BY ALEXANDRA MATHEW
Many artists will be content with cultivating and successfully maintaining just one career in their lifetime.
Not so for Elizabeth Hill-Cooper — ballet dancer, producer, and director — who has recently been appointed CEO of Victorian Opera.
Elizabeth is no stranger to the company, having previously held the VO positions of artistic administrator, executive producer, and artistic associate to the artistic director.
Amidst her busy Victorian Opera schedule, Elizabeth chats to us about her vision for the company, the joys of working in opera, and the responsibilities of interweaving an artistic career with an administrative one.
Hi Elizabeth, congratulations on your new appointment as CEO of Victorian Opera! For a few years now you’ve been involved in the company in various capacities. During this time, in what way has Victorian Opera evolved?
Thank you. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to guide Victorian Opera into the next phase of its existence.
I have been with the company for over seven years now, and the growth of the organisation has been steady and well managed. The fundamental driving philosophy of the organisation has really become the centre point for all the work we present. Our current purpose statement, ‘We exist to reimagine the potential of opera and musical theatre, for everyone’, has been adopted by all our staff and stakeholders, and the results are filtering into our broader audience and family of supporters.
Since its inception in 2005, Victorian Opera has become a mainstay of the Melbourne classical music and operatic scene. What is your vision for the future of this esteemed local company?
Thank you for your kind words. I feel we are a mainstay as well. My vision for the company is to support the artistic vision of Richard Mills, to align with the parameters laid out for us by our funding bodies and trusts and foundations, and to ensure ongoing sustainability of the art form and this company. [As published in our statement] we believe in the unlimited potential of opera to move people, to spark conversation, to help us understand one another, and to remind us of what it means to be alive and to live in a vibrant cultural city.
In your role of executive producer, you have been responsible for many of the financial and budgetary aspects of the running of Victorian Opera. What are the challenges and benefits of working with an arts company in such a capacity?
The challenges are making the vision of the artistic director come to life in exciting, compelling, and inventive ways. Costs go up every year across the spectrum – labour costs, theatre rental costs, artist costs, etc. – so managing the budget to ensure we can present quality work as we grow and develop is a wonderful challenge.
The benefits are having a very intimate knowledge of where the allocated monies sit. This means, when a team member from possibly another department appeals for extra funds for a project so it will reach more audience or benefit a community, I can see where we can massage funds and redistribute to fulfil our purpose and mission.
Like many professionals in creative industries, you have successfully negotiated a career both as performer and administrator/producer. Considering the difficulties of finding full-time work as an artist, this is a highly desirable path for many young performers. What are the challenges of developing and maintaining such a two-pronged career? Equally, do the two occupations complement each other, and if so, how?
The two-pronged career I have enjoyed has been a challenge at times, incredibly rewarding at other times — and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I worked hard in the early years of 2000 to gain a Graduate Diploma in Arts Management whilst working as a dancer and choreographer. That gave me confidence to push the boundaries and fight for my place in the management field.
As I was negotiating this direction, I continued to develop the performance aspects of my career. This allowed me to remain in touch with the challenges the artistic and production worlds face on an ongoing basis so that when I was able to make an impact, I could do so with knowledge, experience, and practical outcomes.
Do the two occupations complement each other? Yes, for me they do. Of course, it’s me that has done it, but I couldn’t have imagined it any other way, in my case.
Opera and ballet enjoy a long association with one another. In your new role, do you hope to further develop Victorian Opera’s work with dancers and dance companies, either traditional or contemporary?
Opera is an art form that encompasses the full array of the performing arts; music, singing, staging, dance, drama, and anything else you can imagine being a visual performance art form. I would support any collaboration, including dance, if it was to harness the storytelling of a work and make it as accessible to audiences as possible.
At Victorian Opera, we regularly explore cross-art form collaborations, such as circus or puppetry.
Your dancing credentials are very impressive. How does this background inform your work with classical singers?
Classical singers are a very impressive breed unto themselves. The discipline they must adopt to ensure their best work is very similar to that of a dancer. The single biggest difference is that mostly, dance training is conducted in a group environment whereas with singers, up until the coming together of the ensemble of singers to make the show, the singer’s work is done in private or with a coach or singing teacher.
As a choreographer, I love to learn about singers and how they feel music and what influences their instinct for movement. My dance training has helped enormously in identifying the needs of individual singers and how to best communicate with them to ensure they can offer the best possible performance.
As a supporter of developing artists, what advice can you offer to young, aspiring opera singers?
Experience all you can, learn all you can, hone your craft, learn from mentors and performers you admire, be respectful, and never stop practising.
Lastly, what can we expect from your first — exciting! — term as CEO of Victorian Opera?
More of what Victorian Opera is known for! More new operas, more reimagined works, and more education opportunities for young people; we love discovering new talent and nurturing their growth. Ultimately, more opera and music theatre presented in exciting, respectful, and challenging ways.
Visit the Victorian Opera website to learn about its 2020 season.
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Images supplied. Featured image of Elizabeth captured by Charlie Kinross.
