{"id":61850,"date":"2019-08-12T13:50:56","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T17:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=61850"},"modified":"2019-08-13T11:09:03","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T15:09:03","slug":"interview-desert-songs-and-water-music-the-summer-adventures-of-johannes-debus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/08\/12\/interview-desert-songs-and-water-music-the-summer-adventures-of-johannes-debus\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Desert Songs And Water Music: The Summer Adventures Of Johannes Debus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leading up to the second edition of Wellington Water Week on August 17-25, it’s easy to see why people are flocking to picturesque Prince Edward County.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Wellington
From the closing night performance of last year\u2019s Wellington Water Week Festival: (L. to R.): Graham Abbey (Artistic Director of Festival Players), Alain Coulombe, bass; Elissa Lee, violin; Johannes Debus, Music Director. (Photo: Rick Matthews)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To the discerning music lover, nature and music are inextricably linked. There\u2019s something magical about a performance in the great outdoors, a frisson that\u2019s not present inside the concrete environs of an opera house or a concert hall. This is true for both the artist and the public.<\/p>\n

Just ask Johannes Debus, the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s Music Director. He has conducted Les contes d\u2019Hoffmann<\/em> and Beatrice Cenci<\/em> at the Bregenzer Festspiele at the Seeb\u00fchne, on the shores of Lake Constance in Austria.\u00a0 A performance on this floating stage, an outdoor theatre that seats 7,000, is an unforgettable experience \u2014 it gives new meaning to that famous Schubert song, \u201cAuf dem Wasser zu singen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last summer, Debus, together with his violinist-wife Elissa Lee, spearheaded Wellington Water Week<\/em>, a new music festival in picturesque Prince Edward County in Ontario. It was in part inspired by their experience in Bregenz and other summer festivals such as Aspen and Santa Fe. \u00a0Like Bregenz, Wellington is by the water, not to mention its special charm of small-town Ontario. Wellington already has a vibrant visual arts scene and a well-established theatre company, the Festival Players under its AD Graham Abbey. Last season, Wellington Water Week contributed a classical musical component to complete the picture.<\/p>\n

Starting a music festival from scratch is a daunting task. It requires a huge commitment, lots of planning, a deep pocket, and most of all, a true vision and a belief in its future. I was keen to find out from Johannes Debus how things went last summer. \u00a0By a happy coincidence, my annual visit to the Santa Fe Opera Festival coincided with his conducting debut there, in Janacek\u2019s Jenufa<\/em>, a work also new to the Company. \u00a0An interview was in order.<\/p>\n

The original plan was to interview both Johannes and Elissa in Santa Fe, as she has been instrumental in the programming of WWW. But by the time I got to SFO, she had already left after attending opening night, to return to Toronto for her many concert commitments. As a member of the Ensemble Made in Canada, she performed in the Toronto Summer Music. She\u2019s also heavily involved in the Mosa\u00efque Project. Fortunately, I was able to get her comments to my questions by email, incorporated into the body of this article.<\/p>\n

\"(Photo:
(Photo: Rick Matthews)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Johannes and I met up in the canteen on the idyllic grounds of the Santa Fe Opera, nestled in the high New Mexican desert. Throughout our chat, one could hear birds chirping, children frolicking in the swimming pool not far away, interspersed with the sounds of singers warming up with their vocalises:<\/p>\n

Johannes, is this your first visit to the Santa Fe Opera? <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0What are your impressions of Santa Fe, and the opera house? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

JD: It\u2019s my second. \u00a0I came for the first time 10 years ago, just out of curiosity. One of those performances I saw here \u2014\u00a0The Letter<\/em>, a new opera (by Paul Moravec) with Patricia Racette \u2013 it was one of those thunderstorm performances. I remember sitting in the audience, the back of the stage was open, and the storm was so powerful that chairs on stage were collapsing! I remember Pat holding onto the props (laughs). I assumed they would stop any moment, but nope, they kept going! That just tells you what kind of special environment it is here. Sometimes it can be distracting and problematic for the singers onstage \u2014 they can\u2019t hear the orchestra over the heavy thunderstorm.<\/p>\n

