Hey! Michelle with a Mic: The Magic Behind Cincinnati Opera's 2026 Season

On this episode of Hey! Michelle with a Mic, Michelle welcomes one of the most influential voices in American opera, Evans Mirageas, for a conversation about the future of opera, the power of storytelling, and what audiences can expect from the exciting 2026 season of Cincinnati Opera.

As Cincinnati Opera's Harry T. Wilks Artistic Director since 2006, Evans has helped shape the company into a nationally recognized leader in both classic repertoire and groundbreaking new works. Together, Michelle and Evans explore the artistic vision behind the 2026 season, how productions are selected, what it takes to bring opera to life on stage, and why Cincinnati continues to be an important center for innovation in the performing arts. 

Whether you're a devoted opera enthusiast, a lover of the arts, or simply curious about the creative process behind one of Cincinnati's most treasured cultural institutions, this episode offers a fascinating look behind the curtain at a season filled with ambition, artistry, and possibility. 

Check out the Cincinnati Opera's 2026 Season! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Hey Michelle with a mic, bringing you good people with great stories. And today I'm super excited to have with us Evans Mirangis. Did I just mess it up again after we just Mirages? Mirages. See. And we went over his last name and he had funny stories. Whenever you have a name that not is not common, it's you always have good stories with the butchering. So there you go. He is the artistic director for our gem of our city, the Cincinnati Opera. And you've been there 20 years. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

21st season.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

I love this. And I say the opera is definitely a shining stone in our crown because of the history and what it brings to our city. And it just makes our art scene even better than it is. You know, we just have such a great art scene and it's just so fantastic. So I want to dive into a little bit of the history of the art of the opera because not a lot of people know. And uh, and then your story, and then into the the season, which is ready to kick off.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

So um I was talking to Melanie Wallman yesterday, and we were talking about history and how when you say you're from Cincinnati and somebody kind of looks at you like you know they've never been in its average whatever city, you have this elevator speech that you fly things out. And one of mine is always do you know we have the second longest continually operating opera in the country other than the Met. So hopefully that's correct.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Absolutely true.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Yes. So I mean the history is there. I mean, that speaks in itself. So tell us a little about that and where it started, because I think a lot of people don't realize, especially if they're new to the city or younger, probably have no idea where the opera actually performed in its early days.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

You have to think that Music Hall, which was built in 1878, uh, was only air conditioned in 1971.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

So um the origin of Cincinnati Opera actually is with the great ladies of Cincinnati. And I am always happy to point out that every single institution, educational, philanthropic, or artistic, every organization in this city was founded by women.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Aaron Ross Powell, I I agree. There are some fantastic organizations, women organizations in that.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Women were behind uh the foundation and the operation of our Great Cincinnati Symphony in the 1890s. But by the late teens, let's say right around the time of the end of World War I, they became worried that there was simply not enough work for our Great Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Orchestra seasons in those days were very short. They started perhaps late in October. And in Cincinnati, they ended with the end of the May festival, usually the second or the third week in May. And then the orchestra had no work. June, July, August, September, sum of October. So they thought, well, what a wonderful idea. We have an operatic culture in Cincinnati. We had visiting opera companies for decades. The Metropolitan Opera, in its first season, in the springtime of its first year, came and played a guest date at Music Hall.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Oh, fine.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

But we had no opera of our own. And it was an occupation that needed to happen in the summertime. So Music Hall's out. It's a sauna without air conditioning.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Nobody would come.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

But someone had the very bright idea. Well, you know, the Cincinnati Zoo is at a higher elevation. It had sort of the beginnings of a, well, at least it had a band shell and some potential for covered seating. And so in 1920, in the summer of 1920, we began our life at the Cincinnati Zoo. The first year I'm told, and unfortunately I have seen no pictures of it, but I'm told by descriptions that first year was a little bit improvised in terms of its setup. But as those three or four first seasons moved along, we had more covered seating, we had some more stage facilities. And until 1957, we were the only big continuously operating summer festival opera in the United States.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

