Destination Santa Fe Opera

Have you ever wondered what it takes to create a new opera? Season 5 of Key Change, from the Santa Fe Opera Department of Community Engagement, is coming soon and we’d LOVE for you to help us celebrate its 5th anniversary. We just learned that Key Change is a FINALIST in the Signal Awards for the podcasting industry!

We are up for 2 different awards: 

Best Music Show for the 4th season; and

Best Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Episode for “Telling Hard Truths”, an episode  following the commission, creation, and world premiere of This Little Light of Mine by Chandler Carter and Diana Solomon-Glover.

A panel of esteemed industry leaders will be judging the Signal Awards and YOU can help us win Listener’s Choice in both categories by voting for Key Change on their website. We’ve linked both of the voting pages in the show notes in the episode description in your app.

To vote for best Music show go to bit.ly/podcastawardmusic. 

To vote for best DEI episode go to bit.ly/podcastawarddei.

Voting ends October 5th, 2023. So please cast your vote as soon as you can!

And yes, you do need to create a sign-in on their site, as they are VERY serious about keeping it fair and preventing people from spamming the ballot box.

We are honored to be recognized for the quality, the heart, and the impact of Key Change and Opera For All Voices. It would be the icing on the show's 5th anniversary cake to officially win a Signal Award!

Thank you, as always, for your support! If you haven't yet listened to Key Change, catch up in your favorite podcast app before Season 5 launches in January 2024.

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Excerpt features the voice of Music Director for This Little Light of Mine, Jeri Lynne Johnson and Jaqueline "Cookie" Hamer Flakes, daughter of Fannie Lou Hamer, as well as music from This Little Light of Mine.

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Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices.

Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg & Anna Garcia

Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Production Manager: Alex Riegler

Show Notes by  Lisa Widder

Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello

Cover art by Dylan Crouch

This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Hankins Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, and an Opera America innovation Grant supported by the Anne & Gordon Getty Foundation.  

To learn more about Opera For All Voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org.

It’s encore time! After a brief hiatus to appreciate a triumphant 65th summer of opera in the desert, Destination Santa Fe Opera returns with one last conversation to close out this podcast season.

Host Jane Trembley chats with Charles Gamble, SFO’s newly appointed Director of School Programs, and Amy Owens, newly appointed Director Designate of the Young Voices Program about how opera’s inclusive, collaborative storytelling can boost self-esteem and confidence in young people. Charles and Amy also share the paths that led each of them to their current positions, and they provide valuable details regarding the community engagement programs that SFO is involved in, including Opera Storytellers Summer Camp, the Young Voices Program, Active Learning Through Opera (ALTO), and The New Mexico Alliance for Responsive Teaching (NM ART.)

Opera often seems insular and complicated to those unfamiliar with the art form. All the more reason for students to gain exposure to it as soon as possible. “Opera does a remarkable job bringing together every art form,” says Charles, thoroughly smashing opera’s stiff reputation. He is also quick to point out that a student’s first opera might be their last if the introduction isn’t engaging or relatable. “If you consider that each one of the components is actually a point of access rather than focusing on the overwhelming experience, I think that's the way into [opera] for most students.”

Amy agrees. “There’s an infinite well of curiosity, of things to discover through opera, from the super-analytical stuff to the very playful and vulnerable.” She and Charles point to arts education in general and opera exposure specifically as scaffolding for skills-building, lessons that will support students throughout their lives. 

Thanks for joining us behind the scenes this season! 

Learn more:

School Programs, The Santa Fe Opera

The Young Voices of the Santa Fe Opera

Opera Storytellers Summer Camp

ALTO: Active Learning Through Opera

Charles Gamble - Director of School Programs, Santa Fe Opera

Amy Owens - Director Designate of the Young Voices Program of the Santa Fe Opera

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SFO Twitter

SFO YouTube

Destination Santa Fe Opera is a Santa Fe Opera podcast produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Hosted by: Jane Trembley

Show Notes by: Lisa Widder

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Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at https://www.santafeopera.org.

We’d love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok @santafeopera.

Santa Fe Opera plays host to more than peerless productions. On stage and off, SFO apprentices spend the season learning by doing at one of the most celebrated and welcoming training grounds in the world. Host Jane Trembley chats with technical apprentice Khadija Ann Tarver and apprentice singer Thomas Cilluffo about their respective programs, what advice the pair have for aspiring apprentices, and their plans beyond Santa Fe.

