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Page4Music at OPERA AMERICA Conference: Day 1
Anthony Cekay of Page4Music is in Boston podcasting from OPERA America’s opera conference. Here is his account of the opening day of the conference:
Early Sunday morning, after a late night of playing saxophone with singer/guitarist Julie Kathryn, I hopped into a van belonging to Nathan Leigh, guitarist of indie-pop band Super Mirage. Nathan and I stopped in middle Connecticut at a New York-style diner called Rein for some lunch — I had liver and pastrami on rye. After a bit more driving, we arrived in Boston proper and Nathan dropped me off at the Hyatt Regency Boston. I walked in, picked up my opera conference badge and began to look around for potential podcast guests.
Since the main conference activities begin Monday morning, there weren’t too many attendees around yet. While I ran into a few friends and colleagues, the hotel was generally quiet on this Sunday evening.
However, the conference hall was buzzing with inanimate objects: exhibition booths, fliers, signs, pamphlets and the like gave the Hyatt’s 4th floor a touch of humanity often not found in a sparsely-trafficked hotel lobby. There is a real “calm before the storm” feel to the hotel.
From the hotel, I went to the Museum of Fine Art wherein the conference’s opening gala was held. All of the more-than 400 conference attendees stood in a finely decorated room while several speakers introduced Boston and welcomed everyone. Speakers included: Marc Scorca (OPERA America), Rena M. De Sisto (Bank of America), Esther Nelson (Boston Lyric Opera) and Lesley Koenig (Opera Boston). Performers from Boston Lyric Opera treated the crowd to scenes from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
After the gala, many attendees went to networking dinners at Boston-area restaurants, but I headed to the Hyatt. The early bird gets the podcast. Tune in throughout the week to hear and read about my experiences at the opera conference!
Page4Music at OPERA AMERICA Conference: Day 2
Day two of OPERA America’s conference featured many a highlight: from the opening remarks by Anthony Freud and Marc Scorca to Tod Machover’s presentation of robots at MIT’s Media Lab. The conference opened with great speeches from OPERA America’s board chairman Anthony Freud (Houston Grand Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera) and president/CEO Marc Scorca. Both gentleman stressed the importance of cultivating and embracing new business models.
The sentiments of Scorca and Freud were reiterated by the keynote speaker, MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte. Negroponte noted that due to changing technological times, opera companies will have to look outside the traditional concert hall for new audience development, but that because more people have more access to information, there will be more potential opera-goers going forward.
Former keynote speaker Stan Davis addressed the state of opera in 2020 – a topic upon which he spoke in his previous keynote. Davis posed attendees with two scenarios for 2020: the state of opera is essentially the same as it is now, but no new works are being presented; or only 25% of the current major companies are inexistence, but opera is vibrant in schools, bars, clubs and new works is being championed by all the stakeholders involved. Attendees voted in favor of the latter option, but overwhelmingly longed for a third option: one where opera is just as vibrant as in the second option, but as institutionalized as in the first option. A panel made of Scorca, David Devan (Opera Company of Philadelphia), James Wright (Vancouver Opera), Robin Guarino (Cincinnati Conservatory of Music) and Greg Swinehart (Deloitte) discussed how adopting a new business model might foster this third option for the future of opera.
I spoke with several Boston-based opera companies during the second day of the conference to bring better insight to the Boston arts scene.
Here is an interview with Rudolph Rojahn of Guerilla Opera:
Here is an interview with Erin Huelskamp of Juventas:
After general sessions, the conference attendees hopped on busses to Cambridge to visit the MIT Media Lab. While there attendees were treated to a presentation by Tod Machover about new ways to use technology to present opera. He discussed how new pieces of smart machinery – those utilized in projects like Guitar Hero and Rock Band – might be used by opera companies in coming years.
As the presentation concluded, most attendees headed to the Oberon Theater for the New Works Sampler – a collection of, as it sounds, new opera works. I diverged from that path to explore Cambridge and visit The Lilly Pad wherein Julie Kathryn and I will be performing at 9:30 on Wednesday the 11th.
Page4Music at OPERA AMERICA Conference: Day 3
For me, day three of OPERA America’s conference was quite different than that of most attendees. I spent most of the day podcasting while attendees were busy consuming conference sessions specialized by disciplinary network. However, I did begin the day by attending a finance network session led by Candice Meth of EisnerAmper LLP.
Meth discussed ways to avoid the ire of the IRS when an completing a 990 tax form. She focused on ways to tie a company’s audited financial statements to it’s 990. The trick with the new 990 form, is that it allows you to provide new information that the IRS previously didn’t collect. This new form was adopted only a few years ago and many companies are still transitioning to it, having only completed it once or twice before this year’s filing. Meth did an excellent job of clarifying many points on what can be a tricky document.
After the morning session, I began podcasting…
Here is an interview with Lyondon Terracini of Opera Australia – one of the world’s largest companies, Opera Australia performs in both Melbourne and in Sidney in the renown Sidney Opera House:
Here is an interview with Emily Gray of Fractured Atlas:
Here is an interview with Kelley Rourke supertitlist and OPERA America magazine editor:
Here is an interview with Kyle Bartlett of Opera Company of Philadelphia:
For many attendees, the evening concluded in attendance of an opera presented by Boston Lyric Opera or Opera Boston and a return to the Hyatt at the end of the night. By this point in the evening, I was playing saxophone with Julie Kathryn singing and playing guitar at the Hyatt’s bar. We performed three sets of music from 9:00 PM to midnight as man conference attendees took advantage of the free moment in scheduling to relax for the evening.
Page4Music at OPERA AMERICA Conference: Day 4
Wednesday, was the final day of the opera conference. For me, the conference involved many podcasts, a number of events and seminars, and several gigs with Julie Kathryn. For the rest of the attendees, the conference involved professional development and networking. The final day of the conference held suit: conference goers attended their final sessions while I podcasted with a few more people.
My day at the conference ended early as Julie Kathryn and I left to play several impromptu performances at locations around Cambridge in anticipation of our gig that night at The Lily Pad. Among the locations we visited was a store called Sandy’s Music – thanks to them, I was able to borrow several tools to repair a leak in my saxophone. That evening, Julie and I performed at The Lily Pad, playing several new songs. Nathan Leigh stopped by the show and sat in for a few tunes. The following morning, we headed back out on the road to return to New York City.
Here is a podcast featuring Tod Machover of the MIT Media Lab:
Here is an interview with Allegra Silbiger of ClassicTic.com:
Here is an interview with Evan Wildstein of Houston Grand Opera’s HGOco:
Here is an interview featuring Jennifer Chernick and Julia Torgovitskaya of iCadenza.com:
Page4Music at OPERA AMERICA Conference: Wrap-up
Here is a podcast with OPERA America President/CEO Marc A. Scorca:
Here is a podcast with Kelly Rinne of SoundCue.com and OperaMusicBroadcast.com:
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