S12 E30: Delaware State of the Arts - OperaDelaware

Ever wondered how opera can stay relevant in a world of TikTok and Netflix? Join us as we sit down with Kerriann Otaño, Vice President of Engagement, and Brendan Cooke, General Director of Opera Delaware, who are proving opera still has its place in contemporary culture. They share their unique journey of overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities in a pandemic-stricken environment, bringing opera to the people in the form of a pop-up truck. Yes, you read that right, a pop-up opera truck!

But their innovation doesn't stop there. From cultivating an audience as diverse as the community they serve, to extending the opera experience beyond the performance, Kerriann and Brendan are revolutionizing the way opera is consumed. We delve into their strategies of connecting with audiences through relatable storytelling and shared human experiences, mirroring how opera was once a social activity for everyone. The resonance of their work is evident through the positive reactions of their audience and their show's success.

Lastly, we discuss the groundbreaking efforts made to bring opera into schools and communities. This isn’t your traditional field trip to the opera house, but a top-class performance brought right at your doorstep courtesy of their unique mobile stage. The response? A resounding applause from both kids and adults alike. Yet, such an endeavor requires adequate funding and sponsorships. So, join us as we explore the future of opera, the crucial role of funding, and how Opera Delaware is tirelessly working to elevate arts and culture in the community.

The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Learn more at Arts.Delaware.Gov.

Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.

Transcript

Terrance Vann: 0:15

For Delaware State of the Arts. I'm Terrence Van and my guest today, I have Brendan Cooke and I have Kerriann Otano and they are representing a wonderful, historic and prestigious organization, opera Delaware and we're going to learn all about their last season, what they have coming up and all types of awesome things that we're doing here in the arts in Delaware. So thank you for joining us. This is really exciting. Please share a little bit about yourselves before we get started here.

Kerriann Otango: 0:49

Absolutely, lisa. Thank you again so much for having us. This is so fun Kerriann I'm Otaño. I'm the Vice President of Engagement with Opera Delaware. I started this position last summer. Brendan Cooke, who is the general director, sought me out. We've been friends for a couple of years and he said come to Delaware because we can do a lot of really exciting stuff together. So now I've just been here. I'm coming up on my very first year, but I can't wait to get into all the stuff that we've been able to accomplish in the last year and all the stuff that we have coming forward. I'm really excited to brag on this company a little bit with you today.

Brendan Cooke: 1:24

Brendan, please introduce yourself and I'm Brendan Cooke. I've only got a decade Kerriann here at this company, but I like to joke and no disrespect is meant in this. But bringing Kary Ann on reminds me of if you're a dog lover and the dog is getting a little older and lacking energy, you introduce a puppy into the scenario.

Kerriann Otango: 1:45

That's me, I'm the puppy.

Brendan Cooke: 1:47

And the dog presumably can help the puppy learn skills. The old dog also gets a whole lot of energy and reinvigoration from having that excited presence around, so I think it's maybe a clumsy analogy, but it's one that works for me. We've been feeding off each other pretty well for the last year and making some good stuff happen for Opera Delaware, and that's what it's all about.

Kerriann Otango: 2:14

That's right.

Terrance Vann: 2:15

Oh, that is fabulous. That is fabulous, and I believe old dogs can learn new tricks. That's why you know hey, someone just said that this one certainly has parents. There we go, there we go. So that's wonderful to hear, and I'm so glad that you know there's some great things happening with Opera Delaware. So, to kind of hop in here, your 2022-23 season just ended. Can you share some of the highlights? What were some of the successes where there are some challenges that you know that you overcame? Can you just speak on what that season was like?

Kerriann Otango: 2:54

Absolutely so. Opera Delaware just a little background Opera Delaware is America's 11th oldest opera company. We were formed in 1945. So fascinating, right. A lot of people don't realize that right here in Delaware like you don't have to go to a big city we have one of the most historic, prestigious opera companies. Let's Go. So this year we did Kozi Funtutte by Mozart, which is a comedy. We did it last fall and we also did La Traviata in the spring.

