintz Then

I came to Minneapolis in 1952 to take a faculty position at the University, and I met some people who were members of an invitation-only volunteer organization called the Center Arts Council. I worked closely with the Walker Art Center and around that time, the director was Martin Friedman. The Center Arts Council put on various programs – dance, lectures, architecture and concerts – and I got involved with the music committee. After various successes, including the famous water music concert in Loring Park, I became chairman.

While visiting Copenhagen, I went to the opera quite often and really liked the idea of an opera company. Minneapolis only had the St. Paul Opera nearby, which was sort of a “pick-up” company that brought in singers and scenery. So when I returned, the Guthrie Theater was being built, and the T. B. Walker Foundation had given the land in back of the museum for the theater. In return, the Walker was to have one night a week while the plays were on and four or five nights when it was dark. I felt that it was our chance to start a modest little opera company. We didn’t think in terms of a permanent company at that point, but intended to put on small-scale pieces, chamber operas using local singers and local musicians. Our first opportunity was at the close of the Guthrie’s season in 1963. I immediately got in touch with the leading composer, Dominick Argento, and also Tom Nee, who was the conductor of the Minneapolis Civic Orchestra. We formed a committee, and it was decided we would start with the baroque opera Venus and Adonis and a commission by Argento, The Masque of Angels.

An unofficial general manager, I was also doing research in physics and teaching. My secretary nearly quit because of all the calls coming to her, and we had trouble with the unions and the set people – all the problems you would expect from a start-up organization. But somehow we got it on the stage. The Guthrie people laughed at us, but congratulated us afterwards. The theater at the time seated 1,437 seats, and we had about 900 the first night, which was very good, all things considered. It was a fairly big success and the critics praised it. For our second opera that season, we chose Benjamin Britten’s comic opera Albert Herring. Essentially everyone was a volunteer except the singers and musicians, who were paid, but not much. Our total budget turned out to be about $30,000 that year. Critics came from The New York Times because they had heard about this new, innovative opera in Minneapolis and we got a rave review.

One of the early things Martin did was to encourage that we use young artists as set designers rather than the traditional Broadway people. One
he discovered was this kid in his early 20s at MCAD named Robert Israel, and of course Bob became famous all over the world. He designed several
very innovative productions for us. As we got bigger and bigger, Martin gently pushed us out, and we then formed our own non-profit board. I was chairman for the first couple of years, and Martin had hired John Ludwig as general manager, realizing that I couldn’t carry that role any longer.

Norton Hintz and Family Today

John brought a colleague from Yale, Wesley Balk, who became the artistic director. They started doing a combination of chamber operas by Britten and Haydn alongside world premieres. The opera started to expand beyond small-scale works. It had outgrown the Center Arts Council and so Center Opera was a misnomer. At some point, it morphed into Minnesota Opera.

Minnesota Opera was built and founded by a number of key people. All I can claim credit for saying is, “How about we do an opera at the Guthrie.”

Trouble’s Never Far Away…

Posted on April 19, 2012 by mnopblog

Unless of course, you’re Serena Lu!

In 2004, Serena performed with the Minnesota Opera in the role of “Trouble,” the child of the ill-fated union between Pinkerton, a naval officer, and Cio-cio-san, known by her friends as Butterfly. Since then, Serena has branched out far and wide, and she’s quite the talented young lady. Although now she lives in New York, Serena used to play with the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra, and performed pretty regularly in the Twin Cities.

“Serena began studying piano at the age of five. She has won first and received honors in many piano competitions, including the St. Paul Piano Teachers Association Concerto Competition and the Minnesota Music Teachers Forum Mozart Piano Concerto Competition. She was 8 years old when she was chosen to perform the with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, making her the youngest musician ever to solo with the SPCO— since then, she has soloed with six different orchestras: the Minnesota Orchestra, the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra, the Mount Olivet Festival Orchestra, the Lake Superior Symphony Orchestra and Kenwood Symphony Orchestra. She was invited to perform for Desmond Tutu at the “National Youth Conference of Leadership” in 2007.

As a rhythmic gymnast, she has won numerous titles in state, regional, national and international competitions. She is the Rhythmic Gymnastic Junior Olympic champion of her age level in the past four years. Serena’s interests also include acting and dancing. She appeared on NBC’s “America’s Most Talented Kids” and acted as “Sorrow” in the Minnesota Opera’s production “Madame Butterfly”. As a ballet dancer, she has performed “The Russian Dance” in Loyce Houlton’s ”Nutcracker Fantasy” since 2007 (Alternates with her sister Cindy). “The Russian Dance” was included in the Minnesota Orchestra’s holiday program in 2007 & 2008″

Here’s an example of how awesome that performance withe SPCO was:

Source:

http://www.kenwoodsymphonyorchestra.dataride-previews.com/pages.cfm?pageID=21

However, we also know that she’s an amazing gymnast and has competed on national and international levels. She’s a three time Olympic gold medalist, representing the United States as a rhythmic gymnast.

“‘I want to go to the Olympics,’ Lu said.

All of her hard work and dedication to this sport has paid off so far, and her coach Margarita Mamzina, hints of future Olympic gold.”

Check this out and you’ll see why her instructor has such faith in her ability!

No, we don’t believe it either. But, GO SERENA! YOU ROCK!

