Tag Archives: Arts in Hawaii

The Elixir of Love Set Design

(Set Design mock-up by Designer Michelle Bisbee)

The set for “Elixir” is currently being built in HOT’s Waipahu scene shop, the first production in over 15 years both designed and built locally. HOT’s talented design team recently toured Hawai’i Plantation Villages for inspiration and historical background.

“We wanted to create an authentic, Hawai‘i-centered set, specifically here on O‘ahu. It was decided early on that this would be a sugar cane farm, so we started our research on what the environment would look like. Green fields, red dirt, blue skies, the valley between the Wai‘anae and Ko‘olau mountains, and traditional plantation-style homes – this led us to our preliminary research at Hawai‘i’s Plantation Village,” said HOT Scenic Designer Michelle Bisbee.

The design team is working with other production members on the project to honor Hawai’i’s culture and to recreate this classic story on the island of O’ahu. Come February, you can step into the Blaisdell and be transported to the emerald-green mountains, which tower behind dim streetlamps, an old farm truck, and a charming country store in this loveable opera.  For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.hawaiiopera.org

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

The Elixir of Love
Friday, February 17 | 7:30 pm
Sunday, February 19 | 4:00 pm

All performances at the Blaisdell Concert Hall
Sung in English with English supertitles
Approximately 2 hours 20 minutes with 1 intermission

As One Opera Hawaii

Operawire names HOT’s As One in Top 5 Operas to See

The international online publication OperaWire named HOT’s production of As One in its Top 5 Operas to see This Weekend in North America for the weekend of Friday, January 12, 2018!

Read the Full Article

As One will be performed this weekend, January 13 and January 14, at 4 pm, along with a closing performance on Tuesday, January 16, at 7:30 pm at the Aloha Tower Terminal, Pier 10.

As One
A chamber opera for two singers and string quartet
Music and Concept by Laura Kaminsky
Libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed
Film by Kimberly Reed
 

“A piece that haunts and challenges its audience with questions about identity, authenticity, compassion and the human desire for self-love and peace.” ~ Opera News

Created by Laura Kaminsky, Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed, As One depicts with empathy and humor the journey of a transgender person named Hannah as she achieves self-fulfillment in her life. The 75-minute opera stars Sasha Cooke and Kelly Markgraf, who are married in real life and created the roles of “Hannah after” and “Hannah before” at the 2014 premiere. 

Don’t miss out! Tickets from $35 at Tickets.HawaiiOpera.Org, by phone at 808.596.7858, or at the door.

Star Advertiser TGIF Cover: ‘As One’ Opera Explores Transgender Experience

In the world of stage and entertainment, it’s not uncommon to have one person play two roles. Less common is to have two characters play one — unless it’s a “Bewitching” situation where Dick Sargent replaced Dick York. It’s also not unheard of to have men play a female role — just witness the film “Jumanji: In the Jungle.”

But it would be safe to say that none of those is quite as innovative as “As One,” a chamber opera presented by Hawaii Opera Theatre starting next week. The opera has only character, a transgender person named Hannah, who over the course of the opera transitions from male to female. Hannah is portrayed by the husband-wife duo of baritone Kelly Markgraf and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, who as “Hannah before” and “Hannah after” simultaneously experience life through the prism of both genders.

In its four-year history “As One” has become a favorite among small opera ensembles, with more than a dozen productions already staged and several more planned for this year. The New York Classical Review called it “everything we hoped for in contemporary opera: topical, poignant, daring and beautifully written.”

“AS ONE”
Presented by Hawaii Opera Theatre>> Where: Aloha Tower, Pier 10
>> When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Jan. 16, 4 p.m. Jan. 13-14
>> Cost: $35-$65
>> Info: 596-7858, hawaiiopera.org

For Cooke, a Grammy-winning operatic singer, and Markgraf, known for his versatility in classical, pop and jazz roles, the appearance here will mark a homecoming of sorts; Cooke is a direct descendant of Amos Cooke, the missionary and businessman who laid the groundwork for Castle & Cooke, one of Hawaii’s “Big Five” corporations. The pair got married here and visit as often as possible.

Markgraf and Cooke gave the world premiere of “As One” in 2014, but HOT’s production will be only their second time performing it together since then, as both are in heavy demand by opera companies around the world.

“I haven’t been free for any of the ones I was requested to do, but Hawaii was awesome because they really worked around our schedule to make it work,” said Cooke, speaking from her home in Texas a few days after performances in Germany.

“As One” had its genesis in 2012, when New Jersey, along with other states, was wrestling with the issue of same-sex marriage. Composer Laura Kaminsky read a newspaper story about a husband, who, with his wife’s support, was planning to undergo gender reassignment. New Jersey did not recognize same-sex marriages at the time, so once the man transitioned, their union would have been derecognized and all the benefits derived from marriage — Social Security, health insurance, retirement — would be in jeopardy.

