The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Interview with Leon Major: The Power of Art and the Power of Magic

Although it was the first Spanish-language opera to be commissioned by a major United States opera house, Florencia hasn’t been frequently performed. Why did you choose it?
Leon Major: Primarily, this particular class is an outstanding fit — vocally and dramatically, these roles are perfectly suited for them. Secondly, we’ve never done a Spanish opera, so this will be an equally challenging and rewarding experience. Lastly, it’s a really good opera with beautiful music and a story influenced by [Gabriél Garcia] Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera.

It’s a really good opera with beautiful music and a story influenced by [Gabriél Garcia] Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera.

Do you find it different working with a contemporary opera written by a living composer, rather than a classic? Do you approach them differently?
LM: Whether it’s a classic, commissioned or contemporary work, as a director, I approach them all from the same point: how do we tell the story in the best way possible?

There’s a certain pleasure that comes with a commissioned piece, watching it grow from an idea into a full production. Contemporary opera is what will feed the future.

I’ll approach Florencia the same as any other opera I’ve worked on — challenging because the language and style are simply different.

It’s about the power of art and the power of magic — it makes us ask the question: what do we believe?

Talk a little bit about the plot.
LM: First, this is not naturalistic opera. It draws its energy from “magic realism,” where people are real, the relationships are real, but they are surrounded by magic — a magic that they believe in.

There is a group of passengers together on a boat: they are all searching for an elusive “something” that none of them can define, something to help explain their anxieties. They hope to find the answers in the opera house of Manaus through the voice of the great singer Florencia. Unknown to the other passengers she is also on the boat, also searching.

And then there are many different levels of love stories happening: the captain and the women he brings on board, the captain’s nephew who falls in love with a journalist, a married couple struggling to find the youthful affection they’ve lost and a diva trying to recapture a love long since past.

They all share the same desire to find something that will change their lives or at least allow them to find some satisfaction in their lives. It’s about the power of art and the power of magic — it makes us ask the question: what do we believe?

What do you hope audiences respond to?
LM: The beauty of the music. The gorgeous singing. The story. The idea that any of us could be any of the characters onstage

Talk a little bit about the singers performing in Florencia. What it’s like for them to work with the roles in an opera that’s rarely performed?
LM: They don’t have a lot of history to study. They might only hear one recording of it, so there aren’t a lot of precedents.

…it’s about the singers and their learning process.

They’ll have to create the roles themselves, but there’s a lot of joy to be taken in finding a character — and then they become the precedents.

What’s the idea behind presenting this as a “white opera?”
[minimal costumes/set, piano only accompaniment]
LM: If it’s a late nineteenth/early twentieth century opera, we want them to wear costumes appropriate for that period. We want to give the singers the experience and sense of wearing period costumes.

But more so, it’s about the singers and their learning process. The [white] operas are an exercise, and the audience accepts the idea of the exercise as well, but it’s still treated as importantly as a full production.

So how does Florencia fit overall into the vision for the Opera Studio and its performers?
LM: It’s crucial that singers perform the classics and contemporary opera, but it’s contemporary opera that will be the salvation of the form.

I love contemporary opera. Unless we infuse the art with new blood and new writers, it won’t advance.

I think audiences want contemporary opera. We can learn about ourselves. And because of that, I think more and more new operas will be written, produced and presented.