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We're here in Boise Idaho with uh Julie Kilgrow, who is the artistic director of Opera Idaho, uh Julie uh opera all over America is, is really uh enjoying a tremendous, real resurgence. I think it has a lot to do with companies like here uh out in

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Boise, Idaho where you're presenting wonderful productions to audiences uh of all ages uh sometimes uh audiences who have never seen an opera before hand. But a great example of that, I think with your production of Barber of Seville that we saw and was delightful. Um tell us a

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bit about the history of, of Opera Idaho. First of all, well, opera Idaho has been in existence for 31 years and I just uh recently took over the reigns of Opera Idaho and I've been here three years and it was very evident to me that the

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opera company needed to be run like a business. And my background had been in marketing and, and business and I had run the United Way uh and had been uh Vice president of First Security Bank. But my background in college was vocal performance and I had

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been in operas and operettas and all of those kinds of things. And so, uh when I arrived here, I, they had asked me to come in and, and take it in a new direction. And I really believe it needs to be run like a business. Uh

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and that we needed to stabilize the staff and we needed to extend and expand our programming. Because in the past, we'd only done two operas a year and that is not a season to me, we could not compete with Shakespeare, the Philharmonic or the ballet. In

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fact, we were kind of little, little uh stepsister here and yet there was a great love for opera and there were patrons and people that wanted it to continue. So we began then to expand our programming, expanded opera under the stars, which is uh one of

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the favorites of people uh here in Boise. Uh We have it at the botanical gardens out at the winery. And then with this last year, we took it up to Tamarack Resort which is close to McCall. Uh and um people just loved it. I mean, and

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it's an opportunity to be in a casual environment, listen to opera, have a little glass of wine. And we found that this is starting to build our audiences is starting to bring in 30 year olds, 40 year olds. And uh so we have, uh that was

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the whole purpose of doing it anyway. And then we decided that we should do something at Christmas time because why aren't we doing it? We have the voices because if you really think about opera, that is what differentiates us from other organizations. We have the voices

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and once somebody hears the voices [inserted clip of male opera singer] they want to come to everything because they want to have that piece of their soul touched. Once it's touched, we're able to do something, something extraordinary on stage and they experience that. And so, um this

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last year, uh last season, we did La Traviata to rave reviews. In fact, the review said it was the best opera we have put on in 22 years. And we did the Mikado, which was, we ran it for five nights. It was filled capacity, people loved

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it. So this year, uh we decided that we would do three, we would do three different kinds of uh performances uh Barber of Seville, and we knew that we could sell it. We knew that we, we need to get people in that auditorium to hear it.

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Uh We also quadrupled our advertising marketing budget. I went after sponsors from channel seven and also the Idaho Statesman to sponsor the opera. And it made a huge difference. We had marketing every place in business magazines in the Treasure Valley magazine in Eagle, which is uh

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another suburb of um uh Boise. We did a lot of advertising to get people aware of what we were doing. It was clever advertising as you noticed on the program, um, we wanted that humor to come out. We wanted people to come and it really has

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worked. It really did work. So we did a lot of that. We, uh changed to a play bill. I'm not too sure whether that was the best decision or not because grand opera is grand opera and people love these beautiful programs that we did the play

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bills because the coffee shops and all the restaurants said they would pass out the play bills two weeks before we performed Barber. And so they've been all over town. So people have been reading them and we think that's good because that generates interest. Could I ask

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you about the production itself? Was this, was this a, a cooperative production with another company or your own production? This is, we produce everything. Uh We rented the costumes from Utah Opera. They have beautiful costumes. We got our um uh set from New York and uh

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then I spent an enormous amount of time putting the cast together because I had to have those beautiful baritone voices. Uh but they were, they were bonded, they were the best cast I think we've had in here for a long time. Very, very good voices. One

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of them we're bringing back Carlos Carlos Monzon will be back to singing Jacques Brel and Jacques Brel will be at the Big Easy concert hall and it's cabaret style. Now this will attract different kind of people, but they're gonna hear the voices again. And that's the

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thing that then brings them to main stage opera. So we'll run that for a month. We're running it for a month and I was in Jacques Brel in the 1970s and absolutely was just the dearest, most wonderful musical I've ever been in and I, they've

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never ever revived it, they've never brought it back. And so when I came in and took over this position, I said, the one thing I am going to do is produce and revive Jacques Brel, which is now being revived all over the country. Uh It's in

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the Zipper Theater in New York uh because of the war. Uh So it's timely wonderful music and um we're very excited about it. It's interesting to those of us who travel, we happen to be from Boston, but we, when we do travel, we have family here.

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Uh We are in the parts of America. We always look for a resident opera company and it's always nice to be surprised and find out you, you put on real quality productions. In this case, the Barber of Seville. Uh I have to say this is that and I've

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seen maybe 15 Barber of Sevilles. This is the first Barber I've ever seen where he accompanies the Count on guitar in a Latino kind of way that really worked. I mean, he was, he was playing right along. Backing count. Usually it's uh somebody else in the orchestra playing

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for him. But he, he Figaro played his own guitar and very well and it was very effective. Well, Roberto Gomez um is from Los Angeles and uh his family, he had a family that sang and performed. Uh they were kind of like the Osmonds and um

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he got the bug, you know, he went away to school to become a doctor. I believe his mother is a doctor. And um while he was in school, his first year in college, he just got the bug to sing and make that his um profession. And

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um, he's just talented, he can play all these instruments. He um sings a lot churches and oratorios and everything. And he had been here once before uh in a production and I remembered him and I called him and asked him if he would do this part

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and he said I would love to come back to Boise. And uh if, if people come and visit here, they love it so much. They wanna come back. So this cast came to me after it was all over and they said, what can we do? And