Kerriann Otango: 3:23

These are two operas that are, in the opera community, very, very well known but for laymans, like new, people are not necessarily familiar with them, and so we've done a ton. Brendan has been really instrumental. Before I even got here, they created this pop-up opera truck right, so we can go out. We have a pop-up opera mobile stage. We can get out into the community and perform for people and meet people where they are. So we actually saw a huge influx of new people coming to the opera this year just because we were able to go out into the community and sing for them and make opera feel accessible and approachable for them. So I think that we're really entering a boom of people in Delaware realizing that opera and all the arts really are a place for everyone and we all need to come together and experience it together.

Brendan Cooke: 4:11

Yeah, and from my perspective, when I look at the season, I mean it's really interesting. The arc of the season was as we navigated out of the pandemic times. Lots of things are still impacting our industry surrounding COVID. I mean our supply chains are still messed up, we still have the stress, even though the world has kind of moved on from COVID. My question is always hey, which member of our highly specialized team can we do without for five to 10 days during a really really kind of perilous process?

Brendan Cooke: 4:44

So when I look back at the season, I mean Cozy Funtute was our first sort of real full production coming out of COVID. That's not fair. I mean we had things in the height of COVID production entirely made out of paper, things that were necessarily creative, that COVID times kind of gave us a little cover for. But this year was really about getting back to business and it was interesting to see how many challenges we still had from COVID but how many advantages we had from the things that we learned during COVID. So we admittedly I mean for me we were off to a kind of slow start this year with Cozy Funtute, a first traditional show back in the grand, but by implementing these things that we learned during COVID by bringing opera to people, by always saying yes when people ask us to show up, we really started to hit our stride mid-season and then for our performances of Traviata.

Brendan Cooke: 5:48

I just have to blow some sunshine in this one's direction. We had 700 first-time attendees come to Traviata, so for me it's been kind of grinding it out here for 11 years to show up on Friday night in downtown Wilmington and see an audience that looks like the community that we work in, to see people who we knew were there for the first time with just jaws dropped to the floor, to see the way they reacted at the end of the show. Pardon the metaphor, but I think we really did end on a high note. And for me it's that mix of we're still dealing with these issues from COVID, but we're also riding the wave of the stuff that we learned during COVID about who we are, what our role is as an opera company.

Terrance Vann: 6:43

I appreciate you sharing and being honest with the process, because a lot of arts organizations had some of the biggest hills to climb after the pandemic and in my opinion I'm a little biased, of course, being an artist, but I think have done some of the greatest work to get back to normal, to you know, like you said, that creative process of being able to innovate at a time that was so difficult. It's wonderful to hear that you're coming out on the other side of that and it sounds like it's growing at a rate that is absolutely fabulous. And, on that note, what have you been hearing from audiences? It sounds like you have a lot of new folks. I'm sure you have some legacy folks that have been, you know, enjoying shows for years and years. What have you been hearing?

Kerriann Otango: 7:36

Well, this now I'm going to. Now I'm going to blow some sunshine, because the thing that is so spectacular about joining this company is that the quality of art that is produced here is exceptional. I first saw a production here, I came to see a concert here years back and I was just blown away by the level of singing, the level of artistry, the thoughtfulness of how it was put together. So the issue really is that we have this incredible product that we keep behind closed doors at an opera house so we can only produce operas for performances a year at the opera house. It's incredible the performances that we do, but if people don't feel like they belong in the space, if people don't know that they can trust us, it doesn't matter how great the quality of the art is. So by bringing me on, brendan can really focus on continuing to provide that incredibly high quality of art by bringing in singers internationally renowned singers, local singers, singers from Philly, singers from Delaware, but also singers who have international careers and I can focus on getting out with community and connecting with people and saying, hey, what makes you hesitant to come, what makes you worried and feel like opera is not for you, is that you don't know what to wear. Hey, baby, I'm going to tell you you wear whatever makes you feel. Dealt with the opera. You look cool, right? You dress to be seen. You're worried, you're not going to understand the story. We have translations that are projected the entire time, english translations that we show, and there's a summary of the plot right in the program.

Kerriann Otango: 9:09

Another thing that we had a lot of success with was sharing with people that the stories of a lot of these operas have been adapted and are retold in new ways. So there's stories you are familiar with. La Traviata that we did last year is the same story as Pretty Woman and Mulan Rouge. So so many people that I was meeting on the street were like, oh, I love Pretty Woman. Okay, I could see myself doing that. So it's about finding these points of connection to show people. This is something you're already really comfortable with. And what have you been missing during the pandemic? Human connection. What is opera? 200 people making art for you at the same time, right, I mean, it's just human connection. So like, come and be a part of that.