“They were in love as people, not as body parts, and if the law did not pass in New Jersey, they would no longer be married and they’d lose all those benefits,” she said. “As I read the article, I was thinking, ‘This is operatic. … What is it to be a fully realized human being, in the context of the people in your orbit, and then what are you willing to give up in order to gain yourself?’”

It a took a number of random events to bring “As One” to fruition in its final form. Kaminsky, a respected composer of contemporary music, had never created an opera before and until then had never been interested in doing so. But during a visit to Russia she obtained some rarely performed Shostakovich scores, and seeking someone to perform them, connected with Cooke, whose parents are Russian-language professors in Texas, and Markgraf.

“I fell in love with them,” Kaminsky said. “They’re extraordinary artists, but it’s because they’re extraordinary human beings. They’re deeply empathic, spiritual and empathetic and intellectual all at once. … I wanted them to be in my opera; in fact, I wanted them to ‘be’ my opera. I wanted them to be the one character.”

Kaminsky came across the story of filmmaker Kimberly Reed, a transgender person whose story of transition from male to female and her interaction with her rural hometown was told in the film “Prodigal Sons.” Kaminsky teamed up Reed with Mark Campbell, a respected opera librettist, to come up with a story, tossing a few ideas around initially but not coming up with anything.

“I started talking to Kim (Reed), saying, ‘Why don’t you tell me about some of your experiences as a transgender person?’” Campbell said. “She talked about having a bicycle route, the way all boys did when people looked at newspapers, and one day she decided to do it in a blouse.”

That incident would eventually become the opening scene of “As One.”

Much of the opera reflects Reed’s experience, but it is not biographical, Campbell said. Some parts are drawn from other known incidents, such as assaults on transgender people.

For Campbell, “As One,” while reflecting the particulars of a transgender person, has a universality that will make the story relevant to people no matter their interest or knowledge of the issues.

“This is about a person’s happiness,” said Campbell, who as a gay man identified with some of the identity issues raised in the opera.

“If you know a transgender person, you will realize that there is nothing different about them, that they are just seeking happiness. They were not born with a gender they feel they are. Why would you deny someone’s happiness? If you reduce it to that, most people cannot fight it.”

“As One” traces Hannah’s journey in 15 vignettelike songs, many of them sung by both singers as they reflect on incidents from a male or female perspective. For example, in a song about a grade school handwriting class, “Cursive,” Markgraf as “Hannah before” stresses out over writing in a restrictive, masculine style; Cooke as “Hannah after” worries about writing “like my cousin Annie” with “generous loops” and “graceful swirls.”

For Cooke and Markgraf, “As One” was a revelation into gender behavior, especially in children.

“I didn’t really fully understand what it meant to be transgender and how early kids have the feeling that they’re in the wrong body. All of that really blew my mind,” said Cooke, who won a Grammy for her role in the Metropolitan Opera’s recording of John Adams’ “Doctor Atomic.”

“As One” required them to inhabit each other’s persona fully. One Hannah might be singing, for example, while the other is acting out the confused emotions underlying the song.

“Sometimes the person who’s not singing acts more,” Cooke said.

Being married proved to be advantageous in working that out.

“We’re so comfortable with each other,” she said. “We share one mind sometimes.”

Musically, “As One” is written in Kaminsky’s jazzy, contemporary style, played by a string quartet. It was a challenge for the singers but has proved accessible for listeners.

One of the tunes. “To Know,” has come to be considered the high point of the work. Sung by both performers, it expresses the excitement of discovering transgenderism for the first time.

Markgraf considers another song, “Perfect Boy,” in the first act, to be pivotal.

“It really goes to the heart of what forces are at play,” he said. “Hannah before is really truly trying to suppress and push down all of these things because of family influence and societal influence, because of all the inculcation that happens as we’re being raised. … It’s this repetitive ‘Push down, push down. No, I will not be seen this way, I will not feel this way.’”

Markgraf, who has performed as Hannah before in two other productions, said the work has provoked heartfelt, emotional responses, not only from transgender people, but people who knew little of the subject before experiencing the show.

Cooke added that people should not worry about feeling squeamish about the subject matter.

“I think a lot of people that come to this show expect or maybe wonder if they’ll be uncomfortable,” she said. “It’s quite the opposite. Transgender is merely an avenue to discuss accepting yourself. Any person, everybody can relate to that journey of, ‘What do I really want out of this life. Who am I?’”

By Steven Mark, The Star Advertiser TGIF

Video: Niu Valley Middle School Residency Trailer

HOT Education is making music with students at Niu Valley Middle School this summer. Incoming 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students are producing the beloved opera Verdi’s Macbeth, which will be performed at Niu Valley Middle School on Wednesday, June 28 at 6 p.m. Enjoy this trailer for the upcoming production!

Happy #MakeMusicDay from Hawaii Opera Theatre! from Hawaii Opera Theatre on Vimeo.

