Talking Opera with Ian Campbell, General Director & Artistic Director at San Diego Opera

Now that the holidays are behind us, the 2010 opera season is fast approaching here in San Diego . With the season opening premiere of Puccini's La Boheme less than three weeks away, don't ask me how Ian Campbell, the Impresario of the San Diego Opera managed to find time to submit to a cyber interview with me. I haven't a clue!

Smorg:What got you interested in opera? What do you love most about the art form now?

Ian Campbell: From my youngest years I enjoyed singing, beginning, as many tenors do, as a boy soprano, competing in eisteddfod competitions - winning some - and making several radio broadcasts. Eisteddfodau - the curious but correct plural of the Welsh word - were terribly important in Australia, as kids danced, sang, recited poetry, and undertook other challenges, just for a small certificate. They helped develop an interest in the arts, and some of Australia 's greatest singers moved from those events to big aria competitions such as the Mobil Quest, which gave Joan Sutherland the final money she needed to get to London, and the Sun Aria Competition.

My first 13 years were in Townsville (in the tropical far-north of Australia, near the Great Barrier Reef) with a population under 40,000. The next largest city was Brisbane, 690 miles away. Sydney, where I finished up living from the age of 13, was a full 1,045 miles off.

We had no orchestra, no ballet company, one tiny amateur theater and of course, no opera. At that time there was no national opera or ballet, and only the capital cities had orchestras. I did not hear an orchestra until my family moved to Sydney .

There was no television, but we did have radio and the movies. A radio program, World Famous Tenors, introduced me to classical singing, and I got to know the voices and names of the greats of the day, as well as those of the past. Mario Lanza movies were the next exciting step, as I was bowled over by the power of sung music, especially in The Great Caruso. But I had no though of being a singer.

We moved to Sydney when I was 13. Some teachers at high school took an interest in my voice and staged The Mikado, and I went on to Sydney University while singing amateur operetta all over town, and entering the usual competitions. I was not studying music at university, but a teacher from school paid for private singing lessons since she wanted me to understand the technique of voice better. So I became a better amateur tenor.

The real change came in 1966 when the Federal Government announced the formation of the first full-time opera company in Australia, to begin rehearsals in 1967. A few professionals planned to return from abroad, and any amateur who was interested could audition. I was persuaded by a girl friend to audition just for fun. They offered me a 28 week contract touring Australia, and I took it. It was a chance to travel. I was 21 and had completed my bachelor's degree, planning to return to university to take up law after the tour. I never went back. Later, I did study some courses through the Barristers' Admission Board, reading contracts, criminal law and torts, probably all one needs to run an opera company.

I sang full-time with what became Opera Australia, from 1967 to 1974, retiring the end of the first season in the Sydney Opera House. I knew I would never be Fritz Wunderlich or Nicolai Gedda, my favorite voices by that time, but believed I could be a stage director and a capable opera manager. From singing I went to the Australia Council for two years, administering grants to opera companies and orchestras, then ran the State Opera of South Australia. I was brought to the US by the Metropolitan Opera as Assistant Artistic Administrator, and then to San Diego Opera in 1983 as General Director and Artistic Director. I am very fortunate to have been out of work for one week of my 43 years in the world of opera.

So opera had grown on me, even though I had not sought it out. As I look back on the boy soprano, the competitions, having started a drama club so I could direct and perform the leading roles, it is clear with hindsight that I was always actually on the path to an opera career. But it sneaked up on me.

Today I still love all the elements which make up opera, and take great pleasure in pulling together with the help of our remarkable staff, all of the necessary pieces. Our job is to make the artists' path to the production and the stage as easy as possible. When it all gels, and we hear such great live music from extraordinary voices in particular, it is all worth the effort.

Smorg:I've heard some opined that the SDO's opera line ups for 2009 (Tosca, Don Quichotte, Rigoletto, Peter Grimes, Madama Butterfly) and 2010 (La Bohème, Nabucco, Romeo et Juliette, La Traviata) seasons include more Puccini and Verdi works than usual as a design to combat the recession, but I think you actually plan each season 3 or 4 years before hand. Did you have any premonition of economic downturn three years ago? How do you select which works to include in a season?

IC: It is true that there are several works by Puccini and Verdi, but we should not lose sight of the fact that Don Quichotte was being heard for the first time in 40 years, Nabucco has not been heard here for 29 years, and Peter Grimes was being heard for only the second time, with a gap of 25 years between productions. The seasons were chosen, as are most of our seasons, with a view to providing balance, the right casts, something new to the audience where possible, or something they have rarely heard. I always say that for a company with so few productions compared with the Metropolitan Opera or Vienna State Opera, for example, our approach can be understood only by looking at any five consecutive years of productions. When that is done, the range of works is better seen.