Brendan Cooke: 9:45

In terms of how people reacted to it. I mean, I'll be honest, it's something that you get nervous about, right? It's like we're trying to bring in a new audience and I hope they get it right. I hope that they appreciate it, I hope that they are moved by it, I hope they want to come back. So you're always a little bit nervous when someone tries it for the first time, but if you're, if you're proud of what you're putting out there which we were gosh, I mean. I want to say that the new attendees were even more enthusiastic than our existing audience, and you know, but also what that does for our existing audience, terrence. I had an experience for the Sunday matinee of La Traviata where there was a line around the block to get in.

Kerriann Otango: 10:30

The opera in.

Brendan Cooke: 10:31

Delaware and it was like I swear a longtime patron and board member standing in line with a big grin on his face and a tear in his eye, right Because there was a line to get into the opera. But for me the real reaction is at the end, when the curtain closes and everybody stands up. People have been very, very kind in their feedback. We did an audience survey and 95% of the people said that they want to talk to friends about opera Delaware. So it was very well received.

Brendan Cooke: 11:07

We're hearing good things in the community and we hope we can keep it moving forward Because, as Carrie Ann pointed out, given the expense and the complexity of what we do, we can really only afford to do two performances of each production. So we somehow have to get out to the community and say no, you want to corner off a piece of your life for this. You want to make that investment of showing up and being with your neighbor, being with your friends and experiencing this thing together. And that's what Carrie Ann has been able to bring to the team is just sort of opening up that pathway of you don't need to know anything about this, you're going to understand quality. You might not have all the vocabulary about opera, but there's nothing to be afraid of.

Kerriann Otango: 11:57

And I got to share that. This comes from my experience, from Brendan's experience as professional opera singers. We did this, we traveled, we worked really hard doing this, but what I realized is my dad, this sweet little old man who grew up in foster care and is one of 29 kids, and he wasn't exposed to opera at all growing up. So the first time that he came to see me do a performance, I remember in recital programming you're supposed to hold your applause until the end. That's just kind of a rule in. It's a rule, but a rule for who? So I finished the first song and my dad started. That's, my baby started cheering going crazy.

Kerriann Otango: 12:37

That was the wrong thing to do, but what did it do? It made me, as an artist, feel supported and comfortable and have a laugh. It made the audience relax and I think that we spend a lot of time. People worry that they don't know the right etiquette. People worry they don't know how to behave. They don't know what to wear. None of these things. As Brendan said, you know quality. You're going to come in and trust us to program incredible quality for you and all you got to do is bring yourself.

Brendan Cooke: 13:04

And in the early days of opera Terrence, I mean this was this really was for everybody.

Brendan Cooke: 13:11

You would go to the opera every night, and actually the seats now that we consider the expensive seats in the orchestra those were for the working class, right and you would go to the opera.

Brendan Cooke: 13:22

The wealthy people would sit in their boxes and close the curtain when they got to a part that was boring for them and have their dinner, and then, you know, but it was a but, it was a social thing that was for everybody, and I think we experienced a little bit of that this spring and it was, you know, it was a thrill. It was a thrill to see people really from all corners of our state and our region, just sort of, you know, show up at the same place at the same time to experience something that really only exists for those two and a half or three hours. Right, you can't stream it, you can't edit it. It is that feeling that you get when you are in the room and somebody has, like, vibrated this music into existence and you feel it, and you feel it with the person you're sitting next, to, you know, and then at the end, that catharsis of everybody just erupting. I mean, it's the I'm getting. I'm getting chicken skin talking about it. It's the greatest feeling, but it's an expensive one to achieve.

Kerriann Otango: 14:23

And because it was, so expensive because the opera itself is so expensive. We've found ways to elongate the process, the experience, so that people can feel more connected and more involved in our community. Before we have before we did La Traviata we had our opening night micro gala. This was our inaugural, first ever opening night micro gala and we're going to keep it going this coming year for our opening nights. So this is what we're talking about with, like, carve out time in your schedule. You're going to want to be at the opening night micro gala for opera Delaware.

