JAMES STRECKER: You have told us that Dido and Aeneas is “Opera Atelier’s most internationally-acclaimed production” and I’d love to know more. First, which of the international venues and audiences provided you with especially memorable experiences, ones that still remain with you.
MARSHALL PYNKOSKI: Dido has toured so extensively it becomes difficult to choose! That being said, some of the highlights must include:
-Opera Atelier’s performance of Dido for the 100th Anniversary of the BBC Proms/Royal Albert Hall: This was part of a six-country tour arranged by BNP Paribas on Opera Atelier’s behalf. We were accompanied by Les Musiciens du Louvre under the baton of Marc Minkowski.
-Our performance of Dido in Seoul, Korea remains a standout. We performed in the country’s spectacular Seoul Arts Center – having arrived with our entire cast, Artists of Atelier Ballet, heads of department, and continuo section. The Seoul Arts Center provided the period orchestra and chorus, who were superbly prepared. Under the baton of OA’s music director David Fallis, the production was a seamless blend of the best of both countries.
-Our performance of Dido at the Houston Grand Opera was a huge coup for Opera Atelier. Dido was highly unusual repertoire for this very fine company, and the critics’ response was exceptional – stating that Opera Atelier had made Dido and Aeneas as exciting as any classic verismo potboiler. This led to an ongoing relationship between OA and Houston Grand Opera.
-Our most recent production of Dido in Toronto with Wallis Giunta in the title role became a distillation of all of our productions to date. A real milestone in OA’s history.
JS: How did the acclaim you received differ or remain consistent from country to country?
MP: Invariably, Dido engendered enormous surprise from critics and audience members alike, who took for granted that a 17th century period production would be less accessible than 19th and 20th century repertoire. All critics commented on the exceptional nature of the storytelling and music making – and the important role played by ballet as part of the narrative. Ballet seen as an integral part of the production rather than divertissement was a revelation across the board.
JS: What was Opera Atelier’s Canadian reception like in the early years and how has it developed?
MP: Initially, the Toronto music community seemed somewhat incredulous that a new opera company had been founded by two dancers. There were some critics, in fact, who inexplicably seemed openly hostile. Gradually, however, our critics and audience members alike came to realize that the focus of the company went beyond that one specific discipline. OA’s insistence on clear, coherent storytelling combined with the highest possible production values across the board gradually seemed to win us the respect the company deserved. It was certainly a unique position to insist that opera was more than just a singing event, that it was equally a literary event, a dance event, a machinery event and a costume event. Critics in the United States mentioned that our production values were on par with the finest American musicals – a compliment we took very much to heart.
JS: I remember when Opera Atelier made its debut at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1986 and have followed you over the years. Your initial opera of choice was the first staged production in Canada of Dido and Aeneas and I wonder how gutsy a move on your part was this choice.
MP: The choice of Dido and Aeneas for OA’s debut was a daring one. The opera was virtually unknown in Canada – unless you happened to have studied it in an “Opera 101” music program. Few people were even familiar with how to pronounce the title and Virgil’s Aeneid remains a closed book to the average theatregoer in Toronto. That being said, we were confident that if we could lure the audience into the theatre, the brilliance of this miniature masterpiece would hook them at once.
We were also aware that Henry Purcell and Nahum Tate provided an exceptional sense of theatricality, and much like a British music hall production, Dido was created to appeal to as broad a public as possible. In particular, the addition of the hilariously Shakespearean witches is a brilliant touch and helped Opera Atelier demystify what for most audience members was their first experience of a period production.
Financially, there was almost no risk. Everyone donated their services, including Jeanne Lamon and the individual Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra players, who she brought together with the assistance of the great Canadian viol de gambist Peggie Sampson.
JS: How, from your perspective, has the company evolved over the years? How have you changed in what you expect of Opera Atelier?
MP: The strength of Opera Atelier lies in the fact that the company has evolved organically. The number of founding artists who remain part of the creative team is unprecedented, as is our association with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra – a collaborative relationship that has lasted for more than 35 years. Nothing has been imposed. Rather, Opera Atelier has changed as the creative team has developed from a group of like-minded young people to an ensemble of highly experienced, specialized individuals. We do now have less of an obsession with extraneous detail and instead focus on the core of every creation from a physical, musical and dramatic perspective. I would like to think that Opera Atelier reflects some of the values of the great French stylist Jean Cocteau, who insisted,
“Je n’impose rien, je ne propose rien, j’expose.”
JS: Dido and Aeneas has been called “the greatest opera written in the English language.” Where do you stand on the matter?
MP: There is no opera in English that can touch Purcell’s masterpiece. The coherence of the storytelling, the superb melodic line and the perfect balance between drama and humor – singing and dancing, make this work a unique accomplishment in the history of English music theatre.
JS: I’ve read that “Opera Atelier’s production restores dancing to the central role it played in the opera’s premier in 1689” and I’d like to know more how exactly the presence of dance contributes to the aesthetic value of the production.
MP: It is important to note that in Dido and Aeneas and in all Opera Atelier productions, the dancers are never intended as divertissements – as is so often the case in romantic opera. The Artists of Atelier Ballet are an integral part of the action. They interact dramatically and physically with the actors and take as many of their cues from the text as from the music. There will never be an Opera Atelier production in which the dancers are not key players.
JS: What difficulties do you encounter in directing an opera like Dido and Aeneas? For one, all our singers equally adept at idiomatic demands?
MP: Many of our singers have grown up with Opera Atelier, having begun in ensembles and opera schools and gone on to major international careers. We are able to communicate in an artistic shorthand that comes from year of working together and the collaborative development of an aesthetic that everyone buys into. New singers are mentored by experienced professionals, and it is our experience that their integration can be seamless. The strength of our casting lies in the fact that we never find ourselves in the position of having to convince an artist of our point of view dramatically. We are all breathing the same air – we are all working toward the same end – and we enjoy one of the most extensive rehearsal periods of any opera company in North America.
JS: Finally, I do have to ask, How does this production differ from the first one at the ROM and how is it much the same
MP: The heart of the production remains the same. Our values are unchanged, but our means of achieving them have grown and will continue to grow as we develop ourselves as artists in the 21st century.