Opening night of a concert season is something of a landmark moment, and one likely to have presenters and concertgoers alike on the edge of their seats. The first show of the year acts as a beginning of sorts, setting the tone for the season ahead. And yet, a season opener is also in many ways a culmination of the great work of preparation – the not-always-visible efforts of the myriad people who shape a musical project into its final, public form.
We spoke with some of those behind-the-scenes music professionals whose work is just that – to ensure that each concert of the season, for both audience and performers, happens just the way it should. Opening night, when the houselights go down and the curtain rises, is in fact a very different sort of landmark for each individual involved – and for some, just another day on the job.
What follows are conversations with a cluster of industry experts: the acoustician working on the The Isabel, the hall in the new Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts at Queen’s University; the principal Toronto Symphony Orchestra librarian backstage at Roy Thomson Hall; and two individuals whose sets and surtitles respectively, help give opera in Toronto its visual presence. As each prepares in his own way for the onset of another season, they divulge the secrets of the job and reveal just how crucial that behind-the-scenes clockwork can be.
So, as you enjoy your musical firsts of the upcoming concert season, be sure to keep an eye (or an ear) out for the handiwork of some of these industry experts. While you may not see them onstage under the spotlights, you’ll know just what, at that moment, they might be up to.
JOE SOLWAY,Arup Acoustician.As an acoustician for engineering and design firm Arup, Joe Solway has taken on the role of acoustic consultant for the new addition to Queen’s University in Kingston – the 566-seat performance hall at the Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts.
When is the building’s big reveal?
The big gala opening [an invitation-only event]is on September 20, and Queen’s has a student opening on September 13.
What is the process from your end to get ready for that opening?
A lot of it is now done. We’ve been coming up to the site throughout the whole construction process, to check on all the different elements, and during the process we’ve been testing the room acoustically. We just had three days this week of testing the acoustics and the audio-visual design.
What do those types of tests involve?
For the room acoustics test that we do in the performance hall, we have a whole measurement kit. The main sound is a frequency sweep that we play through a loudspeaker and then we capture that using a special microphone called an ambisonic. It catches not only the level of sound but also the direction of where it’s coming from. It’s not only the level or the frequency balance, but also the spacial components of the sound that is a key part of the design, and a key part of what makes a room special. We also have a starting pistol that we shoot as well, and a static white noise that we play through the loudspeaker, to measure variations in level across the room.
How does it all start?
The process really starts in design. We build a 3D acoustic computer model of the space, where we input all the acoustical properties of the walls and the seats and the ceiling and can simulate in the model how it’s going to sound. We have a space that we built in our office called the SoundLab; it’s a listening room where we can simulate the acoustics of spaces that we’re designing. A key part of the process for The Isabel was to model the space we were designing to simulate the acoustics, and then with Queen’s and the architects to listen to that design as we were designing it. The testing was from the design but then continued into the construction process.
How was your planning for the space influenced by the types of events it will host?
The shape and the form of the room came directly out of the programming meetings with Queen’s. From the outset of the project, we sat down with Queen’s faculty and defined a matrix of usage times. We said the hall would be primarily for chamber groups but still had to accommodate the symphony orchestra of the university, and everything from jazz to Brazilian samba to amplified sound use for film. From that, we sketched out what the basic shape and form needed to be for those functions. The architects took those building blocks, if you will, and based their design on those parameters. I think the reason why we’re so happy with the design is that Snøhetta are amazing at taking those design parameters and then fully integrating them into their architectural vision. Really, the acoustical properties are totally embedded in the architectural design. That doesn’t always happen. You don’t always have such a harmony of architecture and acoustics, but I think here we have a design where both are working together.
Is your job done now?
Part of the analysis of the data that we just took involved measuring the room. We have acoustical drapery that can be deployed at each level in the room to change the acoustics, so the final step is to analyze that data and to advise the technical director on how different configurations can be deployed for different kinds of performances.
Even though the design is finished, the life of this building is just starting – and how it actually gets used will change over time, so we want to be there to advise Queen’s as those needs and uses change. I’ll be back at least for the gala opening on the 20th and for the first professional concert on the 21st, and also to get feedback: on how the building is being used, and from performers’ and audiences’ reactions to the space. To hear that feedback is essential for closing the loop on the design process.