Kerriann Otango: 14:56

The opening night micro gala is a red carpet runway photo shoot. Because what do people tell me? They don't know what to wear. They're worried, they don't, they're not going to wear the right thing. Wear what makes you feel dope. We've got a red carpet runway and a professional photographer because I want to see how you turn up at the opera. We have poker and blackjack, we have champagne, we have food, we have a two hour party where the community can come together and have fun and have a laugh and get a little, get a little tipsy and have fun together, and then we're going to go and experience this art together.

Kerriann Otango: 15:24

I think that's they're going to warm up, not seem to be a little warmed up, and the benefit of this is that you're not coming into this opera house feeling like is everyone looking at me, do I fit in? You're walking in with a group of your friends, right? You're walking in with a group of people that you know and spent time with, and then we're going to continue to build that community through the arts by having these micro gala, by having these little parties where we can all spend time together and connect as a community, and then when we experience the art together, we're really bringing our full, authentic selves and experiencing it together.

Brendan Cooke: 15:59

And I. I got to say you know, we, we started this chat, you know, before recording about COVID and about you know the implications. We've referenced it a couple of times. I'm not sure that we would have had the brain space, the presence of mind to have some of these ideas If everything wasn't taken from us, you know, and if we didn't have this period where we were running an opera company that couldn't do opera right, we couldn't be in the same space making, sharing air and making music together. So everything was on hold. With great thanks to DDOA and other organizations, we got some of the funding that we needed. So we had this period of time where we weren't hemorrhaging funds, living our mission, we were adequately funded and we had a little bit of time to consider like who are we? How do we reach our community? So I, as much of a tragedy as COVID-19 was and continues to be for some people, we may look back at it as being one of the biggest blessings.

Kerriann Otango: 17:02

A turning point.

Brendan Cooke: 17:03

It's caused a lot of people to leave our industry, which has caused us to really look at why and how to retain them. You know it's a tough life to live on the road as an artist, so it's forced us to think about things. Well, how can we be more supportive of the people who are bringing this art to life? So, you know, this was a big year to kind of look at the why and the how. We know the how much, right, right.

Terrance Vann: 17:32

Right, so I want to take a minute to remind our listeners that you are tuned into News Radio 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV for Delaware State of the Arts. There's no reason that opera shouldn't be able to thrive in Delaware. There's no reason.

Terrance Vann: 17:52

Absolutely Say it again there's no reason and I love what you said, kariyanne, about the high quality of art that is here for our listeners to know. If you haven't got into opera, it's okay, let your hair down, go, listen to the opera street. And actually that actually leads us into the next question. I hear that opera Delaware has been bringing some of the opera activity into schools now and that sounds like a really exciting experience, I'm sure for folks, for students, it's their first time maybe hopping into all the joy that opera can bring. So can you speak about that experience? How has that been bringing opera into the schools and what has been the response from the students? How has it been?

Brendan Cooke: 18:46

I normally feel like ladies first, but this is one I'm going to pull rank and jump into this, because I think it's important to note that we are by no means the first opera company to do this. Lots of companies have education programs. Lots of companies have trailers. None of them are as cool as ours.

Kerriann Otango: 19:05

Period there we go.

Brendan Cooke: 19:07

This big fire engine red thing that was designed in part by my 10-year-old. It is something that really just sort of sparks joy and laughter. It's got bubble machines, we have a t-shirt, can and terence. It's ridiculous. I need to see this.

Brendan Cooke: 19:24

The coolest thing about it, and I think the thing that sets us apart from other organizations, is that there's a tendency in this world to send out into the community the artists who are still developing, and I do believe that that is a role that we have to help develop the next generation of artists. But what COVID led us to discover is that if we send out the 18, if we send out the top quality talent and we compensate them as such, it means that this program that we do on the trailer on the pop-up opera stage can be adapted for any audience. We can have three singers sing the same arias for third graders and for our most opera-enthused donors, and we just change the way we talk about it. So when we bring this out into the community, it is not the B-team. We are sending out people who appear on our stages, because we feel that that's really important, that we're not sending out something that is.