I wish I could say I predicted the economic downturn, but I did not, at least not to the extent it became. We were already sensing caution on the part of audiences as these seasons were being planned, and I believed that we should be sure to pepper them with some "popular" works, and these are usually Puccini and Verdi operas. But when the downturn was becoming apparent, we took the pro-active step of canceling an opera from the 2010 season, Manon Lescaut, which would have been the first hearing here since 1979. That, along with Nabucco, even though by Verdi, would have been dangerous. We knew fund-raising was certain to become more difficult, and ticket buyers would be cautious about what they did not know.

Selecting works in a stable economy is a little easier, yet still complicated. It is never a simple case of saying as Mickey Rooney did in so many movies, "Let's put on a show!" We take into account at the same time, what operas would we like to stage in the short-term and usually coming up with about ten to twelve. We consider singers we would we like to have sing with us; who might be new, who might be an old favorite. Who is right as a combination of conductor and stage director? Where do we get sets and costumes, or do we make a new production? Where will financial support come from? Are there supporters we know who would be happy to contribute even more money for, say, Tannhäuser, a very costly production? Can we afford the financial costs of the choice?

Once we have an idea of which operas might give us the right balance, we check on our first choices of singers to see if the right cast can be built. It is not a matter of finding a soprano, a tenor, a baritone and so on. The voices must be right for the roles, the mix of sounds and personalities should be right, especially in an opera with many ensembles, they must all be available for our dates of rehearsal and performance. Frequently we decide to delay an opera if the cast we really want is not available. So we might commit four years out in order to secure the singers we need. When the juggling can be done without dropping one of the balls, we have an opera for the season. Now, on to opera number two...

Smorg:You somehow managed to successfully balance the company budget again this past year, the 24th consecutive balanced budget since you became the General Director of the SDO! What do you think you are doing right while many other opera companies have either gone out of business or suffered such great loss that they required an emergency loan like the LA Opera had recently had to apply for?

IC: Opera companies are monsters, regardless of the budget size. They eat money faster than any other of the live performing arts and each opera require too many people to produce and perform. Therefore budget control is essential, and we have been fortunate that, up until now, many of our decisions have been the right ones. We are detailed in our forward planning, and I already have a pretty firm budget for 2013 and staff is working on 2014. We know the operas we will stage, most of the artists are contracted and budget limits set, so a realistic budget can be in hand early enough to have a good sense of the money we will need.

We also know our history. We know that an opera perceived as "modern" will sell fewer seats than most Verdi or Puccini works. A Streetcar Named Desire, Cold Sassy Tree, Thérèse Raquin, Of Mice and Men, Rappaccini's Daughter, Peter Grimes and Wozzeck are examples of operas San Diego Opera is committed to staging while knowing they will have lower box office returns than so-called standard repertoire, and usually cost even more to stage because they usually need new sets and costumes, and even commissioning costs as in Moby-Dick in 2013.

These things must be accounted for when a budget is prepared, and sources of special funding identified wherever possible. But even if these things are done well, the economy may not behave as wished, donors might leave town, or even die, business may close, and foundations may have reduced assets and therefore smaller donations. Frequently it is luck, with a capital "L", which is needed, whatever one does.

San Diego Opera plans carefully, controls expenses very tightly, tries to be adaptive as soon as the external environment changes, and prays a lot!

We have no magic formula because, in the final analysis, it is the ability to earn income and obtain contributions which keeps any company stable. Our Board of Directors is especially generous in their personal giving, and helps encourage others to do so. The Board members are the backbone of all fundraising, and without them and their dedication there would be no San Diego Opera. Most of our donors at all levels are remarkably loyal and stay with us through thick and thin, perhaps with a lesser contribution now and then, but a continued belief in the work we do.

Smorg:What will it take for the 5th opera to be added back to the San Diego Opera season? What can classical music/opera fans do to help?

IC: We are finalizing most of the casting for 2013 now and beginning to engage a few singers for specific operas in 2014, so we are already making long-term commitments without having the needed money yet in hand. To restore a fifth opera requires that we have confidence in our ability to handle the added expenses and additional fund-raising it will require. We need to have a sense, three or four years in advance, that we will be able to raise the money for that opera, which will have a price-tag close to $2,000,000. Right now, I and our financial experts, have no sense of when the economy will be stable enough to commit so much so far ahead.

