Behind the Baton - Maestro Gordon Gerrard

Making his debut with VanCOCO is Maestro Gordon Gerrard. Maestro Gerrard is no stranger to Vancouver having worked as principal repetiteur with Vancouver Opera a number of years ago. We are fortunate and excited to be able to have him return to Vancouver to take the helm for our upcoming performances of Rigoletto. Maestro Gerrard graciously took some time out of his busy schedule to share with us a glimpse at the man behind the baton.

(Q) What is the most exciting thing about Rigoletto for you?

(A)  I had listened to recordings of Rigoletto for years, and I had even worked on the famous bits (Gilda’s big aria and the famous quartet), but when I moved to New York to go to grad school, Rigoletto was the first opera that I saw at the Met. It’s an experience I will never forget. This music is amazing! Rigoletto is about midway through Verdi’s operas, and by this point he had perfected something magical. The way that he wrote for the voices is unlike anything else in the operatic repertoire. The music is so completely conceived for the human voice. He knew more than anyone before him exactly how the human voice works, and how it can connect with the emotional guts of any listener.

(Q)  How did you get started with opera?

(A) I came to opera a little later than some. I grew up in a small town in Manitoba, and opera was not high on the list of activities for a Saturday night. I saw my first opera when I was an undergrad at the University of Manitoba (Hänsel und Gretel). I had at this point started to play for a lot of singers at school, even though my degree was in solo piano. I went to a summer art song festival where I met my now friend and mentor, Michael McMahon, who encouraged me to apply for the brand new opera training program, Opera Nuova in Edmonton. I thought I was unqualified to go, and I said to him, “I don’t know anything about opera!” He replied, “Well, it’s about time you learned.” I’m happy to say that I’m still learning.

(Q) What might you say to someone who has never been to an opera before to get them excited about this particular show?

(A) One of the criticisms that’s often leveled against opera is that the people and situations are too unbelievable for us to engage. Rigoletto is not to be included in this category. The first time (and every time) I see this opera, I am bowled over by the inescapable plight of poor Rigoletto himself. There’s a tragic inevitability about the story; we can see the outcome approaching a mile away, and Rigoletto cannot. As the opera charges on, you can’t help but become involved. You want to tell Rigoletto to change course, but of course you are stuck in your seat, helpless.

(Q) And one last question, everbody has a guilty pleasure when it comes to music, what yours?

(A) Eek. Well I’m kind of a music nerd. My iTunes is nearly all classical. I do own a couple of Rufus Wainwright albums. I recently discovered Madeleine Peyroux, Gavin Creel and Zee Avi. Sadly, that’s about it.

Well admittedly, we were sort of hoping to hear that the Maestro likes to listen to a little Jay-Z or Snoop Doggy Dogg when not waving his arms around passionately, but we know what it's like to have an iTunes account and be frustrated at the lack of classical categories like Romantic, 20th Century, and Baroque! To read more about Maestro Gerrard, click here go directly to his bio!

Stay tuned for our next blog update featuring the multi-talented Tenor, Frédérik Robert who will be joining us again to sing Il Duca after an impressive and memorable jump in as Don Jose in our January 2011 production of Carmen!

Introducing our Music Director Kathleen Lohrenz Gable

We just can't explain how excited we are that Kathleen Lohrenz Gable will be joining us as our Music Director for Trouble In Tahiti! In just five short days she arrives to share with us her expertise at the keyboard and to help us shape and nuance this sparkling, yet darkly dramatic score that Mr. Bernstein has given to us.

Kathleen is joining us from Saskatoon where she currently teaches Applied Piano and is the Music Director for the Music Theatre Ensemble at the University of Saskatchewan. Most of us in the cast however, know her from our fond days of Opera NUOVA (Newly United Operatic Vocalists Association), Edmonton's national level opera training program.

Kathleen is very busy trying to catch all of her university students up so that she can join us here in Vancouver for the Fringe Festival, but she had some time to tell us about an exciting encounter she had personally with Leonard Bernstein.

When my husband and I were on our honeymoon to New York City we had an opportunity to observe Leonard Bernstein as he conducted the Portland Youth Orchestra who were sitting first chair beside the New York Philharmonic. We watched a rehearsal in the afternoon when the harpists was having difficulty with the score. Berstein was working hard with him and it was a tense moment. We decided to attend the concert later that evening. At the concert the harpist absolutely played his part perfectly and Bernstein gave him kudos with an OK sign in his conducting pattern. As a teacher of many students of this age this gesture greatly affected me. I was very emotional and decided that I was going to meet Mr. Bernstein. We simply walked past all of the check-points where people had security passes and tickets to meet Leonard Bernstein. We had no such documentation and felt that our only hope was to march straight past the check-points. We walked up to his dressing room and knocked on the door. He called out to come in. We entered and there were about thirty people in the room. I waited in line and in a couple of minutes he talked to me. I told him that I was a teacher and how the day and concert had affected me especially because I was passionate about working with young people. He took my head in his hands and told me to keep doing what I was doing because I was doing very important work. I have NEVER forgotten a moment of this encounter. What a privilege!!

What a privilege indeed! And thank you so much for sharing that story with us! Mr. Bernstein was right, the thing that you are doing is very important and we are so proud and honoured to have you come to Vancouver and share your passion with us!

If you didn't get a chance to read the previous blog post "Bernstein - A compulsion to share!", now is the time to do so. Kathleen's story is living proof that Bernstein truly believed in education and people!

Bernstein - A compulsion to share!

One of the great things about performing a work from a 20th Century composer is all of the little tidbits of information that are available out there on the world wide web. Below are a few clips we thought you would enjoy!

This first clip we stumbled across is from an interview in which Bernstein briefly discusses his "love for people" and "compulsion to share".



It is abundantly clear from the next two clips that Bernstein was committed to sharing and education. He was not only a prolific composer, but a renowned conductor and was committed to sharing his own experiences with young conductors about art, music, and the relationship between the two, along with exploring the relationship of "self" with "the arts", and being one's best possible "self"!



When one considers Bernstein's dedication towards self and the arts it is not hard to consider that the inspiration for Trouble in Tahiti may have been a personal one. While it was rumoured that the troubled young couple was based on Leonard Bernstein himself and his new bride, Felicia Monealegre, there is another, perhaps more plausible, theory that the story is based on the relationship of Bernstein’s own mother and father. Perhaps Bernstein was giving us a personal view into his own life story!



We hope you enjoyed these little clips! Stay tuned for the Lenny Quiz!