Kerriann Otango: 20:31

Sending out the top tier talent that you're going to see main stage in our opera house. So I feel like that tells people one that we take it seriously. This portable stage is an extension of what we do, and so the way that we're able to connect with people is by just changing the way that we talk, the way that we emcee, the way that we welcome folks. We get up, brendan and I will do the emceeing. We'll talk differently to a group of third graders or folks who are new, but we're still going to give you, we're still going to serve some amazing music to you, but we're just going to make it more accessible. We're going to talk to you like you want to be talked to.

Kerriann Otango: 21:11

What I've realized going out into the community is that people are really curious about this. They have questions. People just don't want to feel dumb, and so I love to welcome people and say the only reason that we know all the stuff about this hey, I have a master's degree in it, I'm going to have fun, I'm experienced this thing Ask questions, be curious. Be curious about art.

Brendan Cooke: 21:32

And kids by nature, are they?

Kerriann Otango: 21:34

are.

Brendan Cooke: 21:34

I've always sort of said we don't need to dumb this down for kids. They get it. It's grown up to have been told by the media for decades. Think about it for a second. If you see opera on TV, it's in caricature, it's somebody making fun of it. It is not something that is like media is telling you this is too hard, it's not for you. Kids get it. Yes, right, and what this vehicle does for us is allow us to sort of put it in front of adults and kids at the same time and just allow them to get it. So I know your question was about going into schools and we love doing that because kids are curious and we're really filling a need. I mean supplementing the music education that is happening in our schools.

Kerriann Otango: 22:23

And I have to give a shout out to laughing McQ foundation. So laughing McQ foundation gave us funding for our pop up opera truck, because it for our pop up opera mobile stage, because it costs money for us to get to these schools, for us to pay our artists appropriately. All of this stuff, there is a fee associated with it. Some schools can afford it, some social service organizations can afford it, some libraries can afford it, some can't. So we need sponsorship, we need people who want to see opera get out into the community.

Kerriann Otango: 22:53

So laughing McQ gave us funding to provide pop up opera performances for five schools across Delaware and instead of us just choosing internally, we put out a nomination form online. We said nominate any school that you think deserves a pop up opera performance. My guy, when I tell you we got 40 nominations from teachers, from students, from parents, from board members right, nominating schools and telling us why, telling us, hey, this school is really deserving because the teachers worked so hard, because the students are so curious. So there's a need in our community, 40 schools want this opportunity. We need the funding for it to be able to do it.

Brendan Cooke: 23:29

The other cool thing about it, terrence, is that because we have this mobile stage now and because it's getting more efficient, each time we go out we get a little better at it, we can do more and we are finally able to kind of live up to the name opera Delaware. You know, by nature of what we do, we are firmly rooted in Wilmington and in Newcastle County. Right, it's very hard to travel a full opera production from one theater to another Very expensive. This allows us. You know, we've got we're going to schools in Kent and Sussex. This allows us to really bring this to other parts of the state and so it's, yeah, we're super excited about it. We've got five school performances coming up in this month.

Brendan Cooke: 24:12

And you know, but again, like all summer, I, you, you gave a shout out to Laffy McHugh. I got to give a shout out to DDOA, indirectly. You know, several organizations have gone to DDOA for the Arts Access Grants and we've been able to go to state parks and tie into their programming. And you know, before you you were sort of mentioning partnership and and I can't remember the word you used but the synchronicity right that we're finding, like this, has allowed us to take some funding that is available right and make it work in the interest of connecting opera to another, another community. So it's just, it's.

Brendan Cooke: 24:53

It's been a. It's just blown the doors open for us, quite literally, and to be able to take this anywhere at a high level is just a thrill, and the schools are a big part of that. But I have long felt that if we're not educating mom and dad as well about this thing that no-transcript you know studies have shown, prior to the pandemic, 2% of the American public went to opera we have got to do more right. It's not just about the kids, it's about the kids and their parents. Because if the kids get excited about a school program and they come home to mom and dad and they say, hey, we saw this great thing, we saw opera if mom and dad don't have a frame of reference, we're probably spinning our wheels.

Kerriann Otango: 25:36

Which is why I want mom and dad to say, oh, that opening night microgala, where mom and dad can get dressed up and go have champagne and play poker and have fun and then go see an opera, yeah, we love that. We love that.