The best thing opera fans can do now is to donate money if they can, but to buy tickets above all. Full houses inspire confidence from audiences and artists alike. Full houses reduce marketing expenses. Full houses create even more exciting performances and allow for confident management planning.

Smorg:Do you have any plan for live or recorded video broadcast of a performance on the local public station (like KPBS) or releasing opera DVD commercially the way the Metropolitan Opera and the European opera houses do?

IC: Our productions have been heard on radio as delayed broadcasts for many years now. This season they will be heard on XLNC-1. In my time here we broadcast live on only one occasion, which was well received, but there is little immediate benefit to our broadcasting live. Presently we record the Friday and Sunday performances and choose one of those to air, depending of musical values alone. We never edit them, or mix from the two performances.

Commercial release is not yet possible, and will always depend on costs for the artists, production and distribution, which will be more by internet than CD or even DVD before long. We have no plans just now, but it is not out of the question.

Smorg:With the recent outreach from many opera establishments to the non-opera audience via HD Broadcast to movie theaters, internet streaming, Sirius radio, DVD releases, etc, there is a rather hot debate going on about whether those ventures help to bring in new audience (that will pay for the ticket to attend live performances) or if they actually hurt by reducing the need to experience the art live. What is your take on the issue?

IC: I welcome opera being available through as many media as possible. And radio, CD, DVD and cinema broadcasts all serve to get the message of opera out there. But the mechanical media will never be the same as the live performance, and that is the true, historic nature of the art form.

We have enjoyed all of these media for many years, and opera in the movie theatre is not new. As a youngster I saw Tito Gobbi in Rigoletto and Franco Corelli in Tosca, among others. What is different now is that we can see an opera as it actually happens, broadcast from the great opera houses, using the most up-to-date technology available in movie theaters where we may eat, drink, get in even if arriving late, go to the bathroom and not be locked out, have free parking, attend by day, and enjoy the many other benefits opera in a cinema makes available. And with amplified surround sound and many close-ups, it becomes a new kind of opera which never can be duplicated in the opera house.

I do not believe the cinema creates a bridge to the live performance for many. The cost of the cinema ticket is vastly less than even the least expensive opera ticket at a live performance. And even if someone sees a cinema broadcast and decides to hear opera live, the experience is so different in every way as to make that bridge a difficult tone to cross. First is the expense. Then there's the lock-out after the performance begins, the lock-out if you leave to go to the bathroom, the inability to have popcorn and soda in the performance, the cost of parking and so on. And there are no close-ups, and one has to actually listen, not just hear, the performance. At the cinema amplified sound is fed to you. In the theatre one has to listen actively and decide for oneself where to look. In the cinema, the camera director decides what part of the stage you should see.

So we have a very different experience and expectation between the movie and the live performance. But remember, the live performance is actually in 3-D.

Smorg:Opera is often tagged as the entertainment of the rich. Much of it is due to the perceived high ticket cost compared to pop concert tickets (though I was just leafing through a list of ticket prices for concerts at the House of Blues and a few other pop concert venues here in town and see that many events there actually cost more to attend than do the balcony or mezzanine tickets to the opera). Could you tell us about what contributes to the ticket cost? What do the audience get for their money?

IC: The labor-intensity of opera is well known. A production of Aida in San Diego requires us to pay more than 450 people every night. The audience sees the soloists, the chorus, the supernumeraries, the orchestra, but they do not see what is needed backstage at that performance. Stage managers, assistant stage managers, electricians, stage hands, wig and makeup crews and dressers, are only a few of the personnel involved. Add to that the cost of three weeks of rehearsal, construction or rental of sets and costumes, rental of the theatre, marketing and the company staff needed, and it is a very hefty bill. A typical San Diego Opera production comes in at about $2,000,000 expense, only about 48% of which is recovered at the box office. As a rule of thumb, the ticket is only half the cost to present live opera. Thank heaven for generous donors who make opera accessible.

The seats closest to the stage, in the orchestra level, are expensive. Of that there is no doubt. But sky boxes at America 's game, baseball, cost a pretty penny also. The perceived best costs the most.

In spite of all this, there are affordable seats at baseball games, and relatively inexpensive seats are available in all opera houses. San Diego Opera has hundreds of $35 seats at every performance. But just as we'd all like to pay outfield prices for a skybox, we'd like to pay $35 for a seat in the orchestra. Unfortunately, it cannot be done.

The least expensive seat in our theatre, and in most opera houses, provides excellent sound, and a full view of the stage. It's the perfect place and price-point for the novice, the person who wants to know why a live performance has something an opera movie never will have. It's money well spent.

