OCH - Page: 1 of 1

By Paul Joseph Walkowski
OperaOnline.us
The idea for starting a new opera company actually grew out of an experiment in 2005 “to test the waters,” said Claudia Cummings, founder of “Opera Company of the Highlands” (OCH) and co-founder of the parent company “Festival Theater of New York” (FTNY), which she runs with her husband, Shakespearean actor, Jack Aranson, “to see if people liked it, to see what kind of feedback we would get and what kind of local singers I could put together.”
The test apparently worked rather well.
Being a former main stage opera singer herself – Cummings, a soprano, is no novice to the world of opera. Indeed, she was good enough that she was the understudy for Joan Sutherland on the invitation of none other than Sutherland’s husband Richard Bonynge – and was noted for her Lucia interpretation, among other roles she sang worldwide. She got to know Joan Sutherland quite well, she said, and remembers Sutherland saying to her, “Oh, Claudia, the last thing in the world I need is to rehearse another Lucia, why don’t you take all my rehearsals and I’ll do all the performances. She’d sit in her dressing room and say, ‘Oh honey, you just go out and do it.’ And Bonynge liked me. He was so cute. He came to me and said, ‘You know Claudia, you did a nice job with that. Why don’t we sit down and I’ll give you all of Joan’s material . . .”. It was said humorously, of course. Still, on Bonynge's recommendation she learned all Sutherland's parts, just in case.
The point being, Cummings has roots in the business that run deep.
After all these years, opera, you might say, is in her blood.

And that’s where FTNY comes into the picture. While the theater satisfied the creative urge to produce shows around its two principal artists, the desire to produce full scale opera was never really far from her mind. “We did ‘Opera for Everyone’ and we did ‘Operetta for Everyone’ because there seemed to be an interest in that, and from there we went on to producing ‘The Magic Flute’ and then ‘The Marriage of Figaro’, in kind of semi-staged versions in English,” with piano accompaniment.
A funny thing happened on the way to the opera, she said, FTNY’s opera audience grew. “That’s how it all began” she recalled.
When the audience showed up at the various locations, mostly

churches, where these productions were staged, “we decided to branch out and allow the original company to remain, but we reorganized the opera part as a real opera company.” And that was the beginning of Opera Company of the Highlands.
With one season under its belt, and its 501 (c)(3) status being reviewed, plans are now underway to move its base to the 1,300-seat restored 1913 Broadway stage house, “Ritz Theater” in Newburgh this October.
At one time Newburgh, she explained, was home to four operating theaters. Between 1913 and the 1930’s, she added, the theater district “was hopping” with activity. “Lucille Ball made her first studio performance debut in that theater” she adds, and Frank Sinatra used to drop by and perform as well. If you weren’t performing in either New York or the Catskills, you stopped by Newburgh.
It is here, in the restored Ritz, that OCH will stage Puccini’s “La Boheme”, with the audience seated around the garret apartment scene, proving that necessity truly is the mother of invention. The idea of a garret apartment amidst the seats, she explained, is not so much an artistic insight, as it is due to the fact that the theater is still being restored and the main stage is not yet completed.
Regardless of where the shows are performed, however, Cummings believes that a small opera company can prosper and grow, and serve the opera interests of the many counties surrounding Orange County and beyond. It can also offer opportunity for young singers, opportunities that don’t exist everywhere. It is this desire to help young singers gain experience, as much as anything else, that drives her efforts.

“My goal here,” she said, “is to offer what is good for a young singer, or emerging singers as they are called today. These are post-conservatory aged and trained musicians that are ready to go,” she stressed, adding that for this group, who may be too young for leading roles in major houses, OCH can offer the opportunity for multiple performances in leading roles of a well-known production in a small venue of between one and three hundred audience members. For their efforts the singers usually get room and board and a stipend. The pay isn’t much, she admitted, but the singers do get paid, and OCH makes it a top priority “to honor their professionalism, certainly not to help pay their rent” – a situation which, she said, will change in the future. “We have every intention of improving (pay) because I think it only right."

As one might expect from a start-up company featuring younger singers, it may not quite be New York, but just because the singers are younger doesn’t mean they aren’t exceptionally good or professional. As a matter of fact a strong case can be made that this is precisely the kind of singer that can best draw a younger audience. Regardless of age, a review of their credentials on OCH’s website shows that all are university and/or conservatory trained, many are chosen as covers in established opera houses, some were in young artist programs and gained additional experience there, some sing in current productions, and still others have earned national awards, as did Sarah Rice who sang Adele in the company’s recent production of “Die Fledermaus”. Ms. Rice won national attention when Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince cast her as the original Johanna (the barber with an extra clip here and there) in Sweeney Todd. Ms. Rice won a Theatre World Award for the role, and the cast recording on RCA won a Grammy Award for Best Show Album.
It is because of the quality of the performances that the audience comes back, Cummings said, noting that many in the audience also travel to New York regularly to view opera. “Now they don’t have to travel so far as they try us out.”
To further stimulate audience interest in the company, Cummings said OCH travels and performs at five venues, giving a total of nine performances per production. The schedule runs for three weekends of three performances each, which, she explained, is the OCH standard. “Have opera will travel,” she said jokingly, adding that the active schedule “helps build the opera company and it helps the singers be flexible.”
If there are young singers who would like to send material to be considered for roles, Cummings said they can e-mail her directly at caranson@hvc.rr.com. She reads all her mail and “wants to known of anybody who would be interested in singing in opera now or in the future.” If you can’t e-mail, Ms. Cummings can be reached at Opera Company of the Highlands C/O Claudia Cummings, P.O. Box 4606, New Windsor New York, 12553.