Full Circle Opera Project was founded by Stephanie Vlahos.
My first experience singing MainStage international level opera was as the Page in Salome, directed by Sir Peter Hall with Maria Ewing in the title role. The Page typically exits after the first 15-minutes of the opera, but Peter wanted me to remain centre stage, watching the appalling tragedy unfold as a kind of Greek chorus. I sat above the orchestra and within a mise en scene inspired by Klimt, experiencing incredible performances, but moreover, surrounded by the genius of Strauss. That’s when I truly fell in love with opera.
I came to a different creative conclusion about the kind of presentation that would get kids passionately involved with opera, based on my experience. You see, I believed that the best way to appreciate opera was to experience it first hand – to trust the value of the music as a visceral point of engagement expressing a teenager’s emotional interface with the world, their passion to speak out, use their voices.
The truth is, there is every reason for people to reject opera. It is expensive to attend and appears to be elitist. How do you break that perception? The stories. They’re not elitist. They’re about the human condition, human frailties, they expose prejudice and sexism, immense cruelty and misconceptions, and nearly always, they’re about a single action in a brief moment that changes everything.
When I established an opera project for young artists at the celebrated County Arts High School in LA (LACHSA). I was not only rewarded as a Mentor but also as a Creator.
In many ways, the inspiration of my work with the students in the project led me to become a professional stage director. Their commitment – freely reconstructing and deconstructing grand opera toward relatability and relevance, was not only a testament to the genius of youth, but to opera, for indeed, it could accommodate guileless interpretation. Meanwhile, some of the kids are now singing at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Covent Garden, such as Angel Blue, Peabody Southwell, and Julie Adams or they inhabit the pop arena like the women in the band HAIM.
How did the project impact these careers? Arguably, careers aren’t earned by the mentors but by the artists themselves. But instilling a visceral sense of joy in the doing of opera might have helped along the bumpy road to success.
Vlahos speaks, the room suddenly gets quiet. “Do not abandon the character for the song, or the song for the character,” she demands.
Where ‘Carmen’ is cool – LA Times
Operas, Vlahos says, are stories that have great value to teenagers. They are at the most fervent and impassioned time in their lives. Opera is an art form that equals their passion.