EL: And I\u2019m so lucky to be able to occasionally follow Johannes to experience these amazing places in the world! \u00a0Santa Fe is definitely one of the more stunning places we have visited.<\/p>\n

You mention thunderstorms. In my 20 years of coming to Santa Fe, an occasional storm during a performance is almost a given\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

JD: The storms can be incredibly powerful and they enhance the (theatrical) experience. When it comes to a composer like Janacek who\u2019s so connected to nature, and who actually had a number of storm scenes written into his scores, like in Vixen<\/em> and in Katya<\/em>, an actual storm feels almost appropriate!<\/p>\n

Is this your first Jenufa, Johannes?\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

JD: Yes, it is. I had done Katya Kabanova,<\/em> in a student production. \u00a0I remember someone telling me \u2018you\u2019ve got to listen to this music.\u2019 \u2014 before that I had not heard a note of Janacek. Well, it was an incredible experience. At that time, I had this famous Decca recording with Charles Mackerras and Elisabeth Soderstrom.<\/p>\n

Did you ever meet Mackerras<\/em><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

JD: Not in person. I corresponded with him when I was preparing Excursion of Mr. Broucek<\/em>. I wanted to check some material and I knew Universal Edition had his material in the archives. Julia Jones suggested that I use the material by Mackerras, and I had to ask him for permission. He was very generous and gracious.<\/p>\n

You enjoy the working environment here in Santa Fe? \u00a0What is it like making music in the New Mexican desert?\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

JD: Oh yeah! If you work in one of these rehearsal stages, you are amongst all the flowers, the birds singing, and other creatures showing up. It\u2019s hard to go back into the dark spaces!<\/p>\n

Haha\u2026 here you have mountains and deserts, and after this, you go to the other extreme, to the land of lakes and water of Wellington.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s right. You can argue here in Santa Fe, there\u2019s a lack of water. But people tell me that this summer it\u2019s been more rainy than usual \u2014 it\u2019s being in touch with the elements!<\/p>\n

Last summer was your first season of Welllington Water Week. How did the festival go, your inaugural season?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

EL: It went very well! As you can imagine, we had no idea what the reactions would be. It was inspiring to hear that people were stunned by the quality of the performances and that at the end of the week, people were already looking forward to next summer.<\/p>\n

JD: Yes, I think we could be quite happy with how things went last year. The feedback, the encouragement that we got from all sides was to continue the festival.\u00a0 This season we\u2019re teaming up with Festival Players, the theatre company that has been in town for a long time. This summer they are the presenters of what we do \u2014 we\u2019re part of their program.<\/p>\n

Elissa, I understand you’ve played a big role in the programming. \u00a0What\u2019s involved in planning a festival program?\u00a0 How did you pick and choose what to present?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

EL: This year, we\u2019re trying to bring in a larger variety of concerts, in different locations. We also try to give each concert a little \u201ctwist\u201d, something intriguing or different. The goal is to make it an especially memorable experience for the audience. We tried to be as creative as possible, to create a full week\u2019s programme where one person could attend every concert and be constantly surprised.<\/p>\n

