logo
An ‘Opera Camp' Flourishes in the New Mexico Desert

An ‘Opera Camp' Flourishes in the New Mexico Desert

New York Times20-05-2025

In 1956, in the high desert just north of Santa Fe, N.M., a young New York conductor had a vision to build an outdoor opera house. Many scoffed at such an idea in the Southwest, but John Crosby persisted. He had fallen in love with opera as a young man attending the Metropolitan Opera.
Nearly 70 years later, the Santa Fe Opera, which opens its annual two-month season on June 27, attracts singers, directors, stage designers and conductors from across the globe. In many ways it has a sort of operatic pipeline to New York and the Metropolitan Opera.
'There's this wonderful legacy of artists who have had their debut here and gone onto the Met and other houses,' Robert K. Meya, general director of the Santa Fe Opera, said during a recent phone interview. 'And John Crosby's vision was very tied to the Metropolitan Opera. He first heard Richard Strauss at the Met, and he moved very quickly to bring many of Strauss's first operas to Santa Fe years later.'
That early vision of championing Strauss's lesser-known works defined the company — six of his operas had their professional U.S. debuts in Santa Fe, including 'Capriccio' in 1958 and 'Intermezzo' in 1984 — in the decades after his death in 1949.
Crosby's vision to stage a world premiere or a U.S. premiere almost every season among its five annual productions has also distinguished the company.
'That's 20 percent of the season,' the director Bruce Donnell, who has staged many productions in Santa Fe and at the Metropolitan Opera, said in a recent phone interview. 'Imagine the Met or a major opera house doing 20 percent of their repertory in new works.'
Crosby had attended a boys school in nearby Los Alamos in his teens (relocating because of asthma) and after attending Yale and Columbia nurtured the idea of an opera house in Santa Fe, a city long associated with the arts for its stunning setting and its allure for artists in the early 20th century such as Marsden Hartley and, most famously, Georgia O'Keeffe.
Crosby borrowed $200,000 from his parents to lease land on a former ranch (the company now owns its 155-acre spread) and opened a 480-seat outdoor wooden theater in the summer of 1957.
Igor Stravinsky came out the first season, at Crosby's invitation, for a production of his opera 'The Rake's Progress.' The lyric soprano Kiri Te Kanawa made her U.S. debut at the opera in 1971. Many established names followed.
The current theater, built after the wooden structure burned in 1967 and renovated extensively in 1998 (including covering the partially open roof that too often became part of the show during New Mexico's rainy season), seats about 2,100 with the sides of the house still open to the elements. Translation titles, almost identical to the ones at the Metropolitan Opera, are on the back of each seat (in English and Spanish), rather than above the stage.
In addition to the setting and the big names it attracts, the company is known for nurturing young talent.
'We have the oldest apprentice program in the U.S. started in 1957,' Meya said. 'The big houses come to Santa Fe for what we call industry week with directors, artistic directors, agents and general managers from all over the world. From those two days, our 40 apprentices are hired to sing at the Met and all over the world.'
This summer is an example of several returning artists and role debuts. The bass baritone Ryan Speedo Green — who debuted in the title role of 'Don Giovanni' in Santa Fe last summer and will perform it at the Met this fall — returns to the Santa Fe Opera this summer for his role debut as Wotan in 'Die Walküre.' And Tamara Wilson, who made her role debut in 'Tristan und Isolde' in 2022, will debut as Brünnhilde in 'Die Walküre' this summer.
'Singers love going to Santa Fe for its beautiful surroundings and the laid-back atmosphere,' Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, wrote in an email. 'As America's leading summer opera festival, it has also been a launchpad for the careers of rising young singers, both from this country and abroad.'
For many singers, Santa Fe — and the opera — are home.
'In 1989 I was invited by John Crosby to cover in 'Chérubin' after I had done it at Manhattan School of Music, and he also let me sing Flora in 'Traviata,'' the mezzo-soprano Susan Graham recalled in a recent phone interview. 'Someone else got sick singing Annina in 'Der Rosenkavalier,' then I sang in 'Ariadne auf Naxos' in 1990 and Cherubino in 'The Marriage of Figaro' in 1991, and then I made my Met debut as the Second Lady in 'The Magic Flute' that same year.'
Graham, who grew up in Roswell, N.M., and has owned a home in Santa Fe since 2002, has seen the company lure more singers who hear about its reputation and dramatic setting.
'It's like a working vacation, and many of us call it opera camp,' Graham recalled. 'I feel like the place itself is magic and the opera company optimizes that.'
Donnell started on the stage crew at the Santa Fe Opera in 1967 and began directing there in 1987.
'We were paid $20 a week, and after one week on the job I was totally caught up in all of it,' Donnell said. 'John Crosby was like Rudolf Bing in that he had a vision of what he wanted an opera company to be.'
In fact, Bing, the Austrian-born general manager of the Metropolitan Opera from 1950 to 1972, didn't quite understand Crosby's vision, Donnell recalled, even though Crosby credited Bing's outsize influence on opera as his inspiration for creating the Santa Fe Opera.
Despite coming out for the opening season and encouraging Crosby for many years, Bing initially was confused, Donnell said.
'He famously asked Crosby, 'Where is Santa Fe?''