GARY CORRIN, Toronto Symphony Orchestra Principal Librarian
How long in advance do you work on organizing a concert and putting it together?
I like to make music available to musicians three working weeks before the first rehearsal. That’s just sort of a benchmark … For each concert I load anything necessary to play that concert in a folder, and that folder is available to musicians…We probably do an average of two shows a week and I have an old set of shelves here that has five slots in it. And basically I just try to keep them filled. So to summarize it, whether you think of it in weeks or not, musicians usually have music available to them about four concerts in advance.
I guess that means, for you, a great deal of multitasking involved.
Right. For some concerts I know up to a year in advance what the program is going to be and I work on that all different ways. For instance, if we have a guest conductor that I see in March and I know he’s coming back in February, by then I’ve already seen what his program is and I can ask him some very specific questions about that … so I tell people I’m working anywhere from three minutes to three years in advance on things in any given day.
At the moment that the concert is starting, is there any sense of the pressure being off, or are you already just thinking of all the other things you have on the go?
It’s really the first rehearsal, because that’s when everybody shows up and we’ve got to have all the parts and the right editions. So by the time the first concert shows up, I guess I’m probably the most relaxed person in the orchestra. My work is pretty much done by that time. I have some ceremonial tasks for the concert, like putting the conductor’s score onstage, setting up the folders and cleaning them up, but largely it’s getting through the rehearsal that’s my stressful part. I’m the guy who by opening night is looking way past opening night. I’m here and I’m doing stuff that people see, but really my concern is three weeks to three months in the future. That’s what I’m working on, during opening night. I will be sitting here listening to a monitor of the concert and enjoying that, and working probably on bowings, or something.
What I like to tell people is that there are 80 to 100 people on stage and my job as a librarian is to make sure that their time in rehearsal is spent effectively. That means rehearsing, and not figuring out issues in the printed music. If you back that up, any piece could have a problem that I may need to solve ahead of time.
So it really is a “wearing many hats at once” kind of thing.
Sure. You know, here’s the deal: librarians in an orchestra or opera setting are responsible for anything to do with those printed pages that the musicians are looking at. Now, those printed pages dictate what’s going to go on onstage, because if it isn’t on the page, they don’t play it – hopefully! And so if there’s something wrong with those pages, there’s kind of a mess at the rehearsal. There’s also a lot of information that arises out of those pages, like how many horn players we need, how many trumpet players … that’s one of the first questions that everybody wants to know in their planning. So, many hats? It’s funny – I don’t do all this stuff, but I’m kind of in charge of recruiting people and alerting them, and then I facilitate their work back into mine, in preparing those folders for the stage.
GERARD GAUCI, Opera Atelier Set Designer
When is opening night for you?
Opening night for Opera Atelier’s new production of Handel’s Alcina is October 23.
What type of process is it for you to get ready for opening night of a show?
Preparations for a show begin long before opening night and start with in-depth discussions with my artistic director Marshall Pynkoski. Armed with a recording, a libretto and a sketchbook, we sit in my studio surrounded by inspirational images culled from books, magazines and the Internet and discuss the storyline, the concepts we want to explore and the overall look of the show. Soon afterwards I create a storyboard illustrating the progression of the opera from scene to scene; then over the ensuing months, dozens of meetings and hundreds of phone calls, our ideas get refined and edited. The sketches resolve into finished renderings and scale models and these in turn are passed on to the painters, carpenters and prop makers who together realize the designs for the stage. Generally the sets can be built in four to six months and once completed are transported from the shop to the theatre, where in seven to nine very long days, carpenters, electricians and stage hands set up and rehearse the show.
How long in advance do you begin that work? Who do you collaborate with to make it all happen?
The process I described starts about 18 months before opening night. Aside from Marshall, my most important collaborators are my executive director Patricia Barretto, who supports the project and sets the budget, and my production manager Evelyn Campbell, who helps me with the practical aspects of the design, engages the builders and craftspeople and then plans and oversees the installation and running of the show. Not to be forgotten are my lighting designer Bonnie Beecher, and for the first time in the company’s history, we are excited to be working with filmmaker Ben Shirinian, who with Krystal Levy Pictures is producing the video projections that will make the magical transformations in Alcina come to life.