“I was coming in open-minded since I didn't have a traditional theater background,” admits Khadija. Talent earned her a coveted spot on this season’s props and carpentry team, while curiosity has improved Khadija’s design-and-build acumen. “There's a lot of pressure [to feel like] I'm not particularly good at this yet. Then there's a moment when you realize all of these people in the scene shop and carpentry shop are here to help me, and they want to see me learn as much as possible.”

Apprentice opportunities honor SFO founder John Crosby’s vision of providing an immersive and inclusive environment in which to gain practical experience. “Once you get here, you get coachings, you get lessons, you do apprentice scenes, you do master classes, you sing in the choruses,” Tom says. While his intense performance routine doesn’t leave much downtime for anything but rest, he welcomes the challenges and is bolstered by the camaraderie. “I think the best advice I can give is always to assume positive intent because nobody is here to be your opposition.”

Learn more about The Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Program for Singers and the Apprentice Program for Theater Technicians.

Khadija Ann Tarver -  Technical Apprentice

Thomas Cilluffo - Performance Apprentice

Destination Santa Fe Opera is a Santa Fe Opera podcast, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Hosted by: Jane Trembley

Additional Editing by: Helen King

Show Notes by: Lisa Widder

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Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at https://www.santafeopera.org.

We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok @santafeopera.

Bad romances don’t come much better than the complicated relationship at the heart of M. Butterfly. Host Jane Trembley talks fantasy versus reality with countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim before his Santa Fe Opera and U.S. mainstage debut as Song Liling in this operatic world premiere.

The pair also discuss the psychology behind Justin's character, transitioning from musical theater to opera, and building representation in the classical music community.

“There are a lot of dichotomies in this piece,” Justin says of the lopsided love affair between French diplomat René Gallimard and Song Liling, the Beijing opera star who exploits Gallimard’s self-delusion to secure their own safety. “[There’s] lots of East and West, man and woman, truth and lies. It's very yin yang.” 

The highly anticipated world premiere, delayed two years by pandemic-related scheduling conflicts, is an inventive operatic reworking by David Henry Hwang of his iconic 1988 Tony Award-winning musical. Composer Huang Ruo’s score complements Hwang’s libretto perfectly, providing intelligent references to Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and an increasingly distorted soundscape against which Gallimard and Liling's relationship reaches its inevitable conclusion.

Revisiting decades-old source material is not without its challenges. “I want people to understand that this is a period piece,” says Justin. “M. Butterfly lives in the past, and we need to watch this opera through the lens of the 1960s and the late 1980s when the play was first presented to the world.”

He challenges audiences to consider how far we’ve come in addressing issues connected to sexual orientation, gender identity, and Imperialism––and how far we’ve yet to go.

Kangmin Justin Kim – Countertenor

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DSFO0206 - Larger Than Life: Verdi’s Falstaff with Quinn Kelsey

La Bien Aimée

Destination Santa Fe Opera is a Santa Fe Opera podcast, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Hosted by: Jane Trembley

Show Notes by: Lisa Widder

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Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at https://www.santafeopera.org.

We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok @santafeopera.

There’s no such thing as a “little” Wagner. Host Jane Trembley catches up with internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton in anticipation of the epic Santa Fe Opera debut of Tristan und Isolde.

The pair chat about the thrill of performing this legendary tale of love and betrayal––and why Richard Wagner’s music is totally worth leaving the house for! Jamie also discusses interpreting her characters through a queer lens and transcending the score to create meaningful art.

“I love this character!” says Jamie of the empathetic Brangäne. “She reminds me of myself in a lot of ways.” For this production, loyal maid Brangäne is cast as Isolde’s sibling. That sisterly bond provides a fresh emotional counterpoint to the titular lovers’ physical attraction. Exploring such nuances suits Jamie, a big, queer girl who advocates for bringing one’s whole self to the stage. “My job is to story-tell, and one of the baseline things I allow myself to do is come with my own honest perspective.”

Jamie, a self-professed Wagner nerd, asserts that Tristan und Isolde sets the bar for all other works in the German composer’s canon, if not all of modern musical composition. “It's overwhelming! This particular opera inspired so much of the 20th-century stuff that we know.”

Still, some folks might need additional coaxing to venture out. For them, Jamie plays her most persuasive card: The Crosby Theatre itself. “We're starting this before sunset, so there’ll be this daytime-to-nighttime transition. That’s an element that’s difficult to get in any other sort of typical theater.”

Jamie Barton – Mezzo-Soprano

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Destination Santa Fe Opera is a Santa Fe Opera podcast, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Hosted by: Jane Trembley

Show Notes by: Lisa Widder

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Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at https://www.santafeopera.org.

