#HOTSpeaks: “A Love for Opera Brought Us Together”

It was the 1972 HOT Cast Party for Verdi’s Aida. The smell of potluck dishes filled the air, and the opera’s cast and choristers chatted and mingled, with the electric excitement that lingers after a successful performance.

During the opera, one chorister named Manning Richards had been dressed as a Fifth Century Egyptian Priest. He learned that Miss Sarah Marks was volunteering on behalf of the Opera’s education, and he quickly took an interest in her. But on the night of the cast party, Sarah arrived with someone else — the opera’s Egyptian King. Despite the competition, Manning introduced himself.

“I did not make much of an impression,” he said. “My robe costume was beige-colored from head to toe. It wasn’t much attractive.”

Rightly fearing that he was losing Sarah’s attention, Manning changed his course and invited her to a wine tasting. She was impressed, so she accepted. By the end of that year, the two were married.

Both Sarah and Manning grew up with art and music. Sarah’s grandmother was an accomplished pianist, and her mother was a singer, so it came as no surprise when she graduated with a degree in music from Indiana’s DePauw University. Manning was also active in music, though it didn’t become his career. He sang in several choirs, both here in his home state of Hawaii and in the Mainland United States, while he pursued his Doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Rochester Medical School.

“A love for opera brought us together,” Sarah said.

A year after they met, Sarah was recruited to join the HOT Board. She served as Education Chair for about five years and was then elected to serve as Board President. It was an interesting time for HOT. While Sarah was Board President, HOT was becoming its own organization, independent from the Honolulu Symphony Society.  HOT’s first individual office, in fact, was within the Richards’ family cemetery.

“[HOT] was a little bit more homespun in those days,” Sarah said. “Board members themselves were very involved in administering the operas. But, gradually, it got bigger and better. It was fun to watch it grow. And it has, indeed, grown.”

To this day, Sarah and Manning remain committed to supporting local arts. After serving as the Executive Director of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and as President of the Hawaii Theatre, Sarah still serves on several HOT Board committees. In addition to supporting Hawaii’s opera, The Richards are also regular season ticket holders for many local theatres and the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.

The next HOT production the pair will be attending is April’s Season closer, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. On Tuesday night performances, the Richards bring Manning’s brother and sit in the first row, front and center. On Friday night performances, they come by themselves. But when asked if they consider going to the opera a date, both enthusiastically replied, “No!”

“We don’t necessarily feel sentimental at the opera, because we’ve done a lot of different activities together since,” Manning said.

“But I will let you in on a secret,” he whispered, “We do hold hands during the opera!”