The production is an extension of HOT’s Residency Program, which turns a school, grade level or participating classrooms into an Opera Production Company.  Students sing, create props and sets, and produce other elements of the opera before performing it before a live audience. The Opera Residency has become an annual learning program for the schools, and its success shows.

Hawaii's Quinn Kelsey

Quinn Kelsey on the cover of Opera News

Quinn Kelsey talks upcoming roles, the music on his iPod, HOT, and more in his Opera News June Cover Feature!

 


Quinn Kelsey started singing opera in 1991, as a teenage chorister at Hawaii Opera Theatre. The Kelsey family is musical: his mother is a classically trained singer who worked as a choir director for more than twenty-five years. ‘My sister, Blythe, and I learned a ton of musicality singing in her choirs—she was giving us voice lessons in the middle of learning the music for next Sunday. There was a point where my sister was the soprano section, my dad was the tenor section, I was the bass section, and Mom kind of filled up the alto section and conducted at the same time. And whoever else decided to come into the choir that Sunday—great!’ Kelsey did his undergraduate degree in Hawaii, which allowed him to sing with Hawaii Opera Theatre and ‘gain all kinds of exposure in an environment where I felt at home.'” – Quinn Kelsey for Opera News.

Quinn has sung around the world, including in roles for the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, and Opéra National de Paris. He is an alumnus of the original Mae Z. Orvis Opera Studio class. In 2016, he returned home to sing the title role of Rigoletto in Concert with HOT. 

#HOTSpeaks: New Yorkers Return to HOT Year after Year

David and Mary Elaine Morris have been coming to Hawaii Opera Theatre productions for about five years, even though they live almost 5,000 miles away.

This weekend, the Manhattan residents will attend Puccini’s La Bohème on opening night. The Morrises continue to return, David said, because watching opera is one of Mary Elaine’s favorite things to do while they are in Hawaii.

“We try to time our visits to coincide with HOT’s opera schedule and will fly over for the day from one of the other Hawaiian islands to attend a HOT performance,” David said.

While in Hawaii, David likes to play golf, but Mary Elaine does not. To make up for her being a “golf widow,” David said, he tries to find things to do with her that she enjoys, such as attending HOT operas.

“He takes me to the opera as a treat,” Mary Elaine said. “I’m very fortunate, because I don’t think very many men or spouses who are here for golf find other things for their significant others to enjoy.”

The Morrises, who are also Metropolitan Opera season ticket holders, have seen operas at production companies throughout the United States and internationally, thanks to Mary Elaine’s love of the art form.

Though she has loved fine arts since she was young, Mary Elaine’s appetite for opera began when her father took her to see Verdi’s La Traviata in High School. She later took opera appreciation classes.

“When I walk in Central Park in the mornings, I listen to Renée Fleming’s arias or to the classical station of New York’s public radio station,” Mary Elaine said. “It just reaches and touches my soul. That’s what opera music does.”

The first time the Morrises attended a HOT production, David bought the tickets as a gift for their wedding anniversary. Since then, the couple has seen several HOT productions, including Verdi’s Aida in 2012, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado in 2014, and Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream earlier this year.

Sometimes the tickets were gifts for special events, like Mary Elaine’s birthday or Valentine’s Day, and sometimes the experience was just for fun.

“The staff has always been very pleasant and extremely helpful every time we go,” Mary Elaine said, “and I like that HOT brings in and utilizes local talent. I feel that’s very important to foster.”

The Morrises are looking forward to seeing La Bohème, they said. Mary Elaine loves the opera and has seen it put on by many production companies, including the Metropolitan Opera and the Paris Opera.

But she is excited to return to HOT once again.

“I just enjoy coming to Hawaii’s opera company,” Mary Elaine Morris said. “I know it’s going to be a great show.”

Sept. 30 – Join HOT for The Magic Flute Opera Preview at HMoA

The 2015-16 Opera Season kicks off this October with Mozart’s The Magic Flute!

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On Sept. 30, 2015, starting at 10:00am, join HOT for an Opera Preview at the Honolulu Museum of Art’s Doris Duke Theatre.

Featuring a lecture by Dr. Lynne Johnson about the opera, this event is highlighted by an opportunity to hear from the Stars of HOT’s upcoming production, The Magic Flute.

Magic Flute 30

This event is free to HOT and HMoA members!

For more information about the Opera Preview, contact HOT at (808) 596-7372.

Now Casting for the Opera Express

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ALL ABOARD THE HOT OPERA EXPRESS!!!

We are now casting for the HOT Education Opera Express touring show for the 2015-2016 season. The program, which runs intermittently throughout the school year, takes a keiki-friendly opera to schools & groups around the state.

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Singers will need to be available during schools hours (M-F, 7:15am-3:00) and are paid per performance. If interested, please contact Blythe Kelsey at b_kelsey@hawaiiopera.org for more information.

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