Source: http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=10313

…When the composer and librettist are at the office every day – you want the success for them.

Posted on November 10, 2011 by mnopblog

I Remember Thursday

Lani Willis (Communications & marketing director)

The Grapes of Wrath, © Michal Daniel

Getting to work on The Grapes of Wrath was a privilege and a high point of my time here at Minnesota Opera. It was a big epic opera, and a big epic project; leading up to the world premiere, we hosted lots of community events and worked very long hours, but rather than feeling exhausted, I remember feeling energized. Commissioning and producing this amazing new work had both a galvanizing effect on the staff and transformative impact on the company. I think there was simply a different level of ownership in making it a success. Of course, for any opera, the marketing and communications team wants to have great placements in the media, wants it to be a box-office hit, and wants your audience and critics to love it. But when the composer and librettist are at the office every day – living, breathing human beings that become your friends – you want the success for them. (When you stage Boheme, you want it to be a blockbuster, but not because you care at this point what it means to Puccini!)

The Grapes of Wrath, © Michal Daniel

I started to realize that dynamic at the break of the final run-through. I was standing by Ricky Ian Gordon, the composer, at the top of the steps in the Bemis rehearsal room. We’d just watched the first two acts, which culminate with Noah’s suicide by drowning, when he hears Ma Joad’s lullaby. There was this brief, emotionally charged stillness. Almost everyone in the chorus was frozen in tears. The few guests in attendance were in tears. Artistic Director Dale Johnson was in tears. I was in tears. Ricky was definitely in tears! He asked, “Do you think it’s good?” and I gave him a big hug and said, “Yes, I think it’s good!”

The Grapes of Wrath, © Michal Daniel

That boy is a monster…

Posted on November 3, 2011 by mnopblog

I Remember Thursday

Beth Comeaux (Institutional Gifts Manager)

Over the course of 18 years and 16 performances with Minnesota Opera, I have just a few memories. One more dramatic memory that comes to mind was during Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus by Libby Larsen over twenty (yikes) years ago. We were in “tech” week at The World Theater (now The Fitzgerald) and as with new works, there were adaptations to both the libretto and music each day. As a cast, we had gotten used to expect anything—and we also knew that there were going to be some a-typical elements to the show since we had a stage and a T.V. director—and we knew there would be a wee bit of electricity. You know, the kind that shows those cool bolts of lightening as Frankenstein’s monster was being jolted into life with his creator shouting “LIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!” beneath him?

Yup.

Steven Tharp, wonderful tenor (and fabulous actor—which was not in his favor in this instance), grabbed the cables that were lowering the monster. Unknown by anyone on stage, there happened to be electricity flowing through those cables, and we all thought that Steven’s “OH, MY GOD…OH, MY GOD!!! HELP ME!!!” was an extraordinary improvisation and that he as really getting into the scene.

Hm.

Nic Munic, stage director and saver of life, came bounding (yes, bounding) from the back of the theater, leaped onto the stage and tackled Steven as if he was back in high school playing football. Had he not done so—and had Steven not had on tennis shoes for rehearsal—our talented Dr. Frankenstein would have been toasted. And not in that good way.

All ended positively, though. Steven survived, returning to rehearsal in a few days and is currently in the midst of a wonderful career. One in which no live electricity is used. What was additionally memorable to this production, however, was that Kevin Smith (former President & CEO of Minnesota Opera) gave each cast member the permission to be released from the show, no questions asked.

What? And give up show business?

All you really need to do is look feeble and distracted.

Posted on October 27, 2011 by mnopblog

I Remember Thursday

Marcia Aubineau (Queen of Media, supernumerary), Susanna Phillips (Elmira, soprano)

Actually I remember four weeks before Thursday as well as the entire month before. It was March of 2008, and the Minnesota Opera was presenting the American premiere of The Fortunes of King Croesus written in 1711 by Reinhard Keiser.

I had been asked to appear as the exiled Queen of Media (pronounced mid-ee-ya), and after being assured that I didn’t have to sing (or even speak—a very wise choice for everyone concerned), I agreed and embarked on my “maiden voyage” to behind-the-scenes of Operaland.

I remember the director, Tim Albery, saying, “Marcia, you are a powerless regent in exile. Your husband has been brutally killed in a terrible war. You have had to leave your country and seek asylum in the court of King Croesus. All you really need to do is look feeble and distracted.” Hmmm, I thought: “feeble” might take some work, but as an abstract/random Gemini, I could be the poster girl for “distracted.” And so it began…

The rehearsal process was grueling but fascinating. And the cast members (who by performance time were calling me “Mum”)—well, how much fun can one have with the likes of Paul Nilon, Vale Rideout, Carlos Archuleta, and Dan Dressen back stage? Not to mention my very talented “daughter,” Susanna Phillips, who used to whisper all sorts of things in my ear as she was “comforting” her widowed mother.

Susanna Phillips (Elmira, soprano) See her as Lucia performs March 3, 6, 8, 10, 2012 (in at Minnesota Opera!

The entire experience was not only exciting but a real epiphany as to just how much effort goes into a production not only by the singers but by the entire artistic team and support staff—costume workers, wig masters, set builders, lighting designers, et al. And although King Croesus’s “fortunes” weren’t the best, mine certainly were in having the privilege of being a part of this amazing Minnesota Opera project.