{"id":45522,"date":"2017-05-25T22:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T02:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=45522"},"modified":"2017-05-25T22:33:19","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T02:33:19","slug":"interview-william-shookhoff-the-father-of-indie-opera-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/05\/25\/interview-william-shookhoff-the-father-of-indie-opera-to\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | In Conversation With William Shookhoff: The Father Of Indie Opera T.O."},"content":{"rendered":"

The story of Opera by Request, one of Toronto’s first indie opera companies.<\/h3>\n
\"William
William Shookhoff, founder of Opera by Request (Photo courtesy William Shookhoff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

O<\/span>ver the past few years, Toronto has become something of a hub for independent opera companies. Groups including Tapestry Opera, Against the Grain Theatre, MYOpera, Opera5, and Bicycle Opera have gained more and more prominence in our city\u2019s cultural scene, eventually forming the collective Indie Opera T.O, founded by Michael Mori, Tapestry Opera\u2019s Artistic Director.<\/p>\n

But behind the prominence of these companies filled with up-and-comers and social media-savvy millennials, another company has quietly fostered its own community of singers: William Shookhoff\u2019s Opera by Request.<\/p>\n

On June 9th and 10th, Opera by Request, an opera company formed by a \u201cfortuitous accident,\u201d as described by founder Shookhoff, celebrates its tenth anniversary with a production of Der Rosenkavalier. <\/em>The production features numerous alumni of Opera by Request, many of whom are now notable professional singers, and a seven-piece orchestra conducted by Shookhoff.<\/p>\n

Musical Toronto spoke with Shookhoff in his North Toronto studio about this momentous anniversary, as well as the history of Opera by Request.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came about almost accidentally,\u201d Shookhoff describes of the origins of OBR. \u201cI was doing a joint recital with a soprano and baritone, and we did excerpts from Traviata<\/em>. By the end, they both said we should\u2019ve done the whole opera – we could\u2019ve just added a tenor and a few supporting roles. This led to a not terribly serious discussion about the other operas they could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following this discussion, a singer-turned web designer got in touch with Shookhoff about creating an online platform. From there, operabyrequest.ca was born, a site where singers can sign up to request to perform operas. Once a cast formed, Shookhoff would provide the venue, piano accompaniment, and vocal, linguistic and stylistic coaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was opening the door for singers,\u201d Shookhoff imparts. \u201cOpera in concert is not a new idea. I wanted to create an opportunity for operas to be performed that singers chose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shookhoff admits he thought people would only request to perform operas two or three times a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead it\u2019s been about two or three times a week,\u201d he tells me. \u201cIt\u2019s been non-stop. So sort of by accident, it\u2019s been my life for the past ten years.\u201d<\/p>\n

And just how non-stop have things been?<\/p>\n

\u201cRosenkavalier <\/em>is actually the 90th opera we\u2019ve done,\u201d he tells me, as I gape in amazement. \u201cIf you\u2019d asked me ten years ago how many I would\u2019ve thought we\u2019d done, I would\u2019ve said thirty. And there\u2019s still many standard works we haven\u2019t done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking at Shookhoff\u2019s list of works performed with OBR, their output spans from Baroque operas to Mozart to Bel Canto to French Romantics to Puccini and Verismo to Slavic to Wagner and his Successors to Contemporary Works, including all the operas in Wagner\u2019s Ring Cycle<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And the list of singers who perform these works bears just as much variety as the list of works performed, ranging from beginning singers to seasoned pros.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all sorts of variations on the idea of people coming to me with roles that they want to perform,\u201d he describes. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s people who\u2019ve been hired to do a role with a major company who want to run it first, or sometimes it\u2019s people who\u2019ve had their careers but have roles they never got to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy my five-year anniversary I\u2019d done fifty operas with 150 singers,\u201d he continues. \u201cNow that it\u2019s been ten years and ninety operas, I have no idea how many singers. It\u2019s got to be over 300.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we conclude our conversation, I remark to Shookhoff how in a way, he\u2019s like the father of Indie Opera T.O. He agrees that many of the artists who now run their own independent companies started by singing with Opera by Request.<\/p>\n

And is Shookhoff slowing down?<\/p>\n

\u201cMy thought was that after I did Rosenkavalier, <\/em>I\u2019d start parceling things out,\u201d he responds, a twinkle in his eye. \u201cBut what\u2019s been happening is people keep coming to me with interesting projects, and I don\u2019t want to give them up! So it looks like I\u2019m not retiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

With resources like Shookhoff, it\u2019s no wonder Canada produces so many wonderful opera singers. Here\u2019s to ninety more operas!<\/p>\n

Der Rosenkavalier<\/em> takes place June 9-10, 2017<\/strong> at Church of the Redeemer, 162 Bloor Street West. Tickets are available at the door or can be purchased online<\/a>. More information found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

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They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The story of Opera by Request, one of Toronto’s first indie opera companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":45524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,29,43,63],"tags":[5425,4993,9578],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/05\/bill_shookhoff_headshot.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-bQe","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45522"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45535,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45522\/revisions\/45535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45522"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=45522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}