Brendan Cooke: 25:47

It's about meaning more things to more people and never compromising on the quality of the art that we produce. So it's been a labor of love. I did not expect to find my personal salvation on the back of a borrowed landscaping equipment trailer when we first started this, but you know, it's like it put things in a perspective when you show up to a patron's driveway who is unable to get to you anymore and you see what that means to them and their healthcare worker. I mean it is one of the most humbling and empowering experiences that one can have in this business. But then you start also seeing the dividends that it pays in audience development in conversation. I mean this trailer has been everywhere, from shift changes at hospitals to country clubs to the Wilmington Hope Commission. I mean you wanna talk about a surprise these gentlemen filing into the parking lot at the Wilmington Hope Commission and seeing this ridiculous trailer and the looks that I saw on their faces and the words that I heard come out of their faces at the beginning versus you know the end.

Kerriann Otango: 27:03

Even a couple of minutes, even five, 10 minutes into it.

Brendan Cooke: 27:06

Give people quality. It doesn't matter what their previous experience is. Most of them are gonna get it right. Some people are immune to beauty and we can't help them, but they are the lowest portion of I mean it's. We experienced this when we were out in a public place with the trailer. Right, you get some people who will bring their chair and they sit in the front row and they're there the whole time, behaving sort of with that legacy narrative of like this is how I behave at a performance. You get other people who walk by and their heads are buried in their phones because they're busy and they can't be bothered with beautiful things. But the thing that I love to look for the people that walk by, they're like oh, something cool is happening. Let me put my bike down for a minute and take a breath and then carry on about my day. You know that's the thing we're looking for is because every time we take the stage out, something good happens. Right, it may not be the big donation that we're looking for, but it brings people a little bit closer. And if that bottom threshold is just someone being willing to say something nice about this art form, like, oh no, no, it's not what you think.

Brendan Cooke: 28:16

I saw this crazy thing that opera Delaware is doing and it was great. It's a win for us. So, yeah, that's just been a great vehicle and DDOA has literally and figuratively a great vehicle, and DDOA has been very supportive of it, as have others. It's been an easy thing for us to talk about, because we can show people and practice what it does. It's not so much of what we do is theory. It's like oh, we're gonna have this great opera. Let me tell you why you're gonna love it. You gotta wait until next year to see it, because it's that big and that huge. This is something that allows us to say yes and quickly deliver something of high quality. That it's not an overstatement. I believe it can change people. I believe that interacting with this type of live art can change someone at a cellular level and we see it. So we're gonna stop babbling. We get you. Why not? No, no, no.

Terrance Vann: 29:11

Honestly, this is great because we do want the listeners to get a full picture of what is happening with each organization that we talk to. But when we're talking about opera you're right, there's, I think people feel there may be a barrier there sometimes, and it's up to everyone. You have to have a little curiosity as a member of the audience also, so I appreciate you laying it out like that so people can hear that this is something for them also. Now we're going to the future here. We're going to the future now. We've talked about some really fabulous things, but 23-24, the season is right around the corner.

Terrance Vann: 30:02

It sounds like, yeah, there's some high expectations, high energy. What can we expect?

Brendan Cooke: 30:09

Rendez. Well, before we get to 23-24, we've got to talk about the lead up to it, because the summer is going to be us again out drumming up interest and support in all manner of unexpected places. One of those places is we're having a season launch micro gala out at Independence Mall. We're going to have a special curated dinner for donors at Snuff Mill Restaurant and we're going to have a wine tasting at Swig to sort of announce the season and get everybody geared up. So we're excited about that full summer of outdoor performances. I think they're at last checked. I mean nearly 30 booked. So we're going to be real busy.

Brendan Cooke: 30:56

So we get back to the Grand Opera House in the fall and I know this is going to be embargoed until after we announce. So I can say with glee that in the fall, in October, we will be back at the Grand for Verdi's Rigoletto. We're kind of staying in this lane of kind of recognizable titles right now because it's just been a great way to overcome some of those initial objections. It's like you know, oh no, it sounds familiar. I'm going to give it a go.

Kerriann Otango: 31:25

I think, in particular, it's so great when people recognize even just a little bit of the music from it, right. So we say it's Verdi's Rigoletto. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you've never heard of it, but you've probably heard. La donna e mobile, right, the tenor aria from it you've probably heard. And so when we get to that point in the show, people go right, and even just that makes people feel closer and makes people feel like they okay, this is for me. So I think it's so great to do the really classic standard repertoire.