So from 1920 until 1971, we performed at the Cincinnati Zoo. Ever more elaborate facilities, but still no air conditioning. A hot summer's night is a hot summer's night, even in the out of doors. And of course, at the zoo, you also had, because at dusk, animals make their biggest noises because they're hungry.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

And so just around the time of the curtain and in the first act of the opera, there are legendary stories of our artists being serenaded by peacocks and elephants and lions and whatnot, singing right along with the opera. The occasional raccoon walking down the aisle. But as such, it was an enormous success. Because, first of all, let's remember 1920, no television, barely radio. Phonograph recordings were still relatively new, certainly no cinema of any significance at that point. So people had not a whole heck of a lot to do in the evening on the summer nights. And so they flocked to the zoo. Oh, I love it. We had enormous seasons, a couple of summers. I don't know how they rehearsed them, but a couple of summers between sort of the beginning of June and the middle of August, between the beginning of June and the middle of August, we did something like 17 different operas.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Oh my gosh. I have no idea how they rehearsed them.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

But they did it. And the other thing that's significant about our early history is that if you looked at the roster of the singers that we engaged in the first, let's say, 15 years of our life, you wouldn't recognize any famous names. They were well known in their time as really great American opera singers. And there was quite a culture of opera being sung by Americans in our country. There were even Americans singing at the Metropolitan in New York. But what happens along about 1933, 1934, 1935? Remember, these are the years coincident with the rise of Nazism in Europe. First of all, the well-known Jewish singers did not want to go to Europe.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Soon thereafter, they weren't allowed. And then as the 30s get closer to the war, nobody wanted to go to Europe. So what do all these great opera singers do if they have no work in the summer? They go where there is work. And there was one opera company that produced on a grand scale, and that was Cincinnati Opera. I love it. So starting in about 1935, you recognize if you're an opera person, really famous people started to come to Cincinnati to sing in the summertime. So it persisted. And after the war was over, what we had done is built up two things. You talk about Cincinnati and how, you know, we we uh we hide our light under a bushel sometimes. But artists knew that Cincinnati was important. And we also, because we're the Midwest, we're very friendly. Yes. We're very hospitable. Board members opened their homes for parties. The board members who had swimming pools welcomed the artists and their families to their swimming pools. We're a very sociable bunch, we Midwesterners. I'm from Ann Arbor, Michigan, so I can say we Midwesterners. And those two things, the tradition of having great artistic excellence, because we always had the Cincinnati Symphony. Yeah, you sweated a lot and you sang out of doors, but you sang with great colleagues and you were treated nicely.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

And so that tradition continues to this day. But by the late 60s, uh air conditioning was ubiquitous, certainly in commercial spaces, and productions got more elaborate. There was a desire to see things with a little bit more theatrical reality. And so the decision was made to renovate music hall. And Ralph and Patricia Corbett gave a lead gift to help music hall become a facility that could be used in the summertime. And we moved in in 1972. We've been there ever since.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

I mean, what a gem and how wonderful. And to continue that in such a beautiful, privileged, iconic spot. Okay, so tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got to where you are today. How does how does someone find their interest in opera? I say it is definitely a taste that is not everybody, but I think there's an opera for everyone in my mind.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Um, I was lucky enough to travel with you guys to the Met when traveling travelers did that there. And that was so, well, that was like a whole nother experience too. It's going to the Met. But uh, you know, the opera scene was is so fun. And I tell you, the I always say the opera parties in Cincinnati. The the people are so cool. And sometimes I look around and I'm like, where are these people any other time? I don't think I see them anywhere. Where are they? They're so they're just everybody has their passion. I love it. I love the people that it brings out anyway. Yes. So tell us a little bit about your story on this.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

I am probably the most unlikely artistic director.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Oh, do tell.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Well, I am a product of the public school music system in our country in the late 1950s and 60s. Okay. So when I was a kid growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which has a great university there.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

