Photo: courtesy Lexus Song Quest
Opera is another word for 'musical drama'.
Elaine Kidd is here to remind us the 'drama' is just as important as the music.
Kidd is Head of the Jette Parker programme for young artists at the Royal Opera House – a programme which has helped a number of New Zealand singers over the years including Madeleine Pierard, Filipe Manu, Ana James, Andrew Sritheran and Thomas Aitkens.
And very soon Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono will join that list too.
This month she’s in Hamilton, working with students from TANZOS (The Aotearoa New Zealand Opera Studio) at Waikato University, ahead of a concert of Italian opera excerpts in Wellington.
Elaine Kidd Photo: Supplied
Kidd, who trained first as an actor and theatre director, spoke with RNZ Concert's Bryan Crump ahead of the concert in the Public Trust Hall on November 29th.
Kidd has been coaching this year's cohort of Tanzos students ahead of the performance, and says there'll be plenty of dramatic action.
She says good acting is vital to good opera, and young singers wanting to perform for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, have to be able to act.
There might be a few singers (Pavarotti, maybe) who could tell the story with their voices alone, but for most opera performers, an actor's skill-set is essential.
Kidd came to opera through her knowledge of languages, especially Italian and German.
Modern surtitles mean today's opera goers can follow the dialogue without needing a command of other languages (assuming the opera isn't being sung in English).
However, Kidd says one of her aims as a director is to bring out the actor in her singers such that the audience has a fair idea of what's going on without looking at the words on the screen.
