Quote-Unquote: Sarah Caldwell

By HAROLD ROGERS

Dynamic Sarah Caldwell is fired by an operatic vision that ignites her colleagues, trustees and her audiences. She has nurtured her Boston Opera Group through six increasingly healthy seasons, and on January 13, she will open her seventh with the largest advance subscription ever.

Her torch bright, Miss Caldwell continues to win over Boston’s conservative opera lovers to her anything-but-conservative cause. Through trial and error she is finding out what her audiences like.

“Opera should be an occasion,” she said. “Who wants to devote an evening to dressing, dinner and opera, only to be let down by mediocrity? I used to think that I had to put on another ‘Barber’ or ‘Giovanni’ if I wanted to get the public to the box office. But this didn’t give me the answer. My new season is the most unorthodox I’ve attempted, yet we are selling more tickets than ever.

“This may be a clue to the Opera Group’s enduring success: more venturesome fare, more uniqueness.”

And what is her unorthodox season?

“I’m opening on January 13 and 14 with the United States premiere of ‘Intolleranza’ by Luigi Nono, Italy’s young avant-garde composer. This extraordinary piece will be designed by Josef Svoboda, a Czech designer and inventor.

“It was he who helped develop Lanterna Magika, that fascinating combination of motion pictures and theater. We’ll be using these techniques. Svoboda was Nono’s choice for our production.

“On February 3 and 5 we shall give the first American staging for Joan Sutherland of Rossini’s ‘Semiramide,’ with Marilyn Horne. These two stars astonished the music world last season with their concert performances of this work in Los Angeles and New York. Richard Bonynge will conduct.

“Beverly Sills will be starred in our new English version of ‘The Abduction from the Seraglio,’ not heard in Boston for 37 years. Dutch basso Guus Hoekman will appear as Osmin. Hoekman will be with us for three months singing a variety of roles. We’ll be doing ‘The Abduction’ on February 17 and 19.

“Those who have had the good fortune to visit the Komische Oper in East Berlin will know something of Felsenstein’s stunningly directed productions. On March 24 and 26 we shall present Felsenstein’s version of ‘The Tales of Hoffmann,’ designed by Rudolf Heinrich who did the original production. John Moulson will sing the title role and Beverly Sills, Olympia.

“Our final production will be Mussorgsky’s ‘Boris Godunov’ on March 10 and 12. Boris Christoff has agreed to do the title role, and we’re hoping that he’ll be sufficiently recovered from his recent illness to take it on.

“He told us that he wouldn’t think of doing it without three rehearsals. We wired him that we wouldn’t think of doing it without at least six. He liked this.

“The uniqueness of this production is that it will be the first American performance using Mussorgsky’s original conception and orchestration. His first version had only six scenes (or possibly seven). In it there is a greater sense of dramatic cohesion. I think the effect will be most powerful.”

Asked if she feels close to achieving her original dream of a permanent, year-round opera company for Boston, Miss Caldwell replied: “That’s difficult to say. I know that I’m closer to it than I have ever been before. For the first time I have been able to assemble a group of people who can ultimately function as a company. I have several singers and designers who will be with me for the entire season. Also, I have a regular rehearsal area now, large enough to set up our scenery, and we have our own scene shop. I now have more rehearsal time—10 weeks for every opera. This season I have also initiated a choral workshop, offering classes in language, diction, acting, dance, makeup and musical coaching. I feel as if I’m getting closer to my goal every year. If we can keep doing performances that are better visually and aurally, we should make it.

“But what we really need is a theater. We need a home, and this takes money. I won’t really feel that the Boston Opera Group is a permanent fixture of the community until we truly have a home.”