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Divas, tenors and all that class
Two of the founders are from very different parts of New York state, but they came to Loudoun County and discovered that their gifts and their dreams complemented each other.
The third came from the other side of the world, educated in a city that was once the center of a controversial war fought in the mountains, rivers and rice paddies of Vietnam. He found the first two, and the dynamic triangle that would bring world-class opera to Loudoun County was complete.
The three founders are Christine Denning of Hamilton, Pamela Butler of Leesburg and Cuong H. Van of Bluemont.
Denning and Butler shared more than a love of music; they shared motherhood, and it was this fact that actually spurred the two to think about bringing opera to this side of the Potomac.
"Pam and I, being mothers and not wanting to travel all over the place to find venues to perform at, started talking about the possibility of having opera in Loudoun," Denning said.
Butler, who moved to Leesburg in 2002, echoed Denning's sentiments.
"I started driving into D.C. And started performing and getting leading roles with the Victorian Lyric Opera out of Rockville and Mount Vernon Players in D.C. I also had a serious operatic role with Bel Cantanti, which means 'beautiful singers' in Italian. I got tired of commuting. I met a number of other singers and musicians who were also living and singing in Loudoun who were all doing the same thing. This meant driving into D.C. for four-hour rehearsals, and it takes at least an hour in each direction," Butler said.
In the meantime, however, both Butler and Denning found themselves studying with the same voice teacher, Patricia Wulf of Berryville, who has worked with Placido Domingo and Mirella Freni. The two women also attended what Butler described as "bootcamp for opera singers." This was the Crittenden Opera Workshop.
Richard Crittenden, Denning said, has worked in Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. as a dramatic coach for opera. Crittenden's colleague Elizabeth Vrenios has been at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Yale Institute of Music, Denning said. She's directed New York City Opera and The Washington Civic Opera. She teaches opera, voice and acting at American University, and is head of the opera program.
Van, LLO's music director, came to Loudoun from Vietnam by way of Russia.
"I got my education, my piano lessons, at the conservatory in Vietnam in Ho Chi Min City starting in 1983. In 1992, I went to Moscow in Russia to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. I got my master's degree and came to the United States in 1997 and studied piano again at the Cleveland Institute of Music," Van said.
Van said that while he was in Cleveland he competed in and won competitions in New York and Cincinnati, honors that gave him the needed credentials to perform in Carnegie Hall as a concert pianist.
Van came to Loudoun in 2004 and earned a master's in music in orchestral conducting, and is working on his doctorate in piano performance.
"I met Pam [around 2005] through a mutual friend. We did concerts together at nursing homes, and we did some recitals together. ... I had an idea that this was a big metro area and we have room for everybody. Not everybody had to go to the Kennedy Center to see fine performances," Van said.
He met Denning this year.
Denning, the artistic director, has a background that includes speech communication and theater at Marymount College in Tarreyton, N.Y., now Fordham University.
"I became classically trained as a young teen doing more oratorio-type performing; and in college one of my sisters at Marymount, a sister of the Sacred Heart of Mary, got me interested in theater. I did a lot of scene work. I did a lot of review stuff, more theater than singing. There was "Waiting for Godot," some Shakespeare, Sondheim, Bernstein; and I was in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." I've been singing since I was 7. I started voice lessons at that age. ... Theater is what I bring to this production," Denning said.
Butler brings, along with her singing ability, an understanding of things financial, and is the executive producer.
"I didn't start getting into opera until I was out of college, which is late for a singer. I had sung all through high school and junior high school, but I have a business degree with LeMoyne College in Syracuse. I'm the executive director, so I handle all the finances for Loudoun Lyric Opera. About two years ago I went back to the Metropolitan School of the Arts in Syracuse and got a voice performance certificate. I started auditioning locally and had a little bit of success. I started getting some roles," Butler said.
The three found each other, found Loudoun and are determined to build on what they have to offer and what the county wants.
"I really felt that, as one of the top three fastest-growing counties in the nation, there was a market here in Loudoun; and, given the responses we've gotten, I think we were right," Denning said.
The responses she is referring to came as a result of the LLO's inaugural effort, Mozart's comic work, "Cosi fan Tutte" ("Women Are Like That") which ran July 27-Aug. 5 in Ashburn and Hillsboro.
"Most feedback was positive. One of the major points that came across was 'Oh my gosh! I don't need to go to the Kennedy Center' and 'it's in my back yard and it's affordable' -- and that's what I want to hear. I want it to be that quality of performance. I think there's a strong market for this," Denning said.
But the audiences would not be the only beneficiaries of the LLO's productions.
"There's a ton of talent in the area, a ton. And we need to tap into that. Why should people have to drive to Alexandria and Washington, D.C.? We have students from Shenandoah University and this is a venue to learn roles before they go the Kennedy Center, and we can help forge their careers," Denning said.
"People are coming from Washington, D.C., coming from all over. It's overwhelming. I want to solicit talent within Ashburn, western Loudoun. We want these people to come out of the woodwork. We're an easy group to work with," Denning said.
The three also want a home. Denning, Butler and Van indicated that school auditoriums do not afford opera the venue it needs.
"I want us to have a home ... to perform in, a nice theater that also entails all the ins and outs of having stage manager," Denning said.
Butler once again echoed Denning's sentiments.
"We want to find a theater, a home that's affordable and that works for our needs and has the right acoustics, and has a good piano and a good stage and a good location. It should be a place that people in Loudoun would come to for entertainment. It would need a curtain and a nice back-stage area. Good lighting. A screen and projectors. A computer to run subtitles," Butler said.
Van believes such a performing arts center is not outside the realm of possibility.
"I believe in [LLO's] growth. I have a vision for that. We don't have a home for it yet. Leesburg talks about having a performing arts center, and we need one. This is the fastest growing population in the nation. We should not only have a performing arts center, but also an orchestra; so, as music director I see that. ...We're still young and it's still very fragile and we need a lot of support to grow strong."
Contact the writer at ecarlton@timespapers.com .
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