Mm-hmm. Sure does.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Sorry, O I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

No, I'm a Michigan fan.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

I'll say I'm a Michigan fan. So And it had a great music school. It has a great music school. Uh and the level of music education in the public schools was quite high. So as early as your late elementary years, you're offered an instrument to play. And I actually took up the clarinet because uh I had no interest in classical music, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

I wanted to be the clarinetist in a Greek wedding band. Because when I would go to baptisms and weddings and festivities, when the guy who played the clarinet got up, he was like the snake charmer.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Everybody was on the dance floor. So I wanted to be him. Oh fuck. So I started in music with no real aspirations beyond just playing in a band. But classical music took hold of me in my junior high school years. I had a very charismatic teacher who introduced me through recordings to classical music. That led to a job after school while I was still in junior high school with a record store. Remember record stores? Love it. Yes. We had lots of them in Ann Arbor, of course. Vinyl is back.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

And uh and so in that record store, uh, I also met an incredible mentor who would give me tickets to concerts because Ann Arbor also had and has one of the great concert presenting organizations in the country. Oh. Every great orchestra, every great soloist, every great singer came through Ann Arbor.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

So by the time I was out of high school, I'd had the most amazing empirical education in all manner of classical music. But opera was last.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

I didn't like all those screechy sopranos. I like tenors and baritones. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Bamley voice. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

You know? But my boss was very my record store boss was very clever. He gave me a recording of a lesser-known opera by the composer of the most famous opera, George Bizet, who wrote Carmen for doing this summer.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Bizet wrote another opera earlier in his career called The Pearl Fishers.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Not the greatest piece of music ever written. And it gets done because it's got one great hit tune for the tenor and the baritone.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

It's one of those duets like you'd see in a, I don't know, in an Indiana Jones movie, you know, Friends Until Death. And he said, take this record home and listen to it. And if you don't like it, bring it back. I'll, you know, I won't, I won't charge you for it. And I took it home and I listened to it, and I was captivated by the melodic beauty of the whole piece. Then he hooked me. He said, Well, you know, there's a very famous Greek American singer, probably the most famous opera singer of the 20th century. Her name is Maria Callas. And she made a recording of an opera called Tosca. Well, listen to that. All it took was 20 minutes of that. I was genuinely hooked. And people ask, Well, what is it about the human operatic singing voice that got you hooked on glasses?

SPEAKER_02 12:03

That was on my list of questions.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Well, it's not easy to describe, but if if if I take Maria Callas as an example, so if you sing opera, you have to have a phenomenal technical apparatus that you have developed, just like a pianist or a clarinetist does, but it's in your throat. And there are no microphones in opera houses. So you have to make a noise that can be heard 50 feet away by thousands of people with no microphone. So that in and of itself is an extraordinary gift and set of skills that you hone over time. But what made me fall in love with operatic singing was the conveyance of emotion through the human voice, even in a language I didn't understand at first, because operas are sung usually in their original languages. Most of them are Italian, French, or German. But what caught me, particularly with Maria Callas, is there is an emotion in the voice. There is a sadness sometimes in the sound that speaks volumes. And then when there is joy, it's joy on steroids. So really, I fell in love with opera through the voice itself, which of course is the unique aspect of opera. It's not symphonic museum. And over time I started going to operas. In those days, the Metropolitan Opera toured the United States, and they came every year to Detroit nearby. And so I would say by the time I was done with high school and getting ready to go to college, opera had become a real passion. Not exclusively, but had it had taken its pride of place with me alongside orchestral music and piano music and string quartets and choral music. And I took a university degree at the University of Michigan in the 70s. And I was in college at that time. The Vietnam War was winding down, thank goodness. And but the curriculum was a little bit more flexible than it might have been before. And I don't know what got into my head, but I thought, you know what? I'm never going to be a world-class clarinet player. And I'd given up my idea of the city. I got given it up a long time ago.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Side gigs, side gigs.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yeah, side hustle on the weekend. But I did get excited about getting other people excited about classical music. So I thought, well, what do I do? Do I go into publishing? My dad ran a small printing company, so I could have I liked the smell of ink and organization. Um I could go into the publishing business. I could go into music administration. I didn't know what that was. Or I could work in radio.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Because we had a great public radio school. Well, I was blessed with that. I did nothing to do it, but I mean you have face for TV also.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