Johannes, I notice that you have a concert this year with Sarah Slean. Have you done this sort of basically non-classical concerts before?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You know that I have worked with Rufus Wainwright?\u00a0 Not just on his opera, but I did a concert with him, on more symphonic arrangements of his music at the Proms in London.\u00a0 You see that I\u2019m a colourful bird! (laughs) I find for myself inspirations in all genres; sometimes I wish I could \u2018speak\u2019 in the other genres. I envy my brother who is a jazz musician. I tried, but I don\u2019t have the talent in the jazz vocabulary. I have great admiration and appreciation for other types of music, for the different possibilities of expressing something in different musical genres. For example, Sarah\u2019s concert, and the pre-concert mass choir\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Architek
Architek Percussion (Photo: Kevin Scanlon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ah, I\u2019ve read about this concert. \u00a0SING! \u2014 where everyone is invited to register and participate, and no experience required. Have you done anything like that before?\u00a0 It strikes me as very unpredictable\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely! \u00a0It\u2019s totally unpredictable. \u00a0You don\u2019t know what kind of voices will show up. One mandate of this festival format is to find ways to include the audience participation. It\u2019s not a new concept, but perhaps in new in Prince Edward County, and it can be fun. I think it\u2019s important to come up with something where people feel they are having an experience, and it\u2019s not only the old model of \u201chere\u2019s the stage, on the stage there\u2019s the \u2018sender\u2019 and the audience is the recipient.\u201d\u00a0 That has its merits \u2014 I\u2019m not questioning that. We have lots of concerts in this old traditional format, but we try to see what we can do to make it more fun, to heighten the experience.<\/p>\n

EL: The idea to unite people in song is an old one, and it is a very powerful one. We wanted to create an event for the community, bringing people together in a musical event, where everyone can sing! We admire what CHOIR! CHOIR! CHOIR! does, and this was inspired by them and their activities. A choral arrangement of Pharrell Williams\u2019 song \u201cHAPPY\u201d will be distributed to registered participants and Johannes will rehearse the choir for about 30-40 min before they\u2019re joined by the fabulous Sarah Slean, to sing the solo line with the choir. We hope that we\u2019ll get a great turnout\u2026 we need lots of voices to fill the air and sky with joy and happiness!<\/p>\n

That does sound like a lot of fun!<\/em> I\u2019ve gone online <\/a>to check out your program<\/em>. \u00a0It seems that you’re avoiding the more formal, stuffy type of concert-hall programming in favour of more light-hearted, informal fare, with lots of innovative touches.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

JD: That\u2019s right. For example, we have a food component. We do some concerts that include dinner. We have a Promenade concert where musicians perform in different places, and we\u2019ve teamed up with a chef in Prince Edward County to create tapas for each of those stations.<\/p>\n

Elissa, will you be playing in this year’s Festival?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

EL: Yes, I will be performing during the Musical and Edible Promenade<\/em>. \u00a0I also managed to convince Johannes to join me for a bonus performance on the piano as well, as part of a string quartet accompanying Sarah Slean in concert. I\u2019ll also be in the final concert, Exuberance et Nostalgie<\/em>, which won a Prix Opus for best mixed program concert in 2018.<\/p>\n

Since you are a husband-and-wife team, I want to ask \u2014 what is it like having two musicians in the family?\u00a0 I\u2019ve interviewed singer couples and they tell me having two voices in the family can get complicated\u2026 practice time for one thing. But of course, Johannes, you don\u2019t make any noise (laughs)!\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

JD: Yes, I don\u2019t make any noise\u2026 [sounding only slightly amused] There\u2019s a lot of logistics involved. We\u2019re based in Berlin and Toronto; we have to plan our calendars carefully. I am very fond of what Elissa does. She is an amazing musician. I always ask her about the things I do and she has always given me great input, so I\u2019m more than happy if I can support her and I try as much as I can. I am happy that she can come to Santa Fe and attend opening night and we can spend some time together as a family.<\/p>\n

And to balance career and family and children \u2014 especially you, Elissa?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

EL: It\u2019s never boring! Always juggling, organizing, booking travel and analyzing the calendar. It is nice to have this shared project though, to join our minds and hearts in trying to put together an exciting programme.<\/p>\n

On that note, toi toi toi to both of you, and I hope to make it to Wellington to cheer you guys on! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wellington Water Week (August 17-25, 2019). For details, see here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/span>,<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Instagram<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><\/span>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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