The Town Hall Theater presents. . . The Opera Company of Middlebury

On Saturday, March 13, the Opera Company of Middlebury organized a recital fundraiser performed by world-renowned opera tenor William Burden ’86 at the Town Hall Theater.

“Middlebury’s become an opera town,” said Douglas Anderson, one of the founding artists and the current artistic director of the Opera Company of Middlebury. “We are a fully professional production company in a town of 8,000 people.”

The idea for the Opera Company of Middlebury originated in the College’s very own music department in the 1980s. Anderson collaborated with Meredith Parsons McComb ’75 and members of the music faculty Beth Thompson, Carol Christensen and Greg Vitercik to found the company in 2003.

Anderson reminisced about Vitercik’s excitement for the idea.

“‘We need an opera! Opera! Opera!’ he said,” recounted Anderson.

One year later, when the company was looking for a performance space, its members discovered the dilapidated Town Hall Theater. Anderson recalled the first opera production, “Carmen” by Georges Bizet, performed in the Town Hall Theater in 2004.

“The place was a ruin,” said Anderson. “When we produced ‘Carmen,’ there must have been 50,000 bats. There was no stage, no balcony, no air conditioning, the windows were bricked in, the ceiling leaked. We shortened the production to 90 minutes and had a five-person orchestra. The show was an absolute sellout.”

Over the next several years through similar sold-out shows and other fundraisers, the company amassed the $5 million budget needed to renovate the Town Hall Theater and it was completed in 2008.

“This is an amazing space,” said Anderson.

The performance space is not the heart of the organization, however. Marian Wright, the former president of the board of directors, attributed much of the company’s growth and success to Anderson.

“[Anderson] is the vision and talent of the company, attracting people, renovating the building,” said Wright. “He is the driving force behind and inside the building. You don’t expect that in a small town we would have so much talent and attract people even from New York.”

The company attracts its large, diverse audiences in part because of its live, high definition broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The amazing sound quality and acoustics in the Town Hall Theater, and a PowerPoint presentation above the stage showing translations of the production (a common feature at live shows), draw a healthy dose of out-of-staters, but the experience is special for the local opera aficionados as well.

“This is a live opera experience for many people in this community,” said Anderson. “It only costs $22; you don’t have to travel anywhere to watch these amazing broadcasts and you don’t have to struggle to hear among the 4,000 [people] at the Met.”

“We are only one of three places in [the area] that does [live screenings] apart from South Burlington and Albany,” said David Clark, the current president of the board of directors.

The company also organizes frequent bus trips to live performances, even to New York City, in keeping with its slogan: “We bring opera to you, we bring you to opera.” Part of bringing opera to the masses is getting local teens involved, which is why the company invites high school students to view dress rehearsals of its own live shows for free.

“There’re a lot of people in this county who have never seen an opera,” said Clark. “’What is an opera? How does it differ from a Broadway musical?’ We’re making an opportunity for kids just to have an experience. We had a number of high school kids involved in our productions of La Bohème and Tosca and those kids would love to come back because they have that personal hook and it’s fun.”

“It’s part of the outreach strategy,” said Anderson. “Many young people have their first opera experience here. Music is phenomenal. It’s a drug, a powerful drug.”

In an additional effort to attract more opera newcomers, the company also has a Facebook page to advertise its shows.

“[Facebook] is certainly going to be more and more important,” said Clark. “But we still rely on our printed brochures and newspaper coverage prior to a performance. We thought that Facebook would be fun. One of the reasons is that some of the former performers like to stay in touch with one another.”

Even the recession does not seem to have affected the large turnout at its performances, though at the William Burden recital an unfortunate double booking of Middlebury’s small population resulted in fewer audience members than usual.

“We should have a full house tonight but we didn’t expect something called the hockey championships to take place on the same day,” said Anderson. “It’s one of those rare chances. I have to envision a way to make opera work in a small theatre, on a budget of $25,000, and ticket sales are, thankfully, recession-proof. We are [otherwise] selling very well and I have no doubt that Bizet’s ‘Pearl Fishers’ will sell out.”

“The Pearl Fishers” is the company’s next production, going up in June 2010, but it might not be the only show in store this year. The Opera Company of Middlebury plans to become better, if not bigger, over the next few years.

“The board has talked about maybe doing two shows a year, one in June and one in the fall,” said Clark. “Ideally we’re going to have a better production every year. It’s going to be more interesting, there’s going be more variety. This will be our seventh year having done different kinds of things.”

No matter what changes the company makes, Wright is just happy to celebrate opera.

“We have the community for everyday living but opera makes the living worthwhile,’ said Wright. “The Opera Company of Middlebury is Vermont’s hidden treasure. It is an honor to be a part of it.”