I wouldn't say a face for radio either.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

But um I developed this passion for getting other people excited about classical music. So I used my university undergraduate years to really get a rounded education, learn how to write. My degree is actually journalism.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

I learned how to write, to speak in public. I even talk a course, took a course called How to Enunciate the Bible in Public.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

But political history, world history, the history of sport, because if in your radio, you have to do the sports cast if you're the only guy on duty on Saturday night. And of course, tons of literature and as many music courses as I could cram into an undergraduate schedule and still do a part-time job. Yeah. Eventually two part-time jobs. So I wound up working for the radio at the University of Michigan, stayed there for several years after I graduated from school. And by then I had learned how to make recordings of classical music, write scripts, host programs, do research. So I was sort of off and running. And each career move has been totally improbable. I went to Chicago in the early 80s and worked for a commercial classical music radio station.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Moved from there to Boston to do the artistic planning for the Boston Symphony for five years in the mid-90s. And then from um 1994 until 2000, uh, Tom and I moved to England.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

And I ran the Decca Record Company, which is one of the premier classical music recording companies.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

When that ended, I went freelance uh because Tom actually said, Look, you've done work in all these different areas of classical music. Why don't you offer your services as a freelance consultant? I didn't know the first thing about it. But I did. And eventually I got a call from Cincinnati Opera. Actually, I got an email from the legendary Patricia Beggs.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Our general director at the time.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

And she asked if I would come and do some consulting for them. A little bit of a transition between the departure of Nick Muni and their search for.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

How do you think she found you?

SPEAKER_00 16:42

What was her Oh, I know exactly how she found me. So Patty was and still is very much involved in a service organization for opera in the United States called Opera America.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

And its uh general director is a man by the name of Mark Scorka.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

He has since just retired, actually. He ran the company for 35 years. Amazing man in the arts in the United States. I knew Mark from the time we lived in Chicago, and I mentioned to him maybe a year before this happened, you know, I'm freelancing now, but and if ever an opera company calls, remember that I do love and know a fair amount about it.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

Love how things like this work. It's just amazing.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Patty called Mark Skorka, and Mark Skorka said, call Evans Marathas.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

So I agreed to do some consulting. And I came here, I remember it very distinctly in January of 2020.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

January is not our best month to show ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

No, but I came, but I came to visit some of the people I'd be working with mostly over the phone, an email. And very soon thereafter, Patty said, Would I like the job? I said, no. Not because I was being coy, but because we were living in Minnesota at the time. We went back to the States. Tom had a great job in Minnesota. I had a wonderful life as a freelancer. And uh I wasn't ready to make a move. But Patty was so persuasive that by May of 2005, I said, I have to do this. I'd be an idiot not to try. So I was uh interviewed by the committee, and luckily for me, they said, You like this guy, and I've been here ever since.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Well, thank you, Patty, for getting that to happen, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

That is amazing. Okay, so with all of this background of you uh what with you and the opera, have you who have you worked with that you are most proud of, or something that you've done that's been really amazing?

SPEAKER_00 18:30

You know, it would be a list as long as my arm.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Oh, well, that's blocky.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Because it's conductors and directors and of course singers. And they're divided into sort of two camps. There are the established stars with whom I have had the privilege of working. Luciano Pavarotti, Renee Fleming, you name it, the great singers of this last 50 years, either in my life as a radio producer or running a record company or freelancing, I've had the privilege of meeting everybody and working with many of them. The other category is the emerging talent that I love to spot and promote. So I have so many happy success stories of people who early in their careers were looking for a little bit of a break, or maybe the chance to come and try out a role that they wanted to sing in a bigger house or a different house someplace. Or someone that I just spotted playing piano and I said, You're a conductor.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

