Costume designs may be determined by the subject matter of the opera, or the director may come up with a specific concept. There may be historical research to be done, but if the historical period predates photographs, we study the art of the period. “Creating costumes is definitely a team effort with the costume designer taking charge. It takes several people to research and create each and every costume. I also find it exciting that our work is traveling all over the United States representing Kansas City in such spectacular fashion.” Once onstage, there can easily be 20 stage crew moving the sets and lights around, 15 wardrobe crew helping the artists with their costumes, props crew, painters for final touch-ups and a team of stage managers to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.”ĭavis-Singh says that the Lyric Opera is fortunate to have so many talented artists in Kansas City: “One of the benefits of building scenery and costumes is that these get rented to other companies and becomes a source of income for the Lyric. All of this planning takes place before moving to the Kauffman stage because time is limited there. The technical director works with the set and lighting designers to make sure everything fits and works in the space. The prop master hunts props and furniture as directed by the scenic designer while the assistant lighting designer rents light fixtures. During the build phase, the carpenters and scenic artists work on the scenery while the cutters, drapers and stitchers work on the costumes. “Beyond the director, conductor, singers, and orchestra, there is an entire village backstage making it all happen. The audience doesn’t see what’s hiding behind the curtain-the production team needed to bring a performance to life. We rehearse for two to three weeks, move onstage to rehearse with the scenery and costumes, and add the Kansas City Symphony as our orchestra.” Many of our principal singers come from outside Kansas City, but our chorus is cast with local singers. Then, everything is put together when rehearsals begin at our production center. After that, overall color palette and textures are determined, and the costumes and scenery are built by specialized artisans.
There are multiple steps in the design process before a single piece of scenery or a costume gets built, starting with preliminary designs in black and white images and eventually in color.
“It’s an extraordinary puzzle to put together when you are producing opera, and one that can easily take up to two years from conception to opening. Stern Center, which houses our administrative offices, rehearsal space, scene shop and costume shop.”ĭavis-Singh turns the artistic vision of CEO and General Director Deborah Sandler into reality by bringing each artistic piece together. During this time, we also opened our own facility, the Richard J. “When the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opened, we moved our performances there. “Eventually, we purchased this space and named it the Lyric Theatre, where we performed until 2011,” she says. After a few seasons at the Uptown Theatre, the Lyric Opera moved into the Capri Theatre.
LYRIC OPERA KANSAS CITY MOVIE
That next year, they presented their first performance.ĭavis-Singh says that the Lyric Opera began in 1958 by presenting La bohème at the Rockhill Theatre, a former movie theatre, where the company performed for 10 years until a fire destroyed it. In 1957, a young conductor named Russell Patterson set out to bring the European opera-theatre to America. “I create all schedules while working with our unions IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) and AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists) while coordinating all production budgets, scenery and costume rentals that travel throughout the United States.” “I coordinate all members of the production team, from costumes and scenery to lighting and makeup,” says Davis-Singh. Lyric Opera currently performs in the heart of the city at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts with Tracy Davis-Singh as the director of production.
Lyric Opera of Kansas City has been creating transformational opera experiences for more than 60 years.
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