How did you get started in this line of work?
My position in the theatre world is unusual in that I have worked with only one company for my entire career. I began working with Opera Atelier in 1985 after the co-artistic directors spotted an illustration I created as the cover image for an issue of the CBC Radio Guide. They tracked me down and invited me to design some set pieces for an upcoming production of Handel’s The Choice of Hercules performed at the tiny theatre in the basement of the ROM. As the company grew I honed my skills, learned the art of stage design and 29 years later find myself designing this massive new production of Handel’s Alcina.
What’s the most challenging part of the job?
Far and away the most challenging part of the job is mounting a show of operatic proportions in the vaudeville-scaled confines of our home stage, the beautiful Elgin Theatre in downtown Toronto. It always works in the end but it really is like piecing together an intricate jigsaw puzzle. I love working in this historic theatre but what wouldn’t I give for an extra ten feet upstage!
JOHN SHARPE, Canadian Opera Company Surtitles Operator
When is opening night for you personally?
There are three or four operators who work on the surtitles, and we’re assigned specific operas during the course of the year. I’m doing one opera this year – Die Walküre – but that’s not until the spring season.
How does it all work for you?
I’m calling the show – actually working on each of the performances. My involvement in terms of any individual show normally starts within the last weeks of rehearsal. I actually go to the rehearsals with my score, which is marked with all the cues, just to see the layout of the show and the way the singers are interacting with each other. I get to see one of those rehearsals and I also go to two or three orchestra-cast rehearsals, which are in the Four Seasons Centre with full orchestra and costumes. Those rehearsals give me a chance to prepare in a live setting, because I’m actually calling the show as they’re performing.
So then, the pressure is really on for you when you start to do the live runs?
That’s right. A lot of people are under the misconception that the surtitles that they see are computer-generated – and in truth, they are done through a computer, but it doesn’t just happen automatically. Because it’s a live performance, we have to be aware of the timing, and it changes from one performance to the next. A singer will perform in a slightly different way depending on how the tension of the evening might be, for example. And in the case of a show that might have two casts, we have to be aware of what the differences between the two casts are. Our ears are our most important tools in all of this. And it really shows what the magic of a live performance is. It’s happening right there, and almost anything can happen.
Which tricks do you use to nail down the timing?
I’m in a booth on Ring 3, so I can see the whole performance directly in front of me, and I have headphones on, hearing the music just a little bit closer than it would be in the house. I also have a monitor in front of me that is focussed on the conductor. I can see the conductor as he’s conducting and occasionally a conductor will give cues to the singer as to when to go next, particularly if its a complicated ensemble or something like that. That also helps very much, so that I can watch. There are some times when the singing line is so exposed and there’s almost no musical cue – when the singer actually starts the music off – so I watch very carefully what the singer is doing and I can usually see the person beginning to breathe. But again, it’s completely live, so I have to be very, very careful of those kinds of things.
Any show that was particularly challenging?
I would say the most strenuous one that I ever did was when the COC did the complete Ring Cycle, and I had to do all four operas – each of them one or two days apart. The endurance of knowing that every two days or so I was going to do another opera, five hours in length, was extremely tiring. I took a little time off from my regular job just so I could do that one!
Like you said, a lot of people don’t realize that it’s not a computer, but a human running a computer program.
Yes – during a performance I’m there with the score, and it’s marked with cues in consultation with the director. It’s a very collaborative thing: creating the text and where it goes. Once the score gets to me, it’s fully marked and I know where the cues are. I have a set of headphones with a mic, and next to me is an operator from the union who actually operates the computer that projects the image. I’m just giving him the cues – I like to say, I say “go” about 600 times in a row! So if you ever peek into the booth, that’s all you’d hear: my voice saying, “go, go, go”...but that’s how it all works.
Opening nights can arrive in many different shapes and forms. For more on a season opener at a much-loved local venue, see Tim Dawson’s “Opening Night at Seicho-No-Ie,” in Just The Spot here.
Sara Constant is social media editor at The WholeNote and studies music at U of T. She can be contacted at editorial@thewholenote.com.