Marshall Pynkoski & Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg
JAMES STRECKER: 1 If you were asked for 50 words for an encyclopedia to summarize what you do, or have done, in the arts, what would you say?
MARSHALL PYNKOSKI: I’ve spent a lifetime in ballet and lyric theatre. My obsession has always been storytelling, engagement of the audience, an obsession with form, structure, beauty (and by that I am not referring only to what is attractive or pretty). Opera Atelier, the company of which I am co-artistic director and founder, provides me with the ideal opportunity to explore these ideas in Canada and abroad.
JS: What important beliefs do you express in or through your work?
MP: I want Opera Atelier’s audience members to be full participants in our productions, not voyeurs. I believe the audience must be emotionally engaged. I believe this is best achieved through a more linear telling of the story in question. I do not want to make an already complicated art form still more obtuse – I want to engage and clarify through what people see and what people hear.
JS: Name two people, living or dead, whom you admire a great deal and tell us why for each one.
MP: George Balanchine – greatest choreographer in history, someone who found endless creativity within the closely defined parameters of 19th century ballet. Balanchine created a whole new vision of ballet for the 20th century while never losing a sense of his roots. I long to do the same with lyric theatre.
Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, my partner professionally and in life – I’ve known Jeannette since she was a teenager and she has played a major part in the development of my taste in music, in literature, in the arts in general. Her choreographic work is inextricably tied up in my work as a stage director. She has an uncanny ability to integrate dancing into opera so that it functions as a key part of the action rather than a divertissement.
JS: How have you changed since you began to do creative work?
MP: When Opera Atelier was founded I was surrounded by like-minded artists/friends and many of them are still with the company today. We began with an obsession with style that created a signature look for OA. After a time, however, we gradually came to realize the truth of Jean Cocteau’s assertion that style must never considered the bulls-eye of a creative endeavor, rather style is what we use to take aim. At Opera Atelier we have had a major and profound shift in our collective creative vision as artists. Style never takes precedence over content. It is used exclusively to help clarify and engage.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
MP: It’s an enormous challenge to divide my time between the administrative realities of being a co-artistic director and the time which must be spent listening to music, immersing myself in other art forms that feed my vision, and in rehearsal. Effective fundraising – so integral to any creative endeavor in the professional theatre – is of paramount importance and the challenge is to find some way to make that part of the creative process rather than an onerous task.
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life.
MP: The first time Jeannette and I heard Tafelmusik playing on period instruments was an absolute revelation both in terms of style and repertoire. We were aware that the instrumentalists understood something that was outside of our personal experience. We became obsessed with the desire to understand the driving force behind Tafelmusik’s aesthetic and the music they played. This took us on a journey which continues to this day. We now have the great pleasure of having Tafelmusik as our resident orchestra and full creative participants in all of Opera Atelier’s productions.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about what you do?
MP: It’s difficult for people from the outside to understand that our creative endeavours are what drive our lives. I know some artists insist, for example, that “singing is what I do but it is not who I am”. That is not the case for me, my partner Jeannette, or any of the artists with whom we have surrounded ourselves. There is no question of downtime, there is no question of retirement. What we do defines who we are. My ideal holiday would be eight weeks of uninterrupted rehearsal with singers, dancers and a creative team completely at one another’s disposal.
JS: How and why did you begin to do creative work in the first place?
MP: I can’t remember ever having begun my involvement in creative work. My earliest memories are telling stories and creating plays with my toys, with my friends and with family members. The world of the imagination and theatre was always as real to me as my actual life and the two blended at times to a degree that became problematic!
JS: What haven’t you attempted as yet that you would like to do and please tell us why?
MP: Opera Atelier has redefined the parameters of what is meant by period performance. We wish to explore and understand the creative impulse behind choreographers, composers and librettists of every period. OA has already moved into Romantic repertoire and it is our intention to move even further into the 19th and 20th centuries.
JS: What are your most meaningful achievements?
MP: I don’t really see an achievement as something absolute – I prefer to think in terms of process. I am proud of the creative impulse which gave a kick-start to Opera Atelier – I am proud of where it has taken us to date and I live in a constant state of anticipation ready to see where it takes us in the future. That being said, a creative high point would definitely be directing Lucio Silla for the Salzburg Festival opposite Jeannette as choreographer, and our ongoing relationship with the Royal Opera House at Versailles – the most beautiful and magical opera house in the world.
