ANGUS WOOD star of KÁTYA KABANOVÁ: Opera Is No Longer A Dirty Word
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
With contemporary stylings, NZ Opera School Programmes and Auckland Live Pick & Mix options where people can experience a ‘taster’ at no cost – opera has never been more accessible for New Zealanders regardless of age, race or walks of life.
NZ Opera is well known as the face of professional opera in New Zealand, bringing the public a number of refined performances each and every year. Featuring stunning set designs and world class vocalists – not to mention the visual splendor of the costumes coupled with the aural pleasure of some of the greatest music ever written – opera is the place to be for a night of entertainment like no other.
Currently the New Zealand season of the Janáček opera Kátya Kabanová is playing to audiences around the country, it’s contemporary stylings (straight from its premiere season at the Seattle Opera earlier this year) being heralded as a must see.
I caught up with Australian born world class tenor Angus Wood to discuss the place of opera in today’s society.
A little personal history in regards to yourself if you don’t mind; what first attracted you to the world of opera singing?
“You know it’s one of those things, I was lucky to have teachers at school that made music very accessible. I actually grew up in London and I went to a big state school, and even at that time it was the regulation that every child had to be a member of the choir or orchestra for the first three years! So there was this real musical grounding and I think that at that point in time you learnt that music is a normal part of an education; it’s not something that you should be afraid of, or nervous of, or embarrassed about or any of those sorts of things.
My first time doing school musicals and things like that was at age fourteen, so it was just part of my education and something I always enjoyed and felt comfortable with. I really credit having teachers all the way through High School – when I was in London and then when I went back to Australia – that made music possible, and interesting, and showed me the possibilities; teachers who said yes, this is actually a legitimate outlet for what it is that you enjoy to do.
I think that once children see that opera and classical music or music in general, not just what you call popular music, is just another expression, just another form of music you remove – not stigma which is too strong a word – but I think you remove the nervousness. If you have an affinity for it and I think most people do have an affinity for music, it shouldn’t be remarkable that people choose to do it”
How wonderful to have music considered part of the daily curriculum with the education system supporting it; it makes perfect sense in many ways as not everyone will grow up to be a doctor or an engineer for example.
“I think it’s always a fundamental question of what an education is, or what a rounded education is; as you say, not everyone is going to be math’s or science geared. They might not all be music or English or any of those sorts of things geared either, but I think the object for most children is to have a rounded education where children can learn what it is that they gravitate towards and not just be pushed in any kind of specific direction that someone [else] has decided. A rounded education to begin with and then growing more specific as you discover your interests is a far better way to go”
How many years have you now been singing as a professional opera singer?
“About 25 or 26 years professionally; I started professionally quite early, I was part of the young artists programs and things like that and was fortunately able to just do small roles for a number of years before I started performing in the bigger more demanding ones.”
Now in the NZ Opera’s season of Kátya Kabanová you play the character of Boris who is in love with our main character of Kátya herself; how do you personally view the character of Boris?
“When I was preparing the role I initially read the play where the libretto comes from and I found it kind of difficult because you could easily read him as sort of being, how can I say this politely, read him as being fairly inconsiderate or immature! But as we have rehearsed it and as we have run these scenes, the relationship between Kátya and Boris has developed in the rehearsal room to the point I don’t see him that way anymore.
It took me a little while to find what for me is the key to the character, but what it is, is an inexperience; there’s nothing malicious about what he does, there is nothing malicious about his intensions, there’s nothing willfully destructive about what he is and what he gets into. But, he is certainly immature; he is caught in a situation where he has lost control over most aspects of his life and falls in love with a woman that he knows he shouldn’t fall in love with. He probably doesn’t appreciate the degree to which he really shouldn’t fall in love with this woman and I think that is something that most of us can relate to on one level or another; the way you are not entirely in control of what it is that you are feeling about something even if you know at the back of your mind that it’s probably not a very good idea!
It’s an interesting character to play because he walks into a situation that he knows is not right; Kátya even tells him this is probably not going to end very well and that it could destroy the pair of them and most certainly her! But as in the case with love, desire and attraction, you don’t always think particularly straight in the heat of that moment or in the heat of those subsequent moments until it’s too late. So he’s a very normal character in many ways – it’s a very normal thing, just unfortunately because of the nature of the situation it’s something that shouldn’t have happened”
The characters create empathy due to their situations; as you say Boris has no control over his own life thanks to his over-bearing and controlling Uncle Dikój while Kátya is married to man she does not love and is systematically demeaned by her Mother-in-law. Their love and the choices they make because of it – is almost their own little form of rebellion against their lives that are no longer their own.
“I think neither of them are happy people; she talks about the fact that when she was younger, before she was married, there were things that she was indeed happy about, that she found quite ecstatic; mostly nature and religion which I suppose are metaphors in some ways. He was certainly happier before when he was living in a big city rather than the provincial place that they both find themselves in now.
So they had moments where they certainly felt different from the way they do now; they see [in each other] kindred spirits and are obviously attracted to each other. They are searching for that fleeting happiness that is seemingly worthwhile despite the trouble that it’s probably going to cause!”
Well it’s the human condition isn’t it? We all want to be happy … in some shape or form.
“Yes, and there’s not really much that they have in the way of happiness except for each other”
The themes of the opera, family pressure, affairs of the heart, the perception of a woman’s place; they all translate to modern times regardless of when the play and subsequent libretto was written.
“I think Patrick [Nolan – Director] and Genevieve [Blanchett – Production Designer] did a very clever thing by transplanting the storyline to 1950’s America because it’s certainly a lot easier to relate to, even though that’s a few decades ago now. The easily recognisable style of costume, the scenery and things like that are very familiar, there is nothing unusual about any of it and I think that really aids this piece.
Seeing it performed in this setting highlights what is most recognisable about the situation and allows the viewer a key into identifying those parts of the story and drama. The issues of this piece become far more manageable, far more attainable for an audience and I think for the performers too. They are very common themes; this is a story of love, despair and betrayal and all those sorts of events in people’s lives that unfortunately are very normal but are the most significant moments that we will always remember. Transporting it into 1950’s America where you still have those religious aspects of the play, and that familial pressure was a very good idea and makes the opera far more accessible”
Do you believe that Katya Kabanová is the perfect first introduction to opera?
“I think it’s a very good one; of course there are the stock standards that everyone talks about; La Bohème, La traviata and Carmen etc. which most people would have heard parts of even if they didn’t know that was what they were listening to!
Kátya is a different sort of soundscape than most are used to, but I actually think ultimately, that works in its favour; it is something very different. If you have pre-conceptions of what opera is this isn’t one that plays into those conceptions; this isn’t your standard sort of operatic repotoire, it’s something completely different and something quite beautiful. What Janáček has done with this piece, the colours, flavours and textures of the orchestration and all those sorts of things is something really quite wonderful!
It is an extraordinary thing for people to see and as a first piece it’s actually a very good one. I think sometimes people believe that Opera is such a heightened form of exaggeration – and there’s certainly a case to be made for some of the earlier operas being that – but this is a very human, very accessible, very normal drama if you can have a normal drama.
Opera is just a sung drama, it’s just dialogue set to music and that’s especially true in a piece like this – I think most people will forget that they are actually watching an opera. It’s just a play set to music and it’s a play that you can look at on many levels, but on a basic level most of us will see it as very recognisable, so yes it is actually a very good first opera!”
Would you agree that even musically there are many similarities between opera and today’s modern music – often many aria’s and pop songs share the same themes. Even the vocalists themselves behave similarly, when performing runs for example?
“Yeah look I think that the truth of the matter is, is that opera was the popular music of its time, now yes that time was a little while ago but people got just as excited about this stuff as they do about any popular music now. The themes haven’t really changed; we’re singing about the same stuff and with subtitles now at most operatic performances you can see that we are singing about the same thing; about the same stuff! It doesn’t matter if you aren’t fluent in the languages which maybe sung on the stage, you can read now what is being sung”
You yourself have performed all over the world as many of the most pivotal characters in some of the most iconic opera’s to date – what would your favourite role be?
“Oh you know that’s tricky because it tends to be whatever you are singing at the time because you become so involved in it; but if I step back, there are certain pieces that I remain particularly fond of. The first one, is a piece called Pelléas et Mélisande a Debussy opera that I did with Patrick Nolan in the late 90’s. It is a piece that has stayed with me and a piece that I love; although I perform it very rarely, I found it incredibly moving to be a part of. I am kind of a sucker for the Italian opera too so, Madame Butterfly, Tosca and things like that, you know they are just blood and guts and wonderful (mutual laughter) So I think it’s a toss-up between Pelléas et Mélisande and Tosca – oh and Don Carlos [Giuseppe Verdi] that’s also one of my favourites although I haven’t actually sung that piece!”
The NZ Opera has one more performance of Kátya Kabanová in Auckland tomorrow night, before heading down to Wellington from the 7th to the 14th of October. For more information you can view the NZ Opera website here.
