Classical Music Special: Barefoot Opera – the beginnings
JENNY MILLER, director, singer, vocal coach, and general powerhouse, explains how the company came into being.
My vision originated from my interest in theatre and dance, as well as singing. My mother was trained as a modern dancer and, Isadora Duncan style, I danced to records of Beethoven and Schubert and acted enthusiastically in all my school plays. Aged seventeen, I arrived in England from France to study at The Guildhall to find (at that time) an extremely narrow curriculum. I went to the Director of Music – remember it was The Guildhall School of Music and Drama – and asked if I could join some drama classes. His response was “Why do you want to do drama? You are a singer!”
Of course their syllabus has since changed considerably and there is much more depth of study, but the attitude of ‘musician first’ still prevails in the world of opera. The real beginning of what I now refer to as ‘Barefoot principles’ or the ‘Barefoot ethos’ took root around fifteen years ago as a result of conversations with Polly Graham, at that time a young student I was mentoring (now Director of Longborough Festival Opera) and who was acting as my assistant.
I was running a summer course called The Complete Singer, and enthusiastic student singers had agreed with me that they would rather do a whole opera than just the more usual small opera scenes. Polly came along to help with a production of L’Incoronazione di Poppea. She and I formed a close relationship and discussed what we both felt opera needed. Our vision was to create an ensemble style of working in which the whole group shared storytelling with their whole bodies. It would have the attributes and elements of physical theatre, and here we were inspired by Jacques Lecoq. There is no ‘star’ system, and everyone works together.
As a result, in my vision, there would be a group of people who would train along the same lines as companies that have come out of Lecoq like Complicité (complicite.org/company) and Gecko (geckotheatre.com), or like a contemporary dance ensemble, with a common way of working and a shared creative language with which they approach the piece, whatever it may be.
This is a very important vision for me and one that I have, as yet, not completely managed to realise (it’s a costly vision! This dream requires a subsidised company!) However, I have partially achieved this ambition because people do come back and do more than one show. Singers are beginning to talk about ‘Barefoot work’. I have created a training company where these principles are implemented, and artists take the approach on into other situations. These artists include Polly Graham, Lysanne von Overbeek who is now a freelance director, Laurence Panter (a pianist, composer, and teacher), Chiara Vinci (opera singer, ballet dancer, mixed media dance and theatre performer), Oscar Castellino (baritone), and many more.
To my knowledge, none of the opera companies that do have the kind of resources necessary to achieve my ultimate vision have developed the concept of training as an ensemble. When I was young, appearing in a variety of productions, I often felt lonely. Everyone comes in from their different worlds. There is an element of competition, an edginess about ‘so-and-so is getting on better with the conductor’ or ‘will the conductor be giving so-and-so more work and not me’, etc. etc.
You have this very difficult thing to do, very high profile, very exposing, but you are being pushed around and have no agency. I attempt to do things differently. In La Cenerentola, for example, I feel that Michael Spenceley and I, together with our enthusiastic and talented cast, have managed to create a truly unified atmosphere. This very much relies on how rehearsals are conducted. The leaders’ core goal needs to be to create a unified ensemble, as well as putting on a great show.
Contact details atbarefootopera.com/contact or [email protected] to get further involved as a Friend of the opera company.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply