This fall I began a new adventure: Artistic Director for TriCities Opera in Binghamton, NY
To say I'm excited is certainly shortchanging my myriad of emotions. Delighted, thrilled, pleased-as-punch, moved, exhilarated, and as Little Red sings in Into the Woods: "excited and scared!"
The positive emotions are to be expected, but scared? Maybe not scared, perhaps a wee bit nervous. Anyone working in non-profit arts organizations in America should be nervous. The specific genre of opera has its challenges nowadays - aging audiences, stereotypes of elitism, the cost of producing opera, the drop in philanthropy, the difficulty in securing government grants (local, state, and federal), holding on to quality staff, nurturing local community resources and people (from car rentals to choristers), rising costs of everything... (The list does go on and while I'm typing it, the anxiety stirs anew!)
I'm a pragmatic guy who's also been described as a futurist. Always looking ahead and envisioning how things might change for the better, but balanced with an ability to see the big picture. In my world, nervous is a positive word. Many may not know that nerves are integral to successful performances; there's an energy with nerves that is needed to propel one into an artistic space. I've learned over the years to embrace nerves. It's an excitement of sorts.
So I'm thrilled, excited, scared, and nervous all at the same time as I step into my new role as TriCities Opera's new artistic director.
What's an Artistic Director?
Artistic Directors (ADs) come in many shapes and sizes. Some are former artistic administrators who excel in schedules and contracts. Some are conductors with operatic personalities the public loves and who sometimes push particular parts of the repertoire that perhaps the public may not love. Some are stage directors who have a knowledge of production and a savvy for the big picture but maybe not quite so interested in day-to-day details. Some might be current or former singers who've moved into administrative roles and learn about how an opera company works on-the-job.
Hey lucky me! I'm an artistic administrator, conductor, director (and former singer) who has experience in almost every job in the industry at big companies like Lyric Opera of Chicago to medium sized companies like Pittsburgh Opera to small sized companies like Eugene Opera to indie companies like Toronto's Opera5.
Some companies have a large artistic staff for the AD to supervise. At other companies it might just be the AD doing almost all the work. TriCities (TCO) has also announced additions to the music staff: Giovanni Reggioli will be the Music Director, focusing on orchestral issues, chorus development, and all things musical. John Cockerill continues as head of music and running the Resident Artist training program that includes much of the educational and community outreach programming the company is known for.
TriCities (TCO) is a small opera company with a huge heart and a big season. There are four productions to put together (this year, Gianni Schicchi, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Lucidity (by Kaminsky), and La Traviata), the Resident Artist training program to coach, the educational outreach show to get to know, plus many extra concerts to help program, local chorus auditions to hold, and RA auditions in NYC to attend (check out TCO's website: https://www.tricitiesopera.com/). But mostly this first year will be about getting to know the company and the community even better.
When I lived in Ithaca, NY, twenty years ago (I taught at IC for seven years as music director for the opera and music theatre programs), I was also running the young artist program at Glimmerglass Opera. So my time was spent between Cooperstown and Ithaca. If I had any free time it was to be with my family. I never was able to get to know TCO during that time, although I was quite aware of its legacy and programming even then. And now, it's just been about a year and a half since I first had any connection with TCO, and that was really only by happenstance.
Back in late 2023, John Rozzoni (General and Artistic Director for TCO at the time) hired Giovanni Reggioli to conduct their 2024 production of The Barber of Seville. He was still in need of a stage director. Giovanni suggested me, but John thought there was no way I could do the gig because he knew I taught full-time at McGill University up in Montreal. Giovanni, however, knew otherwise - I just happened to be on a sabbatical for 2024. John knew me because, here comes the full disclosure, he had been a student of mine at Ithaca College way back when! So he hired me. Even though I'd conducted Barber many times, coached it forever, even administrated a production down in Miami, I'd never directed it.
But the cast was terrific, Giovanni was his usual genius with the score, the staff was super supportive. However, it was the production team and TCO's warehouses of sets, props, and costumes that really intrigued me. I had no idea how much was there! If you don't know, check out their rental site: https://www.tricitiesopera.com/set-costume-rentals-2/
So when John asked me back to direct last April's Rigoletto to celebrate the company's 75th Anniversary, I said absolutely! I also ended up staging the RA's musical theatre revue A Grand Night for Singing, which I loved doing in one week. Getting to know the extremely talented resident artists better was the kicker there. During April, John and I started talking about the company and the possibility of my becoming more involved. It very quickly turned into John deciding he'd stay on as General Director while I would come onboard as Artistic Director.
