Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
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Youth with a touch of seasoning (from left on page 30): Kentucky Opera's La Boheme cast included Louisvillian Emily Albrink (frst two photos) as Musetta, Corrine Winters (next two photos) as Mimi, and veteran stage actor Tony Dillon in a double role as the landlord Benoit and as the wealthy government suitor of Musetta, Alcindoro. companies around the country, including Fort Worth, Texas, where he was director of fnance. He strives to infect his staf with a spirit of adventure, bring in younger stars hungry for success, try new things with contemporary composers and be imaginative with productions. Te company constructed a special stage framework, adaptable for multiple sets and diferent productions, so that it could own, instead of rent, the stage settings for at least one opera per year. It operates a "studio artists" program for the training of young singers, and Roth seems adept at fnding interesting new operas that will attract talented singers, running a wide network of scouts to locate afordable fresh faces and voices. After attending to the music, Kentucky Opera rolls out the red carpet for audiences, creating stylish opening-night experiences for its fans. Tomson Smillie, who headed Kentucky Opera from 1982 to 1997 and serves as an arts columnist for Louisville Magazine, says the spectacle of grand opera is something that cannot be overestimated. "What David Roth has done that's bucking the trend is he realized early in his life that going to the opera is a special experience," Smillie says. "It's a night out. It's glamorous. It's an excuse to take your girl for a drink before and supper afterwards, or vice versa. To have her wear her prom dress, and you your black tie. "You get there and a photographer is fashing fash bulbs. Tere's a red carpet. Television cameras and lights and stuf — and OK, it's only their own staf dressed up as the media, but still you feel, 'Well, I've had my photograph taken!' And then you enjoy a glass of champagne. Ten you go to your seat in the Brown Teatre, which is the loveliest opera house in mid-America. Perfect European size. You can see everything. And afterwards, not just the snobs, but everybody is invited to an after-show party around the corner at Market Place. Boy! Tat's a night out, isn't it?" I nside the Brown, the overhead lights go down, turning things over to the tiny twinkles of twin chandeliers. Little points of light and sparkly glass. White-painted walls with gold gilt and polished mirrors. Te Brown might not be described as really beautiful, but elegant enough to drop you back in time to an era of candelabras and velvet curtains. An oboist in the pit sounds an A, and the orchestra tunes up — a cacophony of scales and trumpet rips that is a ritual as ancient as classical music. Ten it stops. Te audience drops into silence. Tere's a pause . . . and the overture begins, setting the stage for the action to come. Some opera overtures are famous on their own, such as "Fidelio" and "Die Meistersinger." And you know Rossini's "Guillaume Tell" — the "William Tell Overture." Te orchestra pit at the Brown is compact, with the fddles out front and woodwinds and brass tucked underneath the stage. Te foor is concrete, bouncing the music up to the singers and audience. Te wooden stage seems to resonate like the spruce top on a violin. So the orchestra doesn't have to saw hard and blow big on their instruments. Te overture just bounces out beautifully through the hall. Its fnal notes usually leave a bit of a question hanging in the air — as the curtain rises. Te 11.13 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 31