Brendan Cooke: 31:54

For that reason, and then springtime we're back at the Grand for a production of Puccini's Turandot, which is just huge grand opera of the highest order, and that will be. That'll be great fun Again. Another one that, like you've heard, Nessun Dorma. There is a frame of reference for everybody right, For these works You've heard Nessun Dorma.

Kerriann Otango: 32:17

You've heard it sung by opera singers. You've also probably heard it sung by Aretha Franklin at the Grammys, because she stepped in in the late nineties, I think, to sing Nessun Dorma. It is such a beautiful piece and it's one of those pieces that, whether you know the words or not, you hear it on America's Got Talent, you feel like pulled into this music. So imagine how much more pulled into it you're going to feel when it's a live orchestra and professional opera singers and the whole story right Like. Imagine how much more deeply and cathartically you're going to feel this music.

Brendan Cooke: 32:49

But also like if you have that piece of familiarity you can hang on to, then you feel like you belong there. So those are the tent poles of the season. That's where, like all of the fundraising, a lot of the effort goes because of the just grandeur of it all. You've got a full orchestra, You've got a full chorus in costumes, You've got makeup artists, wig artists. I mean the team just blows up to like 250 people to make this stuff happen. But in between those things we need to kind of keep the engine moving and keep people engaged with the company.

Brendan Cooke: 33:24

So we have artist curated recitals here at our facility. We have a. So we've got two performance venues here in the facility that have undergone a lot of renovations during COVID. So our recital hall if you haven't been in a while will blow your mind and our Black Box Theater, which is literally the last place I saw you, Terrence, when you were on your way to leave town. We significant investment in that space. So we have these smaller performance venues where we can do maybe the slightly more esoteric stuff or the edgier stuff that might appeal to smaller segments of our community. So it's we've got a lot of offerings beyond the two tent poles of the season. But as an opera company, those are our, you know, those are our big moments, those are the big games and we saw utilizing this space in such a different way in the in the last year.

Kerriann Otango: 34:23

So the Presser Black Box Theater, which is located on our riverfront in our riverfront building, we did a cabaret. We reworked the whole space. One of our fantastic employees here we have a teensy little staff, but people who like love this so much, so our friend Jordan we did the entire Black Box Theater with the curtains and drapes and lighting, so it looked like a smoky jazzy club and we did a cabaret performance and we paired that with blue ballroom to have a dance class. So it's about like creating an experience that is not just come and sit and clap when you're told to clap, but come and feel something and experience something new. We also did a workshop of a contemporary American opera, because opera is not just something that was written 200 years ago. Opera is being created still today because of the artists who are singing it, because of composers and the artists who are writing it.

Kerriann Otango: 35:15

We did a workshop here in the opera deliware studios of a new contemporary American opera called Fearless. That tells the story of an Asian American war hero during WW2, one of the first female aviators. And it's an Asian American story, written by an Asian American composer and then told by an Asian American cast. And when I say that that is revolutionary for opera, when I say that that's revolutionary to have the power to be the facilitators of stories like that happening right here in Delaware, we are making a mark in the future of what opera can mean. We are making a mark right now and I just want to encourage the people of Delaware. Like you, don't have to go to a big city, we are doing it right here.

Brendan Cooke: 35:57

Yeah, and trust that there's going to be something for everybody, you know, whether it's the full production at the grand, the whole kit and caboodle, or whether it's a more intimate experience here. You know there are lots of stories to be told and we're trying to tell them, so it's going to be an exciting year.

Terrance Vann: 36:17

I can feel it. I can feel it. It seems like it's at a really like a launch pad. That's what it sounds like right now, just into, you know, a wonderful season and, with that being said, you know we're going to close out with. You know I like to speak things into existence. You know I like to. I like to. You know, project Manifest yes, the best possible. You know outcome and you know to close us out here. If you guitar listeners, what does success for opera Delaware look like, for you as an organization and also for the artists that are all a part of these magnificent productions, that are all a part of how big the scope can be for these performances? What is success? What does it feel like? What does it sound like? What is it for opera Delaware? How much time you got? However, you want to answer that question.