So that's how all that happened. Many factors and lucky moments came into play here. For instance, Giovanni recommending me was something he could have decided not to do. I could not have been free, or could have shown up and been a disaster of a director on the Barber, or been difficult (like a few directors I've experienced over the years). John could have wanted to hold onto the artistic reigns (handing them over like he did says so, so much about what an amazing leader he is!) I could have thought that I was too far gone into my career to take on something so important and immense as an AD job at a company in the US.
It's no secret that I'm 60. I'm quite proud of my time on this globe. In my mind, I thought the possibility of returning to not-for-profit opera was something that would never happen because of my age. Many times, I've said "that ship has sailed" when people asked if I was interested in some job somewhere.
And I was very content up in Canada. Opera McGill, the program that I run at the Schulich School of Music in Montreal, Canada, is one of the largest opera programs in North America. Just last year we produced 8 shows and hosted 2 workshops of new operas. This year, we are producing 10 shows. Actually, that makes us the leading opera producer of any academic program in the world (unless someone can point me towards another program that did 10 shows!) I'm not leaving Opera McGill (not yet...), as I love teaching and even after 18 years there's still so much to be done. Plus I love - LOVE - training and nurturing young singers. Seeing a 20 year-old learn their first role and helping them through that process, from casting to performance, is one of my big passions.
So I will bring my passion for education, for all parts of the repertoire - baroque to Mozart to Verdi to musical theatre, for nurturing young singers and directors, for developing community, and will mix that with my over 40 years of experience in the professional opera world (I started out way back in 1981 with my first professional job music directing Trouble in Tahiti for a theatre in Omaha.) I'll bring my crazy set of varied skills to the company, my old and new networks, and my desire to return the word "kindness" to opera.
First up was Puccini's comic masterpiece, Gianni Schicchi. We rehearsed it in a week and gave three performances (the last matinee is later this afternoon). A wonderful cast was assembled by both John and me - the wonderful Resident Artists taking on some great roles, wonderful community artists singing big and small roles (and a special kudos to our great corpse!), a few guests from my past - Peter, Marc, and Kate, a last-minute replacement for a guest who had to cancel last minute (who was terrific!), a great design by Amara*jk, lights by Jennifer Minor, and a terrific staff led by John all brought their best together. Giovanni conducted a new reduction (strings/piano) that worked brilliantly and our audiences laughed literally out loud throughout the performances. It made me quite proud and happy to hear all the laughter during such tumultuous times.
And I appeared onstage after a hiatus of 35 years singing the small (yet pivotal) role of Doctor Spineloccio. It was lots of fun to be back onstage - feel the nerves, worry about how the voice is upon wakening, get into costumes and makeup (not may favorite thing at all), and be onstage acting with former students, the other singers, and having to focus on a conductor for the first time since I sang Emperor Altoum in Turandot at Des Moines Metro Opera way back in 1988.
Anyone who conducts or directs or teaches or coaches opera singers should spend at least one show on the stage trying to do what they're teaching the next generation to do. Those who haven't been on the stage - in a role, chorus, even as a super - really don't know what they're talking about otherwise. There's an energy, a split in your attention span, a demanding focus that's physical, mental, vocal, musical, and dramatic to appearing onstage in an opera. The world would be a better place if more people got up onto a stage and created imaginary worlds for others instead of going onto imaginary platforms to share their uncreative memes about how empathy is a bad thing. One of the many things that theatre teaches is that empathy is how the world moves forward. Music triggers so many emotions in those of us who make it, and hopefully those who choose to listen to it. Opera gets the added punch of drama and watching the music unfold onstage!
It'll be a fun adventure that my wife, Elizabeth, and I are set to explore as we drive many, many miles back and forth between our home in Alexandria, Ontario and the Southern Tier. Fun fact: The trip from our home in Canada to the TCO office building takes only four and a half hours, the same time it takes us to travel to Toronto.
Feel free to write me at artistic@tricitiesopera.org if you have any brilliant ideas about the direction TCO should take artistically. Look for my blog posts here (and my old blog at https://patricksoperablog.blogspot.com/). Follow Opera McGill on Instagram and follow TCO on your socials too. If you're in the TriCities area (including Ithaca, Syracuse, Cooperstown, even Albany or Rochester) check out our performances! You'll see me prior to the La Traviata performance giving a talk about the show, and I'm planning on getting out into the community to talk about our season and opera as much as I can. If you'd like me to show up at your local book club, an Optimist luncheon, or any other type of community organization, just write me!
In the meantime, I'll be looking for suggestions on where to find the best donuts and the best diners in the area. Although with the diet I'm on, perhaps not a ton of donuts...