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

When Is ‘A Minecraft Movie' Coming To Streaming On Max?
When Is ‘A Minecraft Movie' Coming To Streaming On Max?

Forbes

time26 minutes ago

  • Forbes

When Is ‘A Minecraft Movie' Coming To Streaming On Max?

Warner Bros. Discovery announced in May that Jack Black and Jason Momoa's A Minecraft Movie would begin streaming on Max in June. However, we're a week and a half into June and A Minecraft Movie still has no release date on the Max streaming service, which will renamed HBO Max this summer. News broke on May 21 that A Minecraft Movie was part Max's new lineup of programming in June. The move was surprising given the expediency of the release coming to the streaming service, considering the film opened in theaters on April 4 and made its debut on digital streaming via premium video on demand on May 13. In Warner Bros. Discovery's May announcement of A Minecraft Movie's debut on the service, the press release only said the movie was 'coming soon.' A Minecraft Movie is still playing in 346 North American theaters. To date, the film has earned $423.6 million domestically and nearly $527.6 million internationally for a worldwide box office tally of $951.2 million against a $150 million budget, according to The Numbers. A Minecraft Movie attracted unique attention early in the film's run thanks to the film's "Chicken Jockey" scene and the havoc that erupted during screenings. Piglin characters in "A Minecraft Movie." Warner Bros. Pictures With no new news from Warner Bros. Discovery about A Minecraft Movie about the release of the film on Max, the streaming tracker When to Stream is projecting a potential landing date for the film on the platform. When to Stream, which is typically accurate with its PVOD and streaming service reports, previously forecasted June 20 arrival for A Minecraft Movie on Max since that is the only available date that the service doesn't have a big title scheduled for release. In recent reports, When to Stream is sticking with its projection. The most recent mention of A Minecraft Movie's pending release on Max from Warner Bros. Discovery came in a Tuesday press release, where the title was mentioned among others that will be available to 12 new countries when the platform expands its global footprint in July. Rated PG, A Minecraft Movie follows four misfits (Jason Momoa, Sebastian Hansen, Danielle Brooks and Emma Meyers) who are sucked into a portal in a mine that brings them to the Overworld, where anything the mind imagines can be built with blocks. It's in the Overworld where the group encounters a smattering of block-shaped creatures and the human, Steve (Jack Black), who is being held by a nefarious, pig-like group known as the Piglins. Directed by Jared Hess, A Minecraft Movie also stars Jennifer Coolidge and the voices of Hess, Rachel House, Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie and Matt Berry. A Minecraft Movie, of course, is based on the blockbuster Mojang Studios video game Minecraft.

Ananda Lewis, former MTV VJ who shared breast cancer journey, has died at 52
Ananda Lewis, former MTV VJ who shared breast cancer journey, has died at 52

CNN

time30 minutes ago

  • CNN

Ananda Lewis, former MTV VJ who shared breast cancer journey, has died at 52

Ananda Lewis, a former MTV VJ who connected a generation of music fans to their favorite celebrities in the network's heyday, has died. She was reportedly 52. The news was confirmed by her sister Lakshmi Emory, who posted a tribute on Facebook. No further details were available. CNN has reached out to representatives for Lewis for further comment and information. Lewis had been battling breast cancer in recent years, recently speaking with CNN about her treatment. She revealed in October of last year that her cancer had progressed to stage IV. Lewis was a fixture on MTV's programming during part of the network's lineup in the '90s, appearing on 'MTV Live' as host, among other titles. She also had her own talk show, 'The Ananda Lewis Show,' from 2001 to 2002, hosting over 250 episodes. This is a developing story.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store