Report from Santa Fe; Charles MacKay

The National Education Association of New Mexico, an organization of professionals who believe that investing in public education is an investment in our state's economic future. And by a grant from the Healey Foundation, Taos, New Mexico. Hello, I'm Lorraine Mills and welcome to report from Santa Fe. Our guest today is Charles McKay, the general director of the Santa Fe Opera. Thank you for joining us. You have such an exciting season coming up. Thank you so much, Lorraine. Yes, I'm really, really psyched about this season. It's going to be absolutely spectacular. It is. But before we look to the future, because it starts very soon, I am so charmed by your own history with opera and with the Santa Fe Opera. So tell us at age nine what happened in your life that was so transformative, if you

wouldn't mind. Of course. Well, I was lucky enough to attend my first youth night at the Santa Fe Opera. I came to see deflator mouse and was utterly transfixed by that experience. It was as if somebody took me and plugged me into an electric current. I was so excited to be in this beautiful facility to hear these voices soaring over the orchestra, to watch the production and see the scenery and the costumes and everything. And I just felt like it had changed my life to go to the opera when I was nine years old. And I went home and I told my parents I had to have the recording of deflator mouse, which they got for me, and I think I completely wore it out. I played it non-stop. They must have been so tired of hearing deflator mouse, but I loved it. And I was so fortunate to grow up in a home where music was part of the daily experience.

My parents were both very good amateur singers, very, very fine singers, and played the piano and we sang and made music at home and listened to a lot of opera and classical music. So it was a strong foundation for what I experienced when I came to the youth night. And then when I was 13, I volunteered to be one of the car parkers at the opera, just so that I could stand at the back after everybody had parked and was seated in the theater. And that I could watch the operas. And my first paid job at the Santa Fe opera was when I was 18, a few years later, just weeks after I had graduated from Santa Fe High School. And by some fluke, they were doing a Strauss opera, Derosenkoveler, which required a big

French horn section. And I was an aspiring French horn player, and so I got to play in one of the off-stage orchestras for that production. But my main job was being an orchestra assistant, sweeping out the orchestra pit, putting out the music, and I was called the Pit Boy. And it just was so wonderful to me. What was it in 2007 that you were named the director? And between you have had a wonderful career in opera, particularly with the opera theater of St. Louis, which you really transformed in terms of their fundraising and support in that community. And then you've done the same thing here. Thank you. It's been an incredible journey, and I can't believe that all of these things have happened. When I was 18, if you had asked me if I wanted to be the general director of the Santa Fe Opera, I think I would have been absolutely flapper-casted.

But things just sort of unfolded, and I made my transition from the orchestra and backstage to the management side, starting in my early 20s, and as you mentioned, went off and had a little hiatus from the Santa Fe Opera of 30 years as a matter of fact, at the Spolato Festival and then at Opera Theater of St. Louis. I really want to get to this season, but some people, even people who live here don't understand the impact that the opera has in our community. It's like one year, it was like $202 million overall economic impact, and these are kind of old figures, but $67 million in revenue to the hotels and restaurants. And it's a six-largest employer in Santa Fe County with, I don't know, used to be 700 employees.

It's hovering still right around 700. That's huge. And those numbers are pretty much what we would estimate now, somewhere in the 200-220 million figure for annual economic impact of the opera. But I think the impact goes beyond, of course, the economic impact, just the cultural and educational impact the opera has, that we're reaching approximately 50,000 new Mexicans through various programs that we take around the state, various programs that we offer free of charge, and various other programs that we conduct in schools and so forth. Last week, it was great. We had about 25 kids, ages, I would say six to 12, who were at an opera camp, right on the campus of the opera, just as we're rehearsing all of the productions, there were all these kids there, and I thought, how thrilling for them to be surrounded by all of this music,

and to be absorbing this wonderful culture and hearing these sounds. And when we think about the opera's importance, I think it's very, very key that we remember how many lives this opera company touches, and how many people on our staff of 70-year-round swelling to 700 during the summer season started out with the opera, just like I did, going to the youth nights, and then having jobs working as ushers or doing other things, and then making professional careers, it's very, very exciting. That's what I was thinking of those 25 children that were at the opera camp, you know, how many of them, which ones will, that will set their, change their compass and set their course. I wanted to briefly talk about some of your programs, you have an outreach to the Pueblos program, that is just wonderful, you have the youth programs, and then you have the Apprentice

