Opera is an inherently collaborative art form, so mounting the first collaboration of all five resident companies of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts seemed like a natural move, according to E. Loren Meeker, Opera San Antonio’s general and artistic director.
Hansel and Gretel, running Oct. 5 and 7, will bring together the Classical Music Institute, Ballet San Antonio, the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio and Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, with Opera San Antonio as producer of the 1893 opera.
“The earliest and grandest operas all had ballets written into them, [and] children’s choruses,” along with full orchestration, Meeker said. “I’m really happy that San Antonio is ready to collaborate, and that these kinds of relationships are growing.”
The opera’s March production of Romeo and Juliet incorporated Ballet San Antonio dancers along with live music from the Classical Music Institute, but the addition of the Children’s Chorus and five advanced musicians from Youth Orchestras of San Antonio marks a rare depth of collaboration, she said.
‘An amazing story’
“This is a bigger, more collaborative, friendlier atmosphere than I have experienced anywhere else, with any other opera company in the nation,” Meeker said, speaking of her extensive experience with Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Teatro Colón, Austin Opera and the New Orleans Opera, which co-produced Hansel and Gretel with Opera San Antonio and ran its first production last season.
“This is the beginning of … an amazing story that not only helps the performing arts of San Antonio grow into the next era, but it’s really something I think the nation can look at and say, ‘How does that work? How can we be like that?’” Meeker said.
Troy Peters, music director at Youth Orchestras of San Antonio (YOSA), said that while the orchestra has collaborated with its other fellow resident companies in the past, performing opera “in the pit” alongside professional musicians will give his students an opportunity to extend beyond their usual education.
“Music making in opera is a very different kind of playing than traditional orchestral playing,” he said. “There’s a lot more flexibility. Typically, opera changes tempo a lot more frequently than orchestral music. so you learn a lot about how to adjust on the fly.”
Collaboration with professionals is “a cornerstone of what we do at YOSA,” Peters said. “We’re constantly looking for ways that our young musicians can learn from their mentors.”
Graduates from Opera San Antonio’s own Summer Apprentice Artist Program will also take part in the show, with Bronwyn White as the Sandman and Michelle Ravitsky as the Dew Fairy.
A new artistic vision
Co-producing Hansel and Gretel with New Orleans Opera general director Clare Burovac allowed the two companies to create a new artistic vision for the classic opera, lightening the tone of the dark children’s tale to a more family-friendly level, and designing sets that can deftly convert from the gloomy interior of the family’s meager home to the fabulous — though suspect — exterior world of the Ilsenstein forest, where the lead characters’ encounter with a witch unfolds.
“That was really important to us in terms of how to tell the story and keep the story moving without the need for major time-consuming scene changes,” Meeker said. “Also that it can happen visually in front of the audience, so they get to experience that magic” from moving inside the house to the forest in seconds, she said.
Anyone familiar with the old Grimm’s fairy tale would know that its namesake young siblings confront challenging wickedness, but Meeker assured that the story ends well.
“They get there through family trials and tribulations, they get lost, they have to learn how to support each other and care for each other,” she said.
“They have to learn how to outwit a great evil when faced with it. That can be light and lovely in some ways, and in other ways, those are really deep, difficult, humanistic lessons that you have to learn. That’s why it’s a joy to be able to do this kind of piece, because it resonates on so many levels.”
The Tobin Center hosts two productions of Hansel and Gretel, Oct. 5 and 7, with tickets available starting at $30.
