In the Wings: Backstage glimpses with Boston Lyric Opera

Omar and the Memory of Slavery

Dive In by Leigh Webber leighwebber.com By Lucy Caplan “The act of imagination is bound up with memory,” writes Toni Morrison. In her foundational essay “The Site of Memory,” Morrison takes up the question of how her fiction responds to and extends upon the slave narrative, a genre that is at the heart of the African American literary tradition. Slave narratives – in which fugitive and formerly enslaved people documented their experiences in order to communicate slavery’s brutality, advocate for abolition, and assert the writer’s humanity – were acts of testimony through which African Americans, under conditions [...]

By Lucy Caplan|2023-04-05T13:49:43-04:00April 5th, 2023|

The Divine Pen: Omar ibn Said and the Power of the Written Word

The Divine Pen. Yelimane Fall. c.2007. by Jennifer J Yanco When I heard that the Boston Lyric Opera would be producing Rhiannon Giddens’ and Michael Ables’ new opera, Omar, I was both excited and intrigued. The opera Omar is based on the autobiography of Omar ibn Said, a learned man who, at the age of 37, was forced to leave his home in West Africa and brought to the US involuntarily to be sold into slavery.  I am a linguist by training, specializing in African languages. I am currently working with an international team of scholars on [...]

By BLO Staff|2023-05-01T10:29:35-04:00April 3rd, 2023|

Inside the Salon Experience

Let's Take a Quick Trip to the Salon.... And No, We're Not Talking About Getting Your Hair Done Join us at the salon before Bluebeard’s Castle | Four Songs! No, we’re not talking about getting your hair done, we’re talking about salon concerts! Salons became popular in 17th and 18th century France, and it was a place where people could gather to discuss literature, poetry, philosophy, theology, and ideas, often accompanied by food and drink. The French word “salon” literally means “large room,” suggesting a spacious room where people might withdraw after a meal for entertainment or conversation. [...]

By Jeanna Heezen|2023-03-12T13:26:38-04:00March 12th, 2023|

BLO Announces Search for Artistic Director

This month brought an exciting development here at BLO – the launch of an international search for Artistic Director. As I stepped into my role as General Director & CEO, I recommended that we grow the leadership team to support the ambitious plans laid out in our newly launched strategic plan. With a commitment to expanding the breadth of our programs, I am building support for the ongoing artistic leadership that Music Director David Angus and I, alongside our Artistic Advisors John Conklin, Vimbayi Kaziboni, and Nina Yoshida Nelsen, provide through the Season. As BLO continues to develop its [...]

By Jeanna Heezen|2023-02-28T12:33:44-05:00February 28th, 2023|

Anne Bogart Immerses Audiences in the Contrast of Female and Male

By R. Scott Reedy Not long after theater and opera director Anne Bogart was approached by Boston Lyric Opera about staging Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, she came to a realization about the Hungarian composer’s expressionist 1911 opera that helped shape her approach to it. “I had not given it much thought, but I was excited to do it because I love Bartók. His music is so dynamic and powerful, and this is his only opera. And it’s so dark and labyrinthine,” explained Bogart by Zoom recently from London. “But as I looked into it, it occurred to me that [...]

By Jeanna Heezen|2023-02-14T09:27:32-05:00February 14th, 2023|

Driving to Siegfried in Tears

By Naomi Louisa O’Connell How much of a person can one ever really know? Our language struggles to grasp it: “I know you inside and out, backwards and forwards, tell me everything, I love every inch of you… All of me, why not take all me?” As a child, I suppose the first image that the word “muse” conjured for me was of some hovering, half-nude female floating in a shell. I don’t remember where I might have seen it—possibly a Monty Python cartoon. I do remember the first time I learned what the word actually meant; I remember [...]

By Jeanna Heezen|2023-02-02T12:45:50-05:00February 2nd, 2023|

The Geisha in the Mirror: The Impact of Symbols and Archetypes

Since the dawn of time, theatrical creatives have coaxed audiences out of reality and into fantastic worlds with gripping stories through the magic of stagecraft. In order to help the audience suspend their disbelief and get caught up in a story, theater-makers use symbols that represent the real world. A symbol is something that stands in for something else in the real world. A symbol can be a flag that represents a nation, or a stoplight that is a stand-in for commands, or a dove that represents peace. On stage, a costume is a great symbol that helps give you [...]

By Phil Chan|2022-05-03T11:36:54-04:00May 3rd, 2022|

Resonant Voices: An Interview with Cerise Lim Jacobs

Opera creatives face the perennial challenge of pushing the art form forward and making it resonate with new audiences. Companies can approach this challenge using three different strategies. The first and most common strategy is to present European canonic operas but change the original setting. This challenges the original form and simultaneously brings new truths inherent in the work that might be more relevant to a contemporary audience. Examples include Calixto Bieito’s Carmen set in late 1970s Spain and the Metropolitan Opera’s recent Rigoletto, set in 1940s Las Vegas. Shakespeare’s plays, written over 400 years ago, are often set in [...]

By Phil Chan|2022-05-03T11:49:34-04:00May 2nd, 2022|

When Opera Meets Jazz: A Brief History

One day, a New York Times article made the striking announcement that there was a “Jazz Opera in View for the Metropolitan.” The company expressed interest in producing an opera of the “modern American type.” Branching out beyond the European canonical repertory, the article explained, was a necessary innovation which would “bear important fruit in the near future.” If these sentiments – a desire to expand the repertory, a commitment to foregrounding new work – sound familiar, then it may come as a surprise to learn that this article was published nearly a century ago: on November 18, 1924. What’s [...]

By Lucy Caplan|2022-04-11T07:52:44-04:00April 11th, 2022|

Voicing Quietness: Madama Butterfly and the Perception of East Asian Women

“We keep our heads down and work hard, believing that our diligence will reward us with our dignity, but our diligence will only make us disappear. By not speaking up, we perpetuate the myth that our shame is caused by our repressive culture and the country we fled, whereas America has given us nothing but opportunity.” -Cathy Park Hong, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning In a sound world dominated by high Cs and virtuosic coloratura runs, qualities such as volume, presence, and dimensionality are prized in a voice. The entrance of the leading lady of the opera is applauded; [...]

By Allison Chu|2022-04-01T16:12:09-04:00April 1st, 2022|