Introduced by Gary Goldfogel, Dr. Mitch Kahn spoke to us about the Pacific Northwest Opera, formerly Skagit Opera. Specifically he discussed their upcoming production, an abridged version of Wagner’s The Ring Cycle. He played short clips of some familiar tunes from the opera. He talked about the background of the opera – based on mythology, mostly on Icelandic Eddas. Some feel the opera is a treatise on ethics. Others think it’s an allegory.
Dr. Kahn talked about the motifs that Wagner weaves together in different ways at different times to create a tapestry of sound. And he illustrated that with a few examples. There is a lot more to opera than the fat lady singing… He could not find an abridged version that he felt gave both the story and the music. He spent much of last year paring the 18 hours down to a show of just over three hours.
In his talk, Dr. Kahn informed us that this is not your standard community production. The PNWO is a professional company. One of its objectives is to give young singers a chance to perform roles that are “above their pay grade” in the national companies. He stated that 5 of the 16 in the company are hired guns, what we used to call ringers. For example the lead tenor hails from Australia. It takes about a month to rehearse a show. The director and leads must be available for that amount of time, which is where the majority of the expenses occur.
The orchestra will number 33, the number of chairs that fit in the orchestra pit.
The opera puts on 2-3 shows a year. Audience members come from as far away as Everett and Vancouver, BC.
He also mentioned that the opera will be performed in German. For (German) illiterates like me there will be a supertitle translation projected. Dr. Kahn provided the translation, preferring not to go the literal route, instead giving the audience the “feel” of the opera. The closest this reporter gets to opera is Gilbert and Sullivan, but this does sound intriguing.
The opera is being performed the first two weekends in May at McIntyre Hall in Mt. Vernon. Dr. Kahn encouraged us to attend the first performances, as the later ones tend to sell out.
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