You're not just a pianist. We have one of those this summer, actually.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

All right.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

So my joy is equally divided between the Luciano Pavarotti's of this world and um Brittany Olivia Logan, who is going to be singing the lead role in our world premiere opera this summer. She will sing the role of Persephone in the wonderful world premiere opera, Lalovavi, the first of the Black Opera projects. I remember Brittany when she was a student at CCM.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

She had a lovely voice. Um, she did her audition for the Metropolitan Opera competition in our facility in the depths of COVID with a mask and a TV and a gosh. And here she is now uh with a diary full of contracts going forward, but she's making her main stage debut with us this summer. So that's the kind of person I'm equally proud of that you see someone as a sort of an emerging talent, and my most strongly held responsibility is not pushing people too fast, not casting someone for something that I feel is right for me, but not right for them.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Making certain that I am nurturing their career as well as giving them an opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

That's amazing. And with that, how so how do you find the talent for the opera? What is is it worldwide?

SPEAKER_00 20:47

I mean, how do you it's worldwide, and I'm an audition fiend. In any calendar year, I hear probably 500 singers.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Yeah. Between our own auditions in the fall, uh, which are sort of come one, come all for both chorus and smaller roles, and managers send more established singers to sing from for principal roles. I always listen to at least two Metropolitan Opera competition, uh, what they call regional and districts. I hear auditions in New York. Whenever I go to Europe, I hear people. So over the course of a year, I hear about 500 people.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Oh my gosh. It's like American Idol of Opera. Well, and we with none of the blooper parts, probably.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

None of the blooper parts.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Probably a little more serious.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

But you find you find talent in a number of ways. First of all, I mean it's the most exciting thing to sit in the room and someone comes on the stage and we've never seen before, never heard before, and they open up their mouth and it's like, oh my gosh. Right. You're a star.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

And also trusted colleagues. So someone will call me and say, Evans, last night we had a debut of XYZ in this role, and she blew the roof off. You need to keep your eye on her. And we do it for each other. I will call I will call colleagues when I have, you know, someone who's Really excited me and say, hey, you need to know about this tenor because he's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

And to know there's that much talent out there.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

It's amazing. And it is an old-fashioned business in some ways. Yes, I mean, YouTube has made a huge impact in initial auditions because you can at least assess from a YouTube video, does someone can someone sing in tune? You know, do they have a sense of musicality? Can they do they sing the right pitches and the right rhythms? But only face to face in a room where he or she is activating the air in the room, can you really make a final decision? So it's still very old-fashioned in that respect.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Right. So how, being an old-fashioned art, um, how are you keeping it current? How are we how are you working to keep the young people interested when it's you know all in another language and sometimes subtitles and you know other things? How do you keep it interesting for the next generation?

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Aaron Powell It's a multi-pronged approach. One way is to regularly cycle through the great masterpieces. Because all of the surveys say that for maybe 70% of people who try opera for the first time, there are two things that apply. One, someone else brings them. Mother, father, sister, brother, boyfriend, girlfriend, granny. Quite often grandmothers, right? Grandmothers are to blame for many opera lovers, and I'm so happy. And the other reason is that it's a familiar title. And there are about 10 of those that the sort of the general music-aware public knows. Carmen, which we're doing this summer, the most famous of all.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Madame Butterfly.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

So people, Madame Butterfly, which we did in 2023 in a gorgeous new production. So people come to opera for more than those two reasons. Other people decide to take give opera a chance when they see a description of a piece that is not in a huge theater, that is maybe a contemporary subject that interests them and is in English. So there's not that level of intimidation that you're having to hear a foreign language, even though every opera that we do has the titles of the, has the words in English projected above the screen. Proscenium, rather. And so we found a whole new audience with people who want to give opera a try, but on a smaller scale, less intimidating, a little bit more to their life experience. And we have been so fortunate because starting in 2013, when the new School for Creative and Performing Arts was fully operational, we spent several years giving one opera each year in the smaller space of their beautiful auditorium, which seats about 700 plus. We've also more recently started doing operas on that small scale and of more contemporary subjects in music hall after the renovation in what is now the Wilkes Studio, which is a black box theater. And this summer is a perfect example of that as well. We have an opera called Orpheus and Eurydice. It's not the very famous one by Gluck or the slightly less famous one by Monte Verdi. It's actually a new opera, 25 years old, written by the American composer Ricky Ian Gordon.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