JS: What advice would you give a young person who would like to do what you do?
MP: I work with young people on a daily basis and always give the same advice to any of them who wish to be an artist: you cannot wait for opportunities to come to you – a true artist will create opportunities for themselves. Young singers, dancers, actors who wish to create should surround themselves with their friends, work for free, and find a venue – any venue! – to show their work to the public, even if that public consists of your parents, relatives and friends. Young artists must put themselves on the line and their work must be seen.
JS: Of what value are critics?
MP: Informed critics are of enormous value. They will ask questions we may not have considered ourselves and frequently act as a catalyst encouraging creative artists to examine their work from different angles. Critics play a vital role in connecting an artist’s endeavour with an audience. They are a vital part of the process of taking a work out of the studio and letting it breathe and have life in a broader context. They toughen you up!
JS: What do you ask of your audience?
MP: I ask that our audience listen and allow themselves to be drawn in and engaged. This of course is a two-way street. We can’t ask anything of our audience if we are not delivering the means for them to connect with us.
JS: What specifically would you change about what goes on in the world and the arts?
MP: In Canada, I would make it far more attractive for individuals to support the arts financially. A larger and more inclusive tax credit for arts patrons would acknowledge the importance of their generosity and encourage them to continue in their support.
JS: If you could relive one experience from your creative life, what would it be and why would you do so?
MP: I would wish to relive opening night of Lully’s Armide when we first played at the Royal Opera House at Versailles (2012). We were completely unprepared for the audience response of sustained cheering and rhythmic clapping, which continued for more than ten minutes. We were all in a delirious state when the curtain came in for the last time.
JS: Tell us what it feels like to be a figure who is presented somehow in the media. What effect does this presence have on you?
MP: My presence in the media has no impact on me whatsoever. I am living my life as an artist 24 hours a day, and if that intrigues the media then it can only be good for my company and for our productions. I welcome the media’s scrutiny for any reason whatsoever. It’s all grist for the mill.
JS: Name two places you would like to visit, one you haven’t been to and one to experience again and briefly tell us why
MP: St. Petersburg – I’ve not yet been to Russia and I’ve dreamed of visiting those places where Diaghilev, Nijinsky, Karsavina, Bakst and their colleagues lived, breathed and created. I want Opera Atelier to perform in Russia.
Rome – my first visit to Rome took place more than a decade ago and Jeannette and I try to return as often as possible. It was a life-changing experience for which noting could have adequately prepared me. I will never in my lifetime be able to visit Rome enough times.
JS: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on, are preparing, or have recently completed. Why do they matter to you and why should they matter to us.
MP: I am currently working on Opera Atelier’s upcoming production of The Marriage of Figaro (Oct. 26-Nov. 4, 2017). Figaro is a perfect opera – it never pales. It is a privilege to be able to interpret this poignant comic masterpiece. Every time you produce Figaro it impacts your life in a profound way. I am also preparing for my directorial debut at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Italy in the summer of 2018. I will be directing Rossini’s Ricciardo e Zoraide with a star-studded cast including tenor Juan Diego Flórez. Opera Atelier’s entire creative team was invited to create this new production honouring the 150th anniversary of Rossini’s death. I am proud and honoured to be joined by my colleagues Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg (choreographer), Gerard Gauci (sets), Michael Gianfrancesco (costumes), and Michelle Ramsay (lighting).
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
MP: I am concerned that electronic devices are making people more sedentary and shortening their attention spans. On the other hand I believe that people are longing for storytelling, for an opportunity to be engaged emotionally. I believe the theatre can provide the cathartic experience that is lacking in so many people’s lives, and that it can serve as the great cleanser and purifier.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising thing about you?
MP: I suppose it is surprising that ballet and opera both remain an inexhaustible source of fascination for me. I know I will never tire of them, and will never plum their depths. What they stand for is elusive, unattainable and irresistible. It is my hope that like Molière and Mr. Balanchine, I will be carried out of the theatre.