We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok @santafeopera.

Who’ll serve the infamous jolly knight his just desserts? The list of candidates is long, and their scheme is hilarious. All will be revealed when Falstaff, Giuseppe Verdi’s classic farce, arrives on the Santa Fe Opera stage.

Host Jane Trembley speaks with Hawai’i native Quinn Kelsey about embodying the larger-than-life titular character and learns why comedy is more challenging to play than tragedy. Quinn also answers the million-dollar question: what would the celebrated Verdi baritone ask the great composer if given a chance? 

If you think you know Verdi, think again. “[Falstaff] behaves like a totally different animal,” says Quinn. The final opera of Verdi’s storied career is a comedic masterpiece propelled by complex wit, outsized swagger, and vibrant music.

“John Falstaff is at that age where life is beginning to pass him by,” Quinn explains. “He still thinks he can charm the ladies, and you have to give him credit for having a huge amount of confidence.” 

It doesn’t take long for that swagger to get the jolly knight into riotous trouble. “I don't normally get to play comedic characters,” Quinn says. Although pompous Falstaff is more serious than his fellow characters, all the fizzy stage antics are in response to his self-delusion.

In a role he’s played in different ways since 2014, Quinn is more than up to the vocal and emotional challenge, fully embracing Falstaff’s hubris, hedonism, and gullibility for Sir David McVicar’s sparkling new production. “The fact that I finally get to do something with Sir David from scratch? I'm looking forward to a really fun summer.”

Quinn Kelsey - Baritone

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Destination Santa Fe Opera is a Santa Fe Opera podcast, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Hosted by: Jane Trembley

Show Notes by: Lisa Widder

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Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at https://www.santafeopera.org.

We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok @santafeopera.

There’s a reason why The Barber of Seville remains one of the most popular operas in the world. Gioachino Rossini’s comedic masterpiece never fails to delight audiences with its lively music, whirlwind romance, and inevitable happy ending. 

Host Jane Trembley speaks with mezzo-soprano Emily Fons and tenor Jack Swanson about their approach to providing a fresh take on one of opera’s most familiar tales. The pair also give advice to anyone encountering The Barber of Seville for the first time and share wisdom from their time in the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers. Plus, Jane learns all about playing Cards Against Humanity with like-minded company, traveling opera pets, and helping Kelsey Grammar out of a jam.

“The one thing I like to say about The Barber of Seville is that it's one of those operas where they really got the story right,” Jack says. “It's so easy to follow no matter what time period, no matter what costumes they're wearing, no matter what props they're using.” Who better to evaluate Rossini’s genius than a performer who’s played Count Almaviva in guises ranging from a 19th-century nobleman to a modern-day rockstar? 

Emily, too, has appeared in multiple productions of this classic comedy. Her understanding of Rosina, the sparkling, rebellious recipient of Almaviva’s affections, and the opera’s themes have evolved along the way. “That's been my journey over time,” she explains, “from being bogged down in what I thought people's expectations were to finding how I wanted to tell this story.”

As for returning to SFO, both Emily and Jack agree that no other organization is as supportive of apprentices and pros alike. “Thank you,” Emily says, “to the Santa Fe Opera and all those really special people.” 

Hosted by Jane Trembley

Featuring:

Emily Fons - Mezzo-Soprano

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Jack Swanson - Tenor

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Instagram

Facebook

Destination Santa Fe Opera is a Santa Fe Opera podcast, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Hosted by: Jane Trembley

Show Notes by: Lisa Widder

***

Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org.

We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok @santafeopera.

Is there a more provocative or iconic character in all of opera than Carmen? This free-spirited, defiant factory worker reigns supreme as the original difficult woman––in the best possible way.

Host Jane Trembley chats with Isabel Leonard as she gets set to play the titular diva in Bizet’s Carmen to open Santa Fe Opera’s 2022 season. The mezzo-soprano discusses her physical and emotional preparations for the role, how her Argentine-American heritage has informed her musical intuition, and her love for challenging the misconceptions that surround this charismatic, complicated heroine. 

Isabel is no stranger to Carmen’s illustrious (or is it infamous?) appeal nor the long line of talents that have taken on this unjustly-labeled femme fatale. “Even if the concept is a good one, it can be a challenge to break out of it simply because humans are adverse to change in some ways,” says the three-time Grammy Award-winning performer.

Concepts don’t come any better than Carmen. When viewed through our modern lens, this character created in the 19th century is afforded more empathy for having to endure the limitations imposed on her.