And it's in English. And it's two performers. Eurydice is a soprano, as you might imagine. Orpheus is a clarinet.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

Oh. I didn't do it because Orpheus doesn't sing.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

He plays the clarinet. And she and she interprets for him. So we have, you know, Carmen this summer, which is obviously a blockbuster familiar title. We have Richard Strauss's Salome this summer, which is an example of the kind of opera we do for the opera lover, someone who already knows a little bit about the art form. It's an extraordinary piece. And what's the story on the story is based vaguely on the biblical story of the execution of the prophet John the Baptist when he was in he was imprisoned by Herod. And Salome, at least in the telling of this story, uh doesn't have a name in the Bible, by the way. It's just the daughter. But Salome is lusted after by her stepfather, Herod. And uh he wants her to dance for him. Now she has made the acquaintance of John the Baptist already because he's imprisoned in Herod's palace. And she says, I don't want to dance. He says, I'll give you anything you want. He says, Really? Anything I want? Anything you want. So she dances and then demands her reward, which is the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

unknown 26:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Very gruesome.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

But an amazing opera with a huge orchestra, the biggest orchestra of the CSO that I've put in the pit since I've been here. Nearly 80 players.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Yeah. Wonderful. And incredible score. It is like an orchestral feast with singing.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

And then the first of the three Black Opera Project commissions called Lalovavi, which is turning out to be a magical, beautiful experience. So this summer's pretty typical. In other words, we have a piece for the diehard opera fan, Salome. We have music for people who want to give opera a try for the first time, a familiar title like Carmen, something a little bit less intimidating like Orpheus. And we have something that no one has ever done before, which is this world premiere beautiful opera set 400 years in the future.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Very exciting.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

I love that. That is that's fantastic. And I know also for people that will be listening to this, for the young people wanting to involve you have a YP group that is fantastic, and they do their fundraising and little parties and stuff too, which are fantastic. And I love that.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

We just had one last night in the foyer of music hall called Divas and Diamonds. All right. And we have many, many events for our young audience members. They, you know, every opera company has a different name. Some call them the young professionals or the center stage, or the but our group is an ever-growing group of younger people who just love socializing together and love getting to learn more about opera in a very unintimidating way.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

That's fantastic. I love it. So the season kicks off.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

June 18th and 20th resumes.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

It is coming up. It is coming up. And let's see. Let me see. I had so many questions for you, but I think we like talked about so many of them. What do you have a favorite opera? I mean, is that like asking a favorite child?

SPEAKER_00 28:31

It's exactly the same. Depends on the year.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

But I will say, if I had to choose an opera that resonated with me personally on so many levels, uh, it would be Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Because, first of all, it is deeply human. You can believe every single character on that. You've met every single character on that stage. And even though it may be said in 18th century Seville, and he's a count and she's a countess, and one's a gardener, and one's a barber, and one's a, you know, the ward of uh of a letteress old man. We've met all these people. We know their personalities. And the way that Mozart and his librettist, the man who wrote the play, uh that it was that Mozart said to music, plumbed the human spirit. Mozart was probably the greatest musical psychologist who ever lived. And yet he was barely into his 30s uh when he was writing this incredible opera. It's the work of a man who should have been 30 years older than he was, but that's what genius is. So if I had to choose one that was musically, dramatically so satisfying that I couldn't live without, it would be the marriage of Figaro. And it's a comedy. Well, it's a humane comedy. It doesn't get really dark. Well, it does get a little dark because part of the drama of the marriage of Figaro is a marriage that started out very promisingly and now has gone very unpromisingly. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

That happens.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

That happens. What excites you about the future of opera?