Brendan Cooke: 37:18

I mean I'll start because I'm sure Carianne will have a lot more ornaments to hang on the tree. But I will say, for me personally, success for this organization looks like the ability to reinvent what was a broken model, even pre-pandemic. This was such a precious and perilous process, the way that we hire artists. They're here for a month to put on this opera. Nothing can go wrong, nobody can get ill, nobody can have a debt in the family, and these artists go from here on to Albuquerque, on to Toledo, you know, and this is their life.

Brendan Cooke: 37:58

So success for us, from my perspective, means kind of rewriting that relationship with artists. We'd like very much to pivot into becoming a resident company where these artists are with us for an entire year or two or more and they're performing on our stages, also doing this important outreach, maybe working in our marketing departments or development departments. So success for me means meaning more things to more people in our community, but also in the community of artists that we serve. So obviously full houses and generous donations are an indicator of that success. But success for me will be like walking away from next year with very clear ideas and actionable steps to change the way we've been producing opera, but I'm sure Terri-Ann's got some other things.

Kerriann Otango: 38:58

I'm just living in the absolute joy of this because, after working as a singer for 10 years and bouncing from city to city, you don't really make those connections with your community. And what I've found by living here my husband is a full-time opera singer. You know what I'm saying and what I've discovered is the curiosity that people have. They want to know about us and then, by learning about us, by learning about the artists, they're more invested in the art. By learning about the artists, the artists themselves are more comfortable and trusting and vulnerable and we can make art that matters.

Kerriann Otango: 39:34

So I think the thing that I'm most excited about is these relationships that we're building with the community. That tells them it doesn't matter the title of the opera, it doesn't matter if we're doing it here, we're doing it at the studios, if we're doing it on the pop-up opera mobile stage, if we're doing it in the opera house. Trust us, because we're going to get you high quality, we're going to get you great people and you're going to have a great time. And that's the relationship that we're building with our audience right now, that trust that we're forming, and artists, when they come here, feel seen and taken care of. We make it a very serious priority to treat artists as human beings and not as a product and not as something replaceable. We treat our audience the same way. Everybody who comes through our door is special and unique to us, and we want to make sure that your experience is as special and unique as this incredible art form deserves.

Brendan Cooke: 40:24

And say the pinnacle of success would be everybody who comes through our door bringing somebody else back. Right, because then maybe we're not limited to doing this four nights a year, right, maybe we're running a much longer season, right, but it's to us if we're delivering something of quality and people are willing to talk about it and stick their neck out about it, that's what success looks like. If we can stay in conversation, like we have this year. People are talking about opera Delaware and that feels great. We would like that chorus to be louder, more confident and more.

Kerriann Otango: 41:04

They'll teach you some harmony, more operatic if you will.

Terrance Vann: 41:07

Life begins at Forte right, yes, yes, there we go. There, we go Absolutely, and that's a great way to kind of close us out because that feels real. I feel that all sounds so like it's already happening and I'm going to let people know. You need to check out opera Delaware, you need to go see a show, you need to go check out when that, when you see that vehicle, drive by, stop and see what is happening, see, absorb some of that art that is happening, because artists put a lot of time into it. You put so much time into organizing it and it's a wonderful product and that's something that we're all grateful for.

Terrance Vann: 41:55

I'm extremely grateful for the time that we've spent today talking about these things. I think the listeners are going to learn a lot. I think those who already appreciate opera are going to be beaming as they're listening to this, because they know the value that it brings and it really can elevate culturally what you may expect from the arts. Plus. I can't wait to see a show myself. I'm definitely going to have Absolutely. I'm going to be tuning in, I'm going to be tuning in and I want to see what the schedule of events is so I can check it out, because I'm really excited about it. I have a daughter. I want her to be exposed to some of these things early, not later on, and dumbed. {\an8 deseuse de partir de la whatnoteette, 顾 wooden keys in.

Brendan Cooke: 43:28

Pagliaccio, mestil adjumma E la faccia in falina la gente cara il rinar vuole qua e Serrequine intona con un mima lì un paio e un tv Blendラ all' Terraatia sua. E il pitanto. E una Representatives. E un Törpo. E il tuo目.

Terrance Vann: 44:50

He Suoken emando.

Brendan Cooke: 45:05

Bringain del dode Me da vela here, here Goal.