program that is such a wonderful reputation. Talk briefly about those, and then we'll jump into your season. The Pueblo Opera program now is in its 45th year bringing children and their parents and the elders of the Pueblos to the dress rehearsals of the opera, and this has been a wonderful program, and what is lovely today is that it is intergenerational, that we have sometimes three generations of opera goers who are attending the performance and enjoying the operas. And then, as you mentioned, we have the Apprentice program, which is really the fundamental program of our opera company, the first Apprentice program of its kind to be established in the United States, and we select from probably 1,500 applicants each year. The very top 40 or 45 singers bring them to Santa Fe, they understudy the main roles,

they perform the smaller roles, and they comprise the chorus. And I tell you, you cannot hear a better opera chorus anywhere in the world than this group. And also, for the technical apprentices, the people who work backstage to learn all those different crafts that are related to production of opera, very transferable skills that can go into film, or theatre, or dance, or any other discipline. The Young Voices program has been going for 10 years, and that is for high school students who show vocal promise, and they receive weekly coaching and voice lessons, and so forth. And many of them have gone on to study music, to study voice, to become music teachers, and it is wonderful to see them returning and being part of our organization. And you benefited from what are called the Youth Night programs, and so did my family,

my daughter from age four, on every year, at the opera she loves it even now. Absolutely. And so that's a special promotional for these Youth Night's, which are usually the dress rehearsal, where I think you can bring, I don't remember now, since my daughter is quite older, but you can bring four kids for a very inexpensive price, like I don't know whether it's still $5 at ticket, that's what it was when my daughter was young, and the kids just are in thrall, they're absolutely entrant. So there's one other program I would like to mention, is it still an effect for New Mexico residents who've never been to the opera, to get 40% off an opera ticket and to take their family and to enjoy it? What a gift to New Mexico, thank you. It's been so exciting to do the metrics on this program, and to see that many of the first time New Mexico ticket buyers have now become regular attendees and are buying tickets to two or three productions each year, and another thing that we have now is the designated

family nights at the opera, which are regular performances, and you can buy tickets at a very favorable rate, and a family of four can come for under $100, which is a pretty good deal, and to see this world-class production, and to be there, I love it because it mixes up the audience so that you have people who are coming from all over the United States and from abroad, together with people from Santa Fe and from New Mexico who are coming with their families, and I think that is very, very exciting. One other thing I'd like to add for those people who are maybe hesitant to do this, you have an LED screen right in front of your seat that has a translation. Some of the operas are actually in English, but you have the translation that you can choose

one of many languages to enjoy it, so you don't have to hear, yes, Figuero Figuero Figuero is easy to understand, but there's some other parts, and you can always read it, so there's no reason not to have a total immersive opera experience. That barrier does not exist, people think, oh well, I won't be able to understand it, but actually this year, and you touched on this, really one half of the season is being performed in English. We have Candide and Dr. Atomic, and one half of Ariadne Elf Noxos, the prologue, is performed in English, and so, you know, sometimes it's helpful to have those titles even when people are singing in English, but you know, you can go to the opera and understand it, and hear these great sounds and enjoy this great setting. So well, I've been dying to talk with you about this season, so it's your 60-second season and you're launching with Candide, which is Lena Bernstein's version on Voltaire's

story, it's his 100th birthday, so worldwide, there are all these Bernstein celebrations, and this is your opening, so I know it's a collaboration, talk a little about, I know Bernstein, the playwright, Leonard Lillian-Helman, the poets won my favorite poets, Richard Wilbur, John Latouche, Stephen Sondheim, directed, one of the early versions was directed by Tyrone Guthrie, and you say that it sits between opera and musical comedy, and I'm dying to see it, so what can you tell us? Well, Candide has such wonderful music, and it's Leonard Bernstein, it is very, very best. The story is fanciful, and it's satirical, and it tells the story of Candide's pursuit of the best of all possible worlds.