Smorg:I often watch in envy how audiences young and old turn up in (rather) casual dress and high in enthusiasm at classical recitals and opera festivals in Europe as they would at rock concerts but not here in America. Then I saw that the San Diego Symphony enjoyed quite good audience turn outs during their summer pops open air concerts at Embarcadero Marina Park - South. Is there any chance of the SDO putting up opera recitals there (like the Met's 'Opera in the Park' program)? Or attempting something like the Zurich Opera did when they staged La Traviata at the Central Train Station (which was broadcast live on tv) there in 2008? (If you would like to try it, what would you need to have to make it happen?)

IC: Our audiences dress in just about all styles, but opening nights do see more formal attire from some. However, there is no "dress code" and potential patrons should not be too worried abut that.

Outdoor concert performances of opera can be wonderful, even with the required amplification, but they remain expensive because of the costs of the soloists, the conductor, the chorus and the orchestra. And there is still the need for stage management, marketing and the like. A large subsidy would be required for us to do such a thing unfortunately, and it is always difficult to engage major artists for a single performance, or even two, when we are so far away. Perhaps one day we will have the additional money, but until the main-stage productions are stable and fully-funded, we have to allocate our resources differently.

Smorg:You've recently had to scratch Anja Harteros from the La Bohème line up due to medical reason. Tell us about Ellie Dehn, her American replacement as Mimi?

IC: Anja is a dear friend who considers this Company her family, and she's devastated by having to cancel. But these things happen, and we will have her back for her first Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier in 2011. Her first La Traviata and her first Simon Boccanegra were also here.

Every cancellation is a disappointment and an opportunity; disappointing that we lose one voice, but the opportunity to hear another.

We had only one week from Anja's cancellation to the first rehearsal, and finding a quality Mimì on that notice, who has a month to commit to San Diego, is not as easy as might be assumed. Good singers are engaged years in advance, but sometimes we can find someone who is between productions. I tried without success to get one of the artists who had sung Mimi here previously, and then turned to my card index file. I write a card on every singer who auditions for me, and every singer I hear in performance for the first time.

I was going through them one-by-one and stopped at "D". There was Ellie Dehn, who had auditioned for me in May, 2007. The card said it was a lovely warm sound with personality, the emission was even, it had shine and was secure throughout the range. She looked well, and seemed as though she would have excellent stage presence. I wrote that she was someone I should keep an eye on.

A call to her manager confirmed she had the gap - we close on February 7 and her next engagement commences of February 9 - so I asked for an update on the young woman I thought had promise. The houses she has sung in, or will sing in by 2012, are impressive: Bavarian State Opera in Munich , Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Bologna, San Francisco, and others. She is clearly on the way, and I was very pleased for her - and for us.

My Artistic Administrator, Marianne Flettner, quickly arranged her contract, accommodation and flights. I got her on the phone in a taxi in New York, to thank her, and tell her about the cast and production. And that was that.

Singers hate auditions. We all know they are intimidating, and the singer never feels the audition shows what he or she really can do. But they are sometimes necessary and can have results years after the event. In this case Ellie's audition in 2007 pays off in 2010.

Smorg:(Hopefully) Many, many years from now when you retire, what would you like to be able to say that you have achieved while running the San Diego Opera?

IC: I said when I was engaged here at San Diego Opera as the General and Artistic Director, that on retirement I hoped to give back to the Board of Directors and the people of San Diego an opera company with high artistic standards, financially stable, capable of attracting some of the best singers in the world, and delivering performances for the remainder of my life which I'd be proud to attend.

After me there will be another Artistic Director with a different view, but having the resources for that view to be realized are essential. I hope to be able to say they are there.
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The San Diego Opera performs at the San Diego Civic Theater in Downtown San Diego. This year's mouth-watering season showcases:

January 30, February 2, 5, 7
Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème (Keltner/ Dehn, Beczala, Gandhi, Mattsey, Walker, MacKenzie, Sikon)
February 20, 23, 2, 28
Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco (Müller/ Lučić, Valayre, Shen, Aceto, Hu, Poretsky)
March 13, 16, 19, 21
Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette (Keltner/ Pérez, Costello, Moore,Sorensen, Langan, Castle, Sikon)
April 17, 20, 23, 25
Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata (Palumbo/ Futral, Brenciu, Opie, Hu, Sikon, Janitsky)

Links:
www.sdopera.com
www.youtube.com/user/SanDiegoOpera
ariaserious.blogspot.com