SPEAKER_00 30:03

The young creators who are making new opera and the young singers who make it always exciting to go to for me to go to an audition, but also to present an opera to our public. That they will discover something here in Cincinnati. I love saying that my favorite thing to do in my job is to give our audience members bragging rights. When someone makes their debut at this at the Metropolitan Opera or the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and they come to me and say, Hey, you know that Suzy Q is singing at the Met next year. I say, Yeah, she's a student here at CCM. I hired her when she was nobody. And I say that to our patrons to say, one of the reasons you must come is that you don't want to miss out. Because you want to be able to say, when a snobby friend of yours in New York or London says, Well, you know, this week we're going to the Met to see Madam Susie Q. I heard her five years ago in Cincinnati. Where were you? That's my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

And the CCM is a big big draw for us. I mean, we're just lucky to have that right in literally almost in the backyard, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:01

I like to say operate with secret weapons because as you indicated at the beginning of our conversation, we're a city that sort of bats above our average and boxes above our weight. They have no business having a world-class symphony orchestra or opera company or ballet company or a number of professional theaters and this great university and and and and because of our geography and our population base. I agree. We do.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Because the people who live here really care.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

And so for me, one of the things that makes it so gratifying to be here for these last 21 years is that I get to work with some of the finest artists in the world in front of an audience that gets it. Appreciates it.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Absolutely. I agree. I love talking to you. This has been so fun. Um with a Cincinnati question usually. Um, what is your go-to restaurant in Cincinnati right now?

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Oh, I have several.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Okay. And that's what I always answer with. Because I will tell you.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

I will tell you because um in Over the Rhine, uh I have four or five favorites because I have to, because in the summertime I live in music hall. So that's your I think one of my favorites is Philo, which is the Greek. Yes, Greek.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

That makes sense, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Total bias because I'm Greek American. But phyllo is really wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

It is very good. And I think it's a little hidden gem. I think it is for sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

I love Sacred Beast. I love Peppa Dolores, I love all the great restaurants on Vine Street, Alcove, you name it. Yes. Um, outside, I will make probably a surprising Okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

I love this.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

Because uh it is one of my favorite restaurants and it's sort of taken for granted. And that's the trio bistro in Kenwood.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

I'll tell you another reason why. Because so many of our patrons live up that way. I can have meetings in the world. It's a great meeting.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

I think a lot of people meet there.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Without wanting to or not, I'm meeting, I'm running into three or four board members, and the food is fantastic. The food's great, and they do a good wine pour. Yes, they do.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

We call a trio wine pour, which is a good wine for. Yes. I love it. Yep. Thank you so much. We are looking forward to this season, and I cannot wait to go.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Well, I want to maybe offer you a little postscript because you said something, you said something, you asked a question that I think I didn't answer clearly enough, which is uh anybody can love opera. My job is to create those opportunities that will tempt them to give it a try. Because I have found again and again and again, all I have to do is get them in the theater.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

The opera does the rest of the work. So I would encourage your listeners, give it a try. Try Carmen. Or if you don't want a full evening, try Orpheus and Eurydice, which is one hour.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Oh, see, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

And filled with beautiful music. I mean, just incredibly beautiful, it heart-rendingly beautiful music. And a story that we all know. And I think for me, that's the greatest gift that we can give is to tell stories that resonate with people's life experiences, even if they don't recognize the person. I'm not a, you know, I'm not a king, I'm not a prince, I'm not an ancient god or goddess. But I've had those experiences. The commonality of that, I think, is what makes opera so compelling.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

I agree. And that is fantastic information. And I do highly suggest that people give it a try because it is a wonderful art. And our beautiful music hall with the symphony. I mean, it's a it's it's a win win win. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it. It's a pleasure. Thank you. Thanks.