BWW Interviews: Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi Talk Upcoming World Premiere of BLUE VIOLA at UrbanArias

While there are certainly no shortages of large and well-established companies in the Washington, DC area that present seasons chock full of musicals or operas, it's perhaps a bit rarer to find a company that consistently seeks to transcend that well-discussed genre boundary. UrbanArias - founded in 2009 by Conductor Robert Wood - is one of those. UrbanArias self-describes itself as "a modern opera company dedicated to producing short, contemporary operas" with the mission to "expose DC-area audiences to engaging, accessible, entertaining operas, and to provide a venue at which both established and emerging composers can present their shorter works."

Keeping in line with that mission, next up in its season is the world premiere of the contemporary opera BLUE VIOLA, which will play the Artisphere in Arlington, VA for six performances from March 20 to March 29 (click for show schedule and ticket information). Directed by the distinguished Tazewell Thompson, the opera features music by Peter Hilliard and a libretto by Matt Boresi, who have written for both the musical theatre and opera. Members of the Inscape Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Robert Wood, and a four member cast, bring the work to life.

Peter Hilliard (PH) and Matt Boresi (MB) answered a few questions from BroadwayWorld DC about what audiences might expect from the world premiere of BLUE VIOLA, their writing partnership, history with UrbanArias, and of course the whole contested debate about musical theatre vs. opera. Here's what they said:

How and when did your writing partnership develop?

MB: Peter and I met at the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at New York University's Tisch School. We both had an interest in writing opera and crossover work, and we share a sense of humor and a love of the mechanics of storytelling and composition, so we hit it off right away. We were mentored there by the incredible Mel Marvin, whom himself writes opera, musicals, and things between.

What attracted you to the idea of writing for both the musical theatre and opera? Did you set out to do both initially or does it happen organically?

MB: We had both studied and performed both musical theatre and opera, so we certainly have a love for both. Our graduate thesis, which went on to be developed at the Lark and appeared in the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), was a piece called DON IMBROGLIO, OR AN OPERA YOU CAN'T REFUSE. It's an opera buffa, but the energy, comedy, and farcical nature of it appealed to musical theatre audiences. We both believe that form should follow function - and since we are able to write across genre, we write in the form that best tells the story we wish to tell.

Does your approach to writing differ depending on if you are writing for the musical theatre or opera and if so, how? Are their unique sets of challenges you face in the writing phase depending on if it's an opera or a musical theatre piece and if so, what are they?

MB: The biggest difference for me as a wordsmith is economy. In an opera, the music is doing the heavy lifting, and the orchestra is more present and more prioritized than in a musical. That means I need to facilitate music and singing, say what I need to say economically and poetically, and get the hell out of the way. In a musical, I can be more conspicuous in my cleverness, and of course I can blather all over the place in the book scenes.

PH: People get really worked up about the differences between musical theatre and opera. A few weeks ago I spoke about Victor Herbert's opera NATOMA at a Symposium on American Opera, and a discussion started about the use of 'musical theatre' as a pejorative term when we're talking about opera. Often what people mean when they say "that's too much like musical theatre" is that they recognize song form or vernacular expression. So Gershwin's PORGY AND BESS gets called out for having too many tunes and being too musical theatre. Of course that's very silly. We don't complain that Verdi has too many arias that sound like Italian street songs, that Debussy sounds too French, or that Der Rosenkavalier has something that sounds like a German folk song in it. American song forms and vernacular musical expression are part of the toolbox Americans use when they express themselves musically. There shouldn't be any shame in that. In terms of the life of a piece, the distinction is important insofar as it helps people know where to program the work, but if 'opera' means I am not allowed to use vernacular form or American modes of musical expression I'm not interested in writing it.

I love both forms immensely, and the differences between the forms are important to me as I'm writing a piece. If I'm writing a musical, I expect the book to do a lot of the work of putting the story across, and the songs need to have a clear, recognizable structure and form and be somewhat self-contained. I also expect my singers to use a totally different kind of vocal production, and I want my instrumental parts to be playable by the sorts of players who play musicals. Those pit players are versatile and flexible, but not virtuosos. The wind players for example, double three or more instruments. I can't expect them to master extended technique on all of them. When I write an opera, I expect the music will do the heavy lifting in the narrative, that the narrative will be driven forward by the music. I also expect singers trained to be able to exploit the resonance and beauty of the full range of their instruments, and I think I know what they like to do. The pit players, likewise, are expected to be able to play just about anything that can be executed on their instruments. So the musical content of an opera isn't stylistically straitjacketed into 'classical' style. However, it is expected that the music will be doing more, be more open-ended formally, will refer back to itself, and construct its argument over the course of the show, not the course of an individual number one at a time.

What are some of the most memorable moments of your career so far?

MB: We've enjoyed memories from the sublime to the ridiculous. We've had an ongoing relationship with the groundbreaking producer Beth Morrison. We've had our work performed by fantastic Broadway and opera talents from Christiane Noll to Jennifer Aylmer, and we once had three separate presentations in New York of a 30-minute reduction of all the operas of Verdi performed by puppets made entirely of fresh produce. But BLUE VIOLA is a culmination of everything we've done and everything we've learned.