But as you mentioned, it started out on Broadway, actually, and has made its way to the opera house, and so it's a really prime example of a piece of music that sort of defies categorization because it straddles that place between opera and musical comedy, so I think it is a wonderful choice for a first time opera-goer, and it's very, very accessible and fun. We're speaking today with Charles McKay, the general director of the Santa Fe opera. Now, you have had, last year you had the, was it the premiere of the revolution of Steve Jobs? The world premiere. The world premiere. I went, I was absolutely knocked out. It was phenomenal, and there was, you know, some difficult parts of his life, and it was handled beautifully, and overall the impact, you know, the opera says when you go out, everyone's going to be looking at their iPhones, and you go out, and my God, everyone

is looking at their iPhones, but this year you have Dr. Atomic, and it's about essentially two, two months, June and July 1945, the final development of the bomb, and then the testing at the Trinity site. And I know you have an extraordinary libriaticist, and, Jen, and stage director, and a wonderful musician. Can you tell me about them? Yes, John Adams opera, Dr. Atomic had its premiere in San Francisco in 2005, and it's one of those pieces that we've been longing to bring to the Santa Fe opera because the action of the opera takes place in Los Alamos. And so, all that we have to do is open the back of the stage when we look right out at Los Alamos. But the librettist and stage director is Peter Sellers, who did the original, of course, and he is one of the most highly regarded stage directors in the world of opera. And he is conceived of a production which I think will have special resonance in San

Fe, New Mexico, because producing this opera here is unlike doing it anywhere else because we are right there on the site. So it's a really rare opportunity to see an opera that deals with such an important part of our history, the development of the first atomic bomb, and gives us the opportunity to really reflect on what this has meant for mankind. And of course, this story has special significance, giving the times that we live in. Yes. Yes. I love that it's based historically, but it brings up, it's more than a history, it brings up the moral responsibilities and the ethical dilemmas of everyone from the director himself, from the president, from the scientist. It was a great challenge to anybody's belief system. I always think of Oppenheimer with his words that he said when he saw the first test,

he said, line from the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu epic, now I am become death, destroyer of worlds. But it doesn't get any more crucial than that, and we're still having to dance that dance. The text, this is so, I can hardly wait to see this, but let it's a mosaic of declassified government documents, letters from the participants in the actual historical thing, poetry, Native American songs, and then John Adams says that his inspiration for the feel of the music was 1950s science fiction movies where there's a bomb goes off in the desert in these mutant bands or whatever are going to destroy the world, and that you feel the tension in the fear of that world, the anxiety we have about Newt's now while you're looking at the peaceful glow of the lights of Los Alamos through the stage.

It should be a truly remarkable experience, and it's generating a lot of interest and attention, and one thing I should mention that all of the dancers that will be appearing in the production are Native American, and we have a Native American choreographer who's doing a simply beautiful job of integrating them into the production and the telling of this story, which has such special significance here in Santa Fe, and to the world, right? Yeah, in kind of parallel to this with the Steve Jobs opera and with this, you've done a program of tech and the West. It's a series of lectures and symposia that combine, they invite the Los Alamos Historical Society, School of Advanced Research, the Santa Fe Institute, the opera itself, the New Mexico History Museum, and you're providing lectures and films and a whole other historical background, what an opportunity for us.

One of my favorite writers is coming in July, Richard Rhodes, who got the Pulitzer Prize for the Making of the Atomic Bomb, actually a series of four books about the bomb, but he is the scholar of the first water, and he's going to come here. So anyone who's fascinated by this period, you have made it, you give them this beautiful opera, and then you provide all this other historical background, thank you. There is, oh, of course, there's so much going on, and it really is an opportunity to really delve into this subject matter in a very thorough way. There's so much going on, I don't think I'll be able to participate in most of it. But it's a great thing that opera affords the opportunity to really become immersed in these other subjects, which may not seem particularly operatic, but which will bring such heightened experience to the act of going to see the opera and having all this knowledge and background.

So we're very happy when we have these opportunities. Well, there's the knowledge and background that we're going to explore, but the real dynamic that intrigued me about this, this was the most top secret operation in New Mexico. And those scientists would land at 107 East Palace, and they'd be taken up in the dead of night. I think it was, finally, when 500 series catalogs, the different names were delivered to the post office of the books, people started to think, well, what's going on? What's going on? Yeah. But sellers, who's the stage director, has this quote, the tension between those opposites really got me. To me, that's one of the greatest functions of opera, says Peter Sellers, to take people's secrets and not just whisper them, but to sing them, sing them aloud with power and create something you have a visceral reaction to, something that's not allowed to be spoken.