“The psychology behind her and what fascinates me in her character has everything to do with not only who she is in her time period, as a woman, but who everybody seems to think she is and how that affects their perception of the piece when they watch it, regardless of how you play it.”

For her interpretation of Carmen, Isabel has reacquainted herself with the castanets, literally tapping into her Argentinian heritage and, even further back, to southern Spain. “I can only imagine the ghosts of Isabels past,” she laughs. “If I were not to fully embrace the character of Carmen, it would be somewhat sacrilegious.”

Isabel Leonard - Mezzo-Soprano

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Destination Santa Fe Opera is a Santa Fe Opera podcast, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Hosted by: Jane Trembley

Show Notes by: Lisa Widder

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Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org.

We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok @santafeopera.

Bringing fantastical worlds to the Santa Fe Opera stage requires creativity, communication, and compassion. Host Jane Trembley chats with Costume Director Blair Gulledge and Properties Director Eileen Garcia about the intense year-round effort that goes into planning and implementing the designs for each season. She also learns how these two department heads collaborate with one another and their commitment to providing a kinder, more supportive working environment for their teams, colleagues, and the Opera’s guest performers.

Scenery may set the stage, but costumes and props establish character, telegraph motivation, and advance the action. “What I love about this discipline is just that level of collaboration. You're not doing art in a vacuum,” says Blair, who will oversee the completion of 500+ costumes for this season alone. 

Sure, creating alongside performing artists and backstage artisans at such a high level is available through other theatrical genres. But none deliver the visceral or emotional impact of opera––and few do so in a setting as celebrated as SFO. 

Maintaining creative excellence involves meeting the needs of singers, designers, and support staff equally, even when not convenient. Both Blair and Eileen know they’ve realized that objective when the magic onstage looks effortless without testing the safety or sanity of those backstage. 

“My goal is just to help tell that story, but it does require a balance and a delicacy,” Blair admits. That’s where having a holistic approach to expectations and artistry works in everyone’s favor, including the audience. 

Eileen agrees. “You really can see that designer’s original vision come to life,” she says, adding that the creative teams couldn’t accomplish such astounding theatrical feats without having first “built that relationship based in trust and understanding of what our capabilities are here at the Opera.”

Blair Gulledge

Costume Director, Santa Fe Opera

Eileen Garcia

Properties Director, Santa Fe Opera

Destination Santa Fe Opera is a Santa Fe Opera podcast, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Hosted by: Jane Trembley

Show Notes by: Lisa Widder

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Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org.

We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok @santafeopera.

Flash floods. Supply chain issues. Safety briefings. Would you believe this is opera? 

Host Jane Trembley discovers that only at Santa Fe Opera does behind-the-scenes excitement rival onstage drama. She chats with Production & Recruiting Coordinator Tracy Armagost and Technical Director Mike Ortiz, the supportive, creative pair behind SFO backstage team. Tracy and Mike share their long histories with the opera, some of the magical (and nerve wracking!) moments they’ve helped bring to the stage, and exciting maneuvers to pay attention to in the upcoming season.

“Our jobs mingle quite a bit, especially with the scheduling personnel management, on-stage rehearsals,” says Tracy of the day-to-day interaction she and Mike share. While that interaction peaks during the summer months, year-round communication between their departments is vital to maintaining SFO’s reputation as a world-class arts organization. 

Consider the weather-related variables of staging massive productions in an open-air theatre sat in the middle of a desert. Throw in the watchful eyes of audience members who prefer to observe change-overs at intermission rather than grab a refreshment in the lobby. Mike and Tracy fit these puzzle pieces (and many more) together on a per-show basis––often years before a production even lands on the stage.

Safety is an additional concern for this duo. The onstage choreography between people and sets requires repeated practice to execute without endangering anyone. “There are sometimes multiple thousand-pound pieces of scenery moving really fast to get from point A to point B,” says Mike. “You could very easily get run over.”

Both Tracy and Mike agree that as demanding as SFO productions are, there’s no place like it in all of opera. “It’s a unique place,” says Mike. “I'm very fortunate to have been able to climb the ladder here, to have a successful career, and be home in Santa Fe.” 

Hosted by Jane Trembley

Featuring:

Mike Ortiz

Technical Director, Santa Fe Opera

Tracy Armagost

 Production & Recruiting Coordinator, Santa Fe Opera

Destination Santa Fe Opera is a Santa Fe Opera podcast, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Hosted by: Jane Trembley

Show Notes by: Lisa Widder

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Learn more about the Santa Fe Opera and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org.

We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok @santafeopera.