When I went to see the Annie Davidson opera, (check out my article here: https://youthareawesome.com/annie-davidson-opera-review/ ) I was also given the opportunity to interview Michelle Minke, the Creative Director of the Cowtown Opera. Before I met her, I did a quick Google search, and learned that not only is she the founder and artistic director of Cowtown Opera, but also a performer, with a Masters in Performance and Vocal Pedagogy, and a teacher at Mount Royal University. What an amazing woman, almost comparable to Annie Davidson herself!
This is our interview :
Describe what you do and what a week looks like for you.
My name is Michelle Minke, and I’m the founder and artistic director of Cowtown Opera. A week is pretty busy. I’m also a performer myself, and I teach 30 students at Mount Royal Conservatory. And I guess this is kind of a hobby, you could say, that takes full time hours, but basically organizing, and scoping out what’s ahead of us and trying to be the visionary of the company and trying to decide what shows to do next and what singers would be best fitted for that.
Our singers are also throughout the community, and we do about 3 or 4 gigs a month, even a week at times, and we’re super busy, performing for corporations, at people’s homes for birthday parties, so we keep ourselves very busy, and it’s alot of organization, and alot of delegating.
What kind of message do you want this opera to convey?
Well, as it’s a story about our city, and our heritage, as an Albertan, I think it’s super important, as you know, I was born and raised here, and I didn’t even know the story about her. I just want to bring attention to her, to our community, and how important of a figure she is, as well as be inspired by our local talent, and our singers. We have an all Albertan cast, as well as the orchestra, and it’s been written by Albertans, to show some of that Albertan pride we have as artists, as well as bring her story to life.
Could you describe all the work that you, and the whole crew did to help this opera come to life?
It usually takes about three to five years for a company, when they receive a commission, to work on it, and we’ve only had one year, so it’s been very busy. First of all, we put the word out, and tried to get the best composer, and librettist out there, and then we workshopped, whenever we had time, for about three or four months, to compose it. We workshopped it in June, and then we started staging about three, four weeks ago, so it went pretty fast, and it’s been alot of work, alot of changes on the fly, to make sure that things are the way we like them, and we were really excited about what the outcome was.
What difficulties were there in making this opera, and how did you solve them?
I think one of the biggest difficulties was making it interesting, and fun. At Cowtown Opera, we really hope to make opera accessible, make people feel not so afraid to come out to our shows, so when we kind of have the story of a librarian, or of a woman who starts a library, we kinda think: “Oh, that doesn’t really sound that exciting, how are we going to make this exciting?” and I think that was one of the biggest challenges for sure.
So how we overcame that, was by really using our Cowtown spirit, by you know, incorporating some humor, as you’ll see in the show, as well as asking our composer, Arthur Bacchman, and our librettist, Aaron Coates, who did the final edit, to really kind of portray those characteristics through the musical, you know, making it very melodic, almost more like an operetta, making it fun to listen to, and very engaging, and interactive for the audience. In the opera, you’ll see people with petition forms, getting people to sign Annie’s petition to make the library. We try to make people feel involved in our shows, and we’ve brought that to life in this.
What was your vision when you founded Cowtown Opera, and do you think you’ve achieved that?
I started Cowtown Opera because we had so much local talent that wasn’t being used. We had so many graduates from Julliard, from the Royal Academy, University of Toronto, and none of them were really performing anywhere, so I thought: We’ve gotta find a way to sing together.
At the same time, I wanted to make opera refreshing, and get the younger generation interested, and getting people excited about opera in a different way. That meant going into the community, performing for the people. So performing in pubs, on the subway, and making it where people wouldn’t expect, so I definitely think we’ve achieved that, and we’ve moved it to places that have never had opera, like Fort McMurray, and Charlottetown, and PEI, as well as creating new works. Last year, we did The Bachelor, based on the ABC show, which was so hilarious. Now, we’re doing something a little more traditional, but still telling a great story about Calgary.
I definitely think that we’ve achieved these goals, and what I hope us to continue doing is touring into other cities that don’t have opera, and breaking the grounds of opera, thinking outside the box, and putting opera where people don’t expect it.
What advice would you give to youth pursuing a musical career?
I would say that if you’re pursuing a career in music, to be your own agent. To go out and seek any opportunity, and to never think that you’re too good for anything. Perform anywhere, everywhere, for anything, for any amount of money, until you meet the right people, and then those doors really open for you. Also, just to pursue it really fervently.
Anything else you’d like to say?
I hope you can come out to one of our shows, and really enjoy it!
Thanks again for taking the time to talk to me Michelle, and wish you and Cowtown Opera the best in the years to come!
If you still want to see the show, Cowtown Opera is doing pop up versions in your local library on the following dates :
Saturday – October 17 – 11 AM at Shawnessy & 2 PM at Signal Hill
Sunday – October 18 – 12:30 PM at Crowfoot & 3:30 PM at Fish Creek
Saturday – October 24 – 11 AM at Country Hills & 2 PM at Nose Hill
See you there!
