The Hills Are Alive

Opera in the Ozarks sets words to music

Jim Swiggart doesn’t like the description “opera boot camp.” But he admits Opera in the Ozarks is an “intense” experience “that pushes people to do more than they thought they could do.”

It’s also quite a bit like community theater, presented in multiple languages, describes Robert Swedberg, who is directing Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” and Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” this summer.

“There’s more of a need to look at all of the little bits and pieces here,” says Swedberg, who is director of the opera studio program at the University of Michigan.

By that, he means he might one day be designing the supertitles that will translate “Butterfly” and “Elixir of Love” into English. On another day, he might be meeting with Eureka Springs artist Larry Mansker to choose watercolors that can be projected on to the stage instead of creating traditional painted sets. On a third day, he might be negotiating with Keels Creek Winery for 200 empty “elixir” bottles with custom labels to spread around the tourist town advertising Opera in the Ozarks’ 63rd summer season. And on a fourth day - or fifth or sixth or seventh - he might be holding auditions for a local child to play “Sorrow” at the end of “Madama Butterfly.”

Unfazed, Swedberg calls the multitasking a “wonderful challenge,” and Keely Futterer, a 24-year-old soprano from Dover, agrees. In her third season at Opera in the Ozarks, she says “if you can perform in 110 degree heat with 100 percent humidity on an outdoor stage, you can perform anywhere!” She adds that “other programs don’t do a lot of backstagestuff,” so it’s a “tough perk but a nice skill-building perk” to learn to do hair and makeup, sew costumes and build sets.

“It’s really helpful when you’re going out in the real world.”

Futterer is about to do just that, as soon as she completes a master of music in operaperformance and literature at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. Swiggart says most of the 43 people in this summer’s company are like Futterer, although they may range in age from 20 to 35.

“The majority have advanced degrees and are getting that final little bit of experiencethey need to step on the stage, not make a mistake and have a career,” he says.

Swiggart should know. He’s in his 25th consecutive year in a leadership role with Opera in the Ozarks, but he’s also an alumnus of the program, having performed at Inspiration Point near Eureka Springs from 1955 to 1958. Even though the program has been around that long and has seen its graduates go on to major international success, Swiggart says he’s still looking for ways to get the word out about what goes on on the mountain for two months every summer.

New this year are additional performance dates for the traveling production of “Cinderella,” which will be offered several Saturday afternoons at the Eureka Springs City Auditorium.

Children will be admitted free, and adults with “proofof purchase” from the town’s businesses will get half-price tickets. It’s a way to reach out to tourists and locals alike, he says.

That’s part of what Swedberg’s been up to, too. His hope is that the “community will view this company as their opera company, because we are a fixture here.”

Performer, director and the company’s general director all agree that potential audience members don’t need to know anything about opera to come and experience it at Inspiration Point. But when they leave, Futterer hopes, they’ll “enjoy what we did on stage and understand it; know more about the program so they can tell other people; and get more involved in the opera world in general.”

Opera, she says, “can be a lot more realistic and heart to heart than people make it out to be.”

Whats Up, Pages 13 on 06/21/2013

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