Who would expect the sounds of operatic arias to come wafting through palm trees? What on earth is a summer music festival doing in Hawaii?
A lot, as it turns out. The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival launched its premiere season last June, with 45 vocal and instrumental students joining 15 renowned faculty members on the campus of the Hawaii Preparatory Academy, on the Big Island. They came from points as diverse and far away as London, New York, Oklahoma and South Korea, traveling a combined tens of thousands of miles.
The tropical setting served as an inspirational backdrop for lessons, rehearsals, masterclasses and four impressive vocal concerts:
• “Mostly Opera,” featuring legendary Wagnerian soprano Jeannine Altmeyer.
• “Life Is A Cabernet,” a cabaret evening staged in a funky theater built in the old Kona coffee plantation days.
• An “Opera Scenes Concert” and its dress rehearsal, where young people and seniors were special guests.
• “An Evening with Ricky Ian Gordon,” featuring the rising young New York composer presenting his new song cycle, set to the poems of Emily Dickinson.
Participants left the festival inspired by their experiences, according to student feedback, with renewed motivation to perform using what they had learned. They also left with memories of newfound friends, some sunburns, sand in their bathing suits, and the realization that there is just no way to have a normal hairdo in Hawaii.
Set in the little upcountry town of Waimea, a typical day consisted of mornings and afternoons in rehearsals, lessons, and practice, followed by a sunset picnic at nearby Hapuna Beach (which regularly appears on “World’s Best Beaches” lists in the travel magazines). Concerts, or preparation for them, occupied most evenings.
Participants devoted one extracurricular “fun” day to the spectacular Volcanoes National Park, where visitors can gawk at the formation of fiery, new Hawaiian real estate right before their eyes. Other field trips included shopping in Kona, horseback riding on the slopes of Mauna Kea, and a number of guided hikes in the spectacular local scenery of waterfalls and lush Hawaiian rainforest.
Next summer the vocal program will expand to include two staged productions: “Bernstein Tonite,” a musical journey through the vocal music and styles of Leonard Bernstein, and Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny Opera. Additional faculty members will include Weill expert Angelina Reaux and baritone Kurt Ollmann [see Classical Singer’s November, 2004 cover story]. Future plans include an original staged work by Ricky Ian Gordon.
“We’ve put together a team of expert artists/teachers and designed a very intensive training and performance program,” said Festival Artistic Director Val Underwood. “I’ve always loved Hawaii and have long dreamed of establishing a summer program like this. An added plus has been the rapidly growing audience base on the Big Island. Last summer we started with 60 people attending our opening concert, and at the end had 250 in the audience. This year, with our staged productions and partnership of the Kahilu Theatre, we expect much larger audiences. The funky plantation era theaters are also really fun!”
For more information, visit www.hawaiiperformingartsfestival.org.