Tell us a little bit about BLUE VIOLA. Matt, it's based on actual events so what attracted you to the idea of adapting that story in particular for the stage?

MB: The piece is based on a fascinating true story from Chicago in the 90s. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's principal violist accidentally abandoned a priceless viola, which found its way to a flea market dealer, was stolen, and eventually discovered to have a secret. I love the story because it says so much about classical music, class, access to culture, and the perceived value of "high art." To the people who came into possession of the lost viola, the classical world was a foreign and off-limits place, and an artifact like an 18th century viola is purely currency.

Peter, how would you describe the musical styles you employ in BLUE VIOLA? How did you decide which styles to employ and how to fuse them together?

PH: BLUE VIOLA is about a cultural artifact (the viola) moving across different ethnicities, cultures, and socio-economic strata. And since in an opera, the music has to in some way convey all those things, it's my task to commingle these ideas in musical form.

The opening of the piece has strong Chicago Blues resonances, with familiar blues ideas in a darkly noir setting, reflecting the 'Twilight Zone' nature of the storytelling. When Arnita sings in the second scene, she has some music that is more like soul music from the 60s, and there are also some sounds that refer back to the delta blues. In fact the piece has a 'delta' blues I wrote myself to be played in a recording at the top of scene two in Vernon's apartment. In scene three, the cookie shop owner has listened to a lot of late 80s early 90s rock. His music isn't rock and roll by any stretch of the imagination, but there is a figure in the bass clarinet that was inspired by rock music popular in Chicago in the 90s. When we finally get to the instrument dealer's shop, the music references Mozart and Bach. I also wrote a period piece we are pre-recording to be played at the top of that scene.

Throughout the piece, the violist in the orchestra 'plays' the character of the viola in question, and to prepare for that, I spent six months studying and listening to as much solo viola music as I could find, from the concertos of Quincy Porter to Ligeti to Kurtag to Telemann. Fusing all those disparate ideas together into one coherent musical language was the fun of writing the piece, and hopefully the audience hears all those things and recognizes a few of them. Incidentally, I would never attempt this ambitious a musical task in a musical; things being as they are today, I think only an opera can lay out this kind of complicated musical argument.

BLUE VIOLA received a workshop at Arena Stage earlier this year. What opportunities did that offer?

PH: Music drama of any kind makes its effect with real actors in a real space in front of actual people. Having an audience for that reading was incredibly helpful. There were laughs where we wanted them, and some places we got a different response than what we expected. There were even places where I heard things connecting across the playing time of the piece that I don't remember putting in. That's always interesting. We rewrote 40 measures or so throughout the piece, and seeing how the scenes actually played in real time even affected the way I orchestrated the piece. Working in my studio by myself is lovely, but I'm interested in music's communicative power, so I need an audience to complete the circle. Fortunately, UrbanArias and companies like them afford writers like Matt and I the opportunity to really listen deeply to what the piece needs and what the audience is trying to tell us.

What should audiences expect from BLUE VIOLA?

MB: We certainly hope they'll receive a compelling story told with contemporary, vernacular kind of poetry, and with music that fuses the gritty, meaty sound of Chicago with soaring operatic voices.

You wrote another chamber opera that was previously produced by UrbanArias - THE FILTHY HABIT. What attracted you to the idea of working with UrbanArias again?

MB: Our prior experience with UrbanArias was intensely positive. Maestro [Robert] Wood is working to keep musically sound, dramatically vital, smart but audience friendly contemporary alive, and that's a difficult mission. He believed in our work, and makes it a point to hire artists who are not just talented, but smart and easy to work with. And the UrbanArias audiences support that mission.

PH: I love UrbanArias, and I'd work with them again in a heartbeat. Robert Wood is an incredible musician and a very sensitive conductor. UrbanArias commissioned the chamber orchestration of THE FILTHY HABIT and I was delighted when in our conversation it became clear that he knew exactly what I was going for, to the point where he was able to identify the choreographers I was thinking of from the way the dance music was written. In the first orchestra read through of the score of THE FILTHY HABIT, Bob suggested a dynamic change that reinforced a connection with another opera that I hadn't told him I was going for. His suggestions are always insightful and musically informed. Composers and librettists are well served by UrbanArias and their mission to create new and compelling work

You're working with another artist on this production whose work also spans genres - Director Tazewell Thompson. What unique opportunities does that kind of collaboration offer?

MB: We've been so looking forward to working with Tazewell for that very reason. He is someone who knows how to tell a compelling story in a compelling way no matter what the form. He's a playwright who understands how drama is built, and a director who know how to communicate that drama in a musical medium.

What's next for you?

MB: We've got some new top secret plans in the works that continue our exploration of the intersection of art and crime. We hope to continue to defy the boundaries of comedy and drama and bring the clarity of musical theatre to the lush realm of opera.