BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
“A good opera singer can rip your heart out with a single aria.”
It may sound an ambitious statement, but Kate Millett isn’t shying away from the challenge. Instead, the singer and director has established BK Opera to bring young artists into this inner world of opera; helping them to confront the souls of their characters and sing from the heart.
Kate, whose focus on the psychological and emotional sides of opera, has a background in theatre with studies in drama and performance from University of Western Australia and Edith Cowan University. The creator and producer came together with conductor James Penn to create BK Opera, which made its debut last year.
Right now, they’re working hard to train emerging artists for an upcoming concert series of 19th Century opera Werther by Massenet, which will be shown in a setting of post-WWII Europe. Kate tells us why she enjoys innovation in opera, and paving the way for new singers in Australia.
Since BK Opera debuted in 2016 with Carmen, you’ve been working to provide emerging singers with a platform to perform opera. Can you tell us a little more about this vision?
Our vision is to create a creative “business” model that is sustainable and reproducible without outside funding. The other side of it is to continually improve our artform, creating new and interesting interpretations of operas both classic and obscure. Ultimately, we’d like to expand our audience beyond the usual crowd by performing in new venues and collaborating with different artforms. Opera is such an elastic and exciting artform – there are endless possibilities of how to define it.
Why did you decide to place your priority on working with artists starting their careers, as opposed to building an opera company with already established artists?
My background is in independent amateur theatre, and I loved the DIY nature and camaraderie that happens when you come together as volunteers to create something. When you compare the opera scene in Europe to Australia, the main missing element is a strong amateur opera scene – a space for recent graduates, new singers, and emerging artists to develop their skills outside of Young Artist Programs or choruses. I wanted to fill that gap; to provide somewhere for singers to try new things, experiment with acting techniques – basically, to expand their repertoire and develop their skills in a safe space.
We wanted to help emerging singers get some roles under their belt so they can go out into the world with a full and robust resume. Plus, I’ve met so many talented young singers looking for a space to develop themselves. They’ve been through the degrees, they’ve joined the chorus of a semi-professional or professional company, but there are limited opportunities to develop a role and to start building up a resume.
What have you found are some of the benefits of working with young singers?
Young singers, on the whole, have no real expectations about the rehearsal process, so we can approach a text together as a blank slate, look at it with fresh eyes and develop new interpretations.
Why is it important to you to nurture artists in the early stages of their career?
In these early stages, they are yet to develop hard and fast singing and acting techniques, so it is important to provide a safe space in which they can exercise these techniques and become more familiar with their instruments. Some companies aren’t known for their flexibility to work within the capabilities of a young voice, so providing a place where they can make mistakes is vital to help build their confidence.
How do you best support these talents through BK Opera?
We support their in-depth analysis of the text. I personally run acting workshops during rehearsal to help my singers find the truth in their actions. Our main conductor James Penn offers one-on-one tutoring in French pronunciation to our singers. James and I are always on call to hear their concerns regarding their voice or their interpretations.
Much of what you do seems driven by the emotion or psychology behind both singer and character. What interests you about getting inside the story, just as much as the aesthetics of an opera’s sound or vision?
At the core of all good opera is the emotion. No matter how good a singer they are, if they cannot portray the emotion, their performance appears flat. A good opera singer can rip your heart out with a single aria. We started BK to tap into that pure emotion that opera does so well. Opera can convey so much more meaning than traditional theatre through the added element of music, which is designed to target our emotional core.
How do you feel about the future of opera in Australia? What changes would you like to see?
I think it says a lot about opera in Australia that one of the most sought after and creative directors in the world is Australian: Barrie Kosky. There are some companies doing some amazing and innovative productions around the country. What I would change, however, is to strengthen the amateur scene; try to fill the gap between a singer’s graduation and their first professional role. I would also like to re-educate the public about opera; to strip the stigma that it is only for the rich and the old.
You look overseas and there are those smaller companies trying new and different things with opera, and that’s where a whole new generation of opera directors and producers are getting their start and where new interpretations get tested.
Any parting words?
We’d like to encourage all lovers of opera to try out the new breed of small companies that have started to emerge all over the country. These amateur non-profit companies are helping to develop the future of opera and helping to stop the talent drain.
Support BK Opera by attending the upcoming Werther series at Masonic Hall, Abbotsford, from 26 April to 7 May.