Suddenly, you're singing it forth. Those, you know, everybody in that community had to be on the down low, and they couldn't talk to anybody, they had to creep around, even getting groceries, I mean, it was top secret. And now, at last, we can sing their song, thank you. Right. In many ways, Dr. Atomic is like a memory play that we're remembering these events that occurred and that we're shutting new light on them and singing those words and to have this wonderful combination of Peter's libretta with poetry and the Bhagavad Gita. And it should be a very, very potent experience, I think. Now it's funny that the third we're coming to Madden Butterfly, one of the classics of all time. You first performed it at the opera in 1957, Puccini's wonderful work. And we're just going to have to whip through these other ones.

Right. So there's a beautiful production of Madden Butterfly. Absolutely. Gorgeous. Very, very traditional, but set at the time of the telling of the story. And this is a slightly different version of Butterfly than we're used to seeing. It's a so-called Brescia version of Butterfly, which Puccini later revised, but it's felt that this version brings out a few more of the sharp edges of the differences between the Americans and the Japanese. And it makes Pinkerton out to be even more of a cad, I think, than we normally see in this opera. But it has some of the most beautiful music in all of opera. And of course, it's just one of the great classics of all time. Browning out the field of Ocini and Strauss, tell me just briefly, because I want to get to what's playing in your life next, yeah. Well, the Italian girl in Algiers was done at the Santa Fe opera in 2002, and it was

the runaway hit of the season. And it tells a delightful and slightly silly story. It has the bubbling, wonderful music of Ocini. And we're very happy to bring this production back for our public. And I think it probably will be the first production of the season to sell out, believe it or not, because there's real interest among those who saw it before, and I really want to see that again. So it's a pure delight. And then we have Ariadne Elf-Doxos of Ricotta Strauss. And of course, Strauss was kind of the mainstay of the repertoire during the long tenure of our genius founder, John Crosby, loved Strauss, and conducted this opera often. So this is a brand new production that stars Amanda Eshelas in the title role. It should be very classic, and for anybody who loves Strauss, don't miss Ariadne.

So I want to thank you for your years and your gifts to Santa Fe and to the opera. You've chosen to step down to retire now, right? I have. And what do you have plans and tell me about the new guy, the new director, who will start next year, right? That's right. Yeah. On October 1st, Robert Mayo will become the 4th General Director of the Santa Fe Opera. He has been in Santa Fe as our Director of External Affairs for the last six years. Oh, that's great. So he knows the company backwards and forwards. He understands all the interesting little nooks and crannies of the operation and is a thoroughly delightful and extremely knowledgeable fellow. And I think he will do a spectacular job leading the company. And he's assembled a really first-rate team of Alexander Neif as the artistic director and Harry Bickett as the music director.

So they will be a powerhouse team taking the opera to new heights I have no doubt. For myself, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the good life in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of the things I've always enjoyed is being able to spend time in the out of doors when I was a kid growing up in Santa Fe. I spent a lot of time in the mountains, in the wilderness, and backpacking. And I was a fairly good fly fisherman in my youth. So I'm looking forward to getting back to some of those things that I've not been able to do when I've had this incredibly busy schedule in the summertime. Yeah, because that's the best time to be outdoors and you have been, I know what your schedule is like during the off-ray. It's a little intense. But I'll still see you at the opera. Oh, I'm sure you will. I'll be there. Absolutely. I'll be there. Well, I want to thank you for all you've done for the opera and for us. And I want to encourage our audience to come to the opera.

It's a cultural treasure in our own backyard. It's not to be missed. And I wish you every success and happiness in your future. Thank you so much, Lorraine. It's a great privilege to be here and to speak with you and to talk to your viewers and to tell them, yes, I'll see you at the opera. This summer. Our guest today is Charles McKay, the general director of the Santa Fe Opera. And I'm Lorraine Mills. I'd like to thank you our audience for being with us today on report from Santa Fe. We'll see you next week. Past archival programs of report from Santa Fe are available at the website reportfromsatafay.com. If you have questions or comments, please email info at reportfromsatafay.com. Report from Santa Fe is made possible in part by grants from the members of the National Education Association of New Mexico, an organization of professionals who believe that investing in public education is an investment in our state's economic future.

And by a grant from the Healey Foundation, Tau's New Mexico.