Berkshire Opera
Life has a soundtrack.

For our inaugural blog posting, Company Manager Marianne Juby christens our new website with her perspective on Berkshire Opera’s recent history as well as her thoughts on the coming season. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be inviting not only regular postings from our full-time staff and trustees, but also from our guest artists and respected colleagues as well. Enjoy!

Sitting in the office window overlooking North Street in December, it’s hard to believe that this past year has gone and sometimes harder yet to believe that we survived. It’s been an incredibly hard and sometimes scary year, a year of faith in the company and in others and a belief in ourselves as individuals and in the work we produce. I think more so now than ever before I realize how many different puzzle pieces it takes to make up this company that truly is the little company that could.

To say that Norman Michaels has been the heart and soul of Berkshire Opera Company would still be a huge understatement. He has been the glue that held it all together. His mind and his heart and his commitment never once gave out. Toward the end of 2006 Norman was working overtime calling, writing, and recruiting support for the company. We’ve all heard of the trials and problems that we had gone through but we were determined not to lose what we loved so much. There have been some incredibly talented and creative people who have been a part of BOC over the years and I know that I, for one, didn’t want to be the last one out the door.

But by January, we knew we were on our way. We still weren’t quite sure how we’d get there but we were definitely on our way. And then the hard work began.

Throughout the months that followed, Norman was always either in the office or in contact as we struggled to figure out what we needed to have and needed to do but getting money wasn’t the only challenge. We learned about contracts, housing, venues, budgets, sets, costumes, lights and a thousand and one other details that are usually handled by a General Director. And we were fascinated to learn of the many traditions and courtesies that we knew nothing about. I’m hoping that anybody I unknowingly offended has forgiven me for those missteps. Oh yes, we learned a lot!

In April we had perhaps our most discouraging blow. The new General Director was due to arrive on Monday but three days before he that he emailed Norman to say that he wouldn’t be coming. At the time we were devastated but, in retrospect, it turned out to be a good thing that he didn’t come. I had faith that there was someone in our future who would be perfect for us. To my thinking, this would be a perfect situation for the right someone — a great company with fine reputation in an absolutely beautiful part of the world and a wonderful opportunity to grow. So the search began again.

I hate to make this the Norman blog but it’s hard not to. Among all of his strengths, one that I greatly admire, is that he’s not afraid to admit when he doesn’t know something and then he’ll go about finding someone who does. I promised myself that I wouldn’t give names because I’m convinced that opens the door to leaving someone out and hurting feelings but there’s no way I can do this and not mention three people in particular — Maureen O’Flynn, Bill Powers, Linda Jackson. I can’t imagine that there would have been a season without their help.

But the season did happen and it was glorious. Perhaps my favorite memory came on closing night following the performance when I told Maureen O’Flynn that I loved the whole thing and was sorry to see it end. She also wished it could go on and said that it was a kind of magical performance where everything just seemed to work perfectly together. Did she talk about stars being aligned or did I imagine that? I’m not sure. It just seemed as though everything was fated to work out and the closeness of the cast was beautiful and so touching to see. After everything that came before, this made it all worthwhile.

In October Norman and the other Trustees welcomed our new General Director. With Ryan we felt confident about the future and began to take a fresh look at who we are, what we’re doing, where we’re going, and how we plan to get there. Ryan has some interesting and exciting opportunities we’ll be exploring and we can already see this in terms of those he’s reaching out to in the opera community and the world at large as well as the programming he and Kathy Kelly are planning. We can’t keep killing off our sopranos (Traviata, Rigoletto, Butterfly, Boheme) and Ryan says a season of fun and celebration is just what we need. I’m loving the looks of the 2008 season AND the 2009 season AND the 2010 season. How thrilling! We’re looking ahead and the future is looking grand.

So here’s to the future. To those who will visit us for the first time, we’re so excited you’ll be joining us and sharing in this stunning, moving, passionate experience we call opera. To those who have been with us in the past — thank you for your love and support. We couldn’t have made it without you.

And to those who have been a part of the Berkshire Opera family during our 24 year history…we keep the faith!

See you at the opera!

– Marianne Juby, company manager