Hana Hou | November 2023

A chat with Erik Haines, Director of Education Programs — 

As our Education programs are fully underway, I wanted to chat with Erik Haines, Director of Education Programs to chat about his 30-year career with HOT, some memorable moments, and his hopes for the future.

How did you first get involved with HOT? What led to your role as Director of Education Programs? 

I’ve actually been singing for HOT since 1986! It all started when Beebe Freitas, the Artistic Director at the time, asked if I’d be interested in a small role in The Tales of Hoffmann. It was just a small part, but it turned out to be the beginning of my relationship with HOT. Over the next few years, I sang in their chorus and took on other small parts—Beebe was a mentor to me and coached me extensively and in exchange did some work around the house. I’m not sure if that’s the fairest of trades, but that was how partnership evolved.  

Fast forward to 1991, HOT launched the Opera for Everyone program and around that time, we had received an education grant that was used to support an extra performance of the opera Candide that was specifically for students. They had the brilliant idea to include the student interns in the production and I was hired to not only coordinate the participating students, but to also write the education materials for the teachers to use in their curriculum. I did that job for another year, and then HOT officially hired me to become their full-time Education Coordinator—and I’ve been here ever since!  

You have such a long history with HOT – what was your favorite experience as a performer with us?  

About 12 years ago, we were on tour with Opera Express performing Turandot, and there was a moment in which the prince is thrown onto the ground. I was the prince. So, I’m lying on the cafeteria ground where we had staged our opera, on top of leftover food and candy wrap litter, pretending to be hurt, and all of a sudden, hear little kids seated in the front row asking me if I’m okay. It was adorable. 

Another favorite experience of mine was on the mainstage, where I was the Mandarin in Turandot. It’s such a cool experience because the atmosphere is electric and buzzing with anticipation, and I get to stride to downstage center, dancers to my left and right and sing the opening of the show.

HOT’s education programs are in full swing, with Residencies in progress at seven schools and Opera Express touring across the island of Oahu – with tours to Kauai and Maui slated for the spring. Tell us a bit about both programs, and what makes them unique. 

The program started off small, but demand eventually grew to where the neighboring islands were asking us to perform at their schools. We love this program for a couple of reasons; it introduces the youth to opera and performance art and allows teachers to use aspects of opera and the literature associated with it in the classroom. On the performer side, it provides the opportunity for singers to perform 20-30 performances of a show. There aren’t a lot of opportunities in Hawai‘i to do that. It’s not an easy gig as the singers also set up and breakdown sets. We have seen many singers grow as performers through this program. We appreciate their generosity and talent and are grateful that they chose to share it with us and the community. 

Another program we offer is the HOT Opera Residency where we kind of turn a population of students into an opera company. The HOT Opera Residency has changed quite a bit since its inception! It started in 1995 at Palolo Elementary as an experiment in partnership with the DOEʻs Artists in the Schools program. We modeled this program after that of another opera company that worked with students for just a week to put on a performance and we wanted to try it but in a modified format where we worked with students over a semester. We used their model of doing 1 act of an opera – Carmen for the first project. After that project we started doing entire operas but reduced to about 45 minutes or so. 

Students might find themselves building the sets, designing costumes, performing lead roles, and everyone sings in the choruses, but they’re also writing the lyrics to the operas they’re performing! We’ve let them also inform the content, topic, and themes. Actually, 4 of our 6 current projects are rooted in Hawaiian mo’olelo. We’re working on one now at Kahala Elementary featuring a story about the oʻopu and kāhuli snail.  

What are you excited to see in HOT’s future?

I’m most excited about the future and potential of this building. I’d love to see this become a center for arts, in which there could be teaching, classes, and activities for students of all ages. I’m also excited to see the potential for this area of Honolulu to develop into an Arts District, with HOT being one a cornerstone.

Any last words or notes? 

I’d love to say that I’m just really grateful for a lot of staff members who have helped our education program become what it is today. Henry Akina, who was the Artistic Director for a long time, Gary Andersen, a technical director, Beebe Freitas, Mary-James Louis from the production department. And the crew, who always put on a good show for our students’ backstage tours—Gordon Svec, our current Director of Production, and every one of our staff members in the Education department, who have worked tirelessly to making things happen– often going above and beyond the call, like Eric Shanck, Blythe Kelsey, Kawaiola Murray, and Leslie Goldman. And letʻs not forget the many singers and teaching artists who share their talent with the community and bring opera to thousands of kids annually. 

Check out Erik in this clip!