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Blogging Mariposa: Meet the heroines of Heroic Opera

Our November production of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera is fast approaching, and we’ve finally found a moment to sit down and blog! This show is truly an enormous undertaking, and one of our most exciting projects to date: not only is it our biggest opera yet, but it also marks our first collaboration with the Heroic Opera Company.

Heroic Opera was founded just this year by award-winning soprano Sarah Templeton, whom Mariposa audiences may recognize as Angelica from 2014′s Suor Angelica or Dido from 2016′s Dido and Aeneas. Now, Sarah is taking on her most exciting role yet as an event producer at the helm of her own opera company. We sat down with Sarah and her co-producer Melissa Ratcliff to get their perspective on our upcoming co-production, so read on for the interview below...

Tell us a bit about Heroic Opera. Heroic Opera is Sarah’s brainchild. It’s a company that’s devoted to performance of Romantic-era operas, in particular the operas of Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, and Richard Strauss.

What inspired you to start a new opera company, and why did you choose to focus on the works of these specific composers? There are lots of smaller opera companies in the Vancouver area - some of them focus on light opera, or lyric opera, or Gilbert and Sullivan, and those who don’t have a particular focus tend to gravitate towards lighter operas with smaller casts, as they’re easier to stage. As a Dramatic singer, it makes it harder to find shows that suit your voice, and since no one else was presenting these great works, the time seemed right to bring them to the stage.

Heroic Opera launched just this summer with Wagner's Die Walküre. What was it like to stage your first production, and what were your favourite parts, as well as the greatest challenges? Sarah’s reaction at the close of Walküre was, “I can’t believe we just did that.” Wagner, and particularly the Ring Cycle are notoriously difficult, both in size, length, and scope. We also had a very short rehearsal period - a little more than a week - and several cast members who had to drop out due to illness shortly before the performance, meaning their covers were called up. All of this led to a very hectic schedule, which may have been fortunate because it made us not realize the scale of the undertaking. The performance ended up being spectacular - the cast was rock solid and the crowds were enthusiastic and very receptive. We even had several people in the audience who were at the last Vancouver performance of Walküre in 1975!

What attracted you to Verdi's Un ballo in maschera? While Ballo is another big, epic Romantic opera, the story itself is very simple - a tragic love story that can never be, and the desire for revenge that can consume us all. It all takes place in the court of the King, ending in a beautiful masked ball, but the story is still just that of ordinary people and the struggles they face trying to find love and happiness.

Why did you decide to team up with Opera Mariposa on this show? Although Mariposa isn’t focused on a particular style like we are, our companies are very similar. We’re both devoted to presenting operas to new audiences, to promoting the careers and giving performance opportunities to up and coming singers, and to engaging with the local community. Opera Mariposa has been at it a lot longer, and is very well established in the Vancouver area, so we certainly have a lot to learn from them, and hope to continue collaborating with other local groups.

Going from Wagner to Verdi - how would you compare the two, and are there differences when you're working on operas by such different composers? Wagner is unusual in comparison to virtually all other composers because of his technique of “through-composition”. This means his music is written, not in standard song form with 1-3 verses and a chorus or bridge, but with text and music that is continuously changing. It’s like setting Homer’s Iliad to music - it’s a huge amount of text and music to learn, and nothing repeats, or rhymes. The German he uses is an older more formal version - like Shakespearean German, so that makes it harder still - and his operas are typically 4-6 hours long, whereas most operas are 2-3. Verdi’s style of writing is closer to what you expect musically and lyrically, and gives you places to “hang your hat” in terms of learning the music. After Wagner just about everything is smaller in scale, but even most of Verdi’s operas range in the 3+ hour range and takes a huge amount of physical effort and stamina to sing.

What has you most excited about Un ballo in maschera? Since our first production was only semi-staged, this will be our first fully staged, costumed production. And with the vast costume collection that Mariposa has, it should make the show even better. With dozens of cast members in uniforms, peasant clothing, ball gowns, and disguises, it makes it so much easier to bring the story to life, and we’re excited to see what the end product looks like!

Why should audiences come see this show? The voices! This cast is absolutely teeming with talent, so much so that we have two full casts of principals on offer. Some of the best up-and-coming singers in the Vancouver area and beyond, many of whom sing for sold out houses around the world, will be in this show - I think everyone will be amazed at the skill in this production.

What can we look forward to in the future from Heroic Opera? While there are no firm plans yet, we’re thinking of performing Elektra by Richard Strauss, either in concert or as a production, or maybe something else…. Stay tuned to our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram for all the details!

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