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we could all come back and be in the cast again. They said, how about Don Giovanni? So they were already thinking, you know, what can we do in the future. [inserted clip of male opera singer] [inserted clip of male opera singer]

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You're having a big, you mentioned Jacques Brel, which is, which is coming up for anybody who's, uh, on the east coast who's gonna be out in this way. That certainly is a must. We don't have a chance to see it that often. You also have a big gala

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opera, uh, coming up in the spring, I believe in April. Right. A big gala night. Yes, we are doing opera's most romantic concert We're bringing in four singers. If you like the three tenors in Central Park. This is, this is what's gonna happen on the stage of Morrison

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Center, April 14th. Um We're bringing in uh Dennis Jesse baritone. He's been here, he sang in Carmen. He's fabulous singer, John Pickle the tenor. He's from New York. He's coming in uh and then uh Leslie Mauldin who is just a gorgeous voice sang in uh

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La Traviata last year, is a soprano. And then from Switzerland, we're bringing in Michelle Bourget and she will be doing the uh mezzo soprano and it's everything from, you know, Puccini to Verdi to um uh we will have a little Broadway music but most of it

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will be, you know, gorgeous arias that everybody wants to hear. In planning Opera Idaho's seasons. Um Who, who do you work with and what are the things you take into consideration in bringing, uh you know, opera Idaho to, to the public out here in the Boise

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area. Well, I would love to do and I, I preface this, Uh I would love to do some um larger Grand opera like Aida, like Turandot, like Romeo and Juliet. But the cost of the sets and costumes and the size of the chorus and what have you

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makes it prohibitive. However, last week I received $100,000 from uh the J.A. uh Catherine Albertson Foundation, the largest grant to my knowledge that this little opera company has ever received. And uh that absolutely gave me a shot in the arm because I know I can

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match this. I now know that we are kind of up on the hill and that is a wonderful position to be in. And I think we can do some of these bigger, bigger productions. I, somebody has to take the first step to give you that kind

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of a grant uh in order for you to go out and match it and, and bring in other donors. So I'm very excited about it and of course, they went to Barber and thought it was absolutely fabulous. And the people on that board have never been

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to an opera. That's what's interesting. They don't know anything about opera, but they feel that we're doing things right here and that people are talking about what we're doing. So in choosing the season, to be honest with you, I am looking at how do I expand

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the audience, what will appeal to them. Um And right now I have to have something that's recognizable. Um I probably wouldn't get people to come to Tales of Hoffman, but they would come to La Boheme they would come to Carmen or they would come to Barber. [inserted clip of male and female opera singers]

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You also have a program for young kids, opera in a box, and everyone else that opening night from the stage or the Morrison Center, uh which is, of course, that's the future of opera. The young people. We had our experience of taking our grandchildren to barber

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of Seville and they loved it from beginning to end. They had never seen it. We briefed them a little bit on what an aria was and who Figaro was and they knew Figaro's Aria from commercials. But that's another important part of uh what you're doing in Opera

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Idaho. I know. Well, this year, yes. And we received uh we, we were so surprised about $75,000 for outreach. This has not happened to us before. So we decided that we would take opera in the box and scenes from operas, you know, costumes and sets to

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all the elementary, junior high uh uh schools here in the valley. And we're very excited about it and we wanted to announce from the stage um last Saturday, the people that had contributed to this because it was sizable, the amount of money that has come in

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for outreach. And of course, there are future patrons. That's how they get the love of the voices again. And you know, it, it inspires the Children. What we find is that they then come and join our three children's choruses that we have and then they appear

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in operas where there are children's chorus in the opera. So it's, it's very exciting. And uh the, the children's chorus has grown. We have a select teen choir that will be going back to the 400th anniversary for America in Williamsburg in May. And they are

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going to sing with all these other choirs and then they will put on their own concert back there. So this is a, a little plum for our director, uh Tiffany Calas uh who's been directing these choruses to be chosen to go back there and take this

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selec teen choir. I've never heard voices like this, select teen choir. They are like the Vienna boys choir. It's like one voice. It's um they sing counterpoint. I mean, they sing French numbers that are just unreal. And I said to her, you need to travel with this group.

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They are so, so very good. So that's what's gonna happen next May. And, and that's very exciting for us. [inserted clip of opera chorus] of the trends that seems to be happening in opera in this country and it happening at the uh at the metropolitan uh with

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Peter Gelb. Now the new general manager making all these changes. And I was gonna ask you about the trend to the minimalist productions, you know, like Julie Taymor did the Magic Flute and uh Minghella did this very successful Madam Butterfly with puppets. Uh And, and you see

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uh less is more kind of thing. Have you thought about doing anything along those lines? We have. It's just that we haven't had the resources to even build a minimalist kind of a, um sets. But I am very much moving in that direction and will do

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that probably within the next season. Um We're just trying to decide what we're gonna do next year. Um And it really depends on whether I can get the artists that I want here for our productions. But I agree with that and I know why they're doing

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it and there's an appeal to it. Um We saw Macbeth in Seattle and uh I just love their set. Thought their set was, was very modern and it was just wonderful. It really was. So we just have to attract the people. We have to find ways

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to bring opera to all levels. We did Taste of Opera and this fall, I, I would say that half the audience uh consisted of 20 and 30 year olds which I have never seen before, but they were there for one hour to hear opera and it was after

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work and we had food and a little glass of wine and they loved it and we held it in a gallery, an art gallery. And so we're trying to find different places to take it, which, which I think is what we all have to do. And

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we really have to think out of the box. How do we attract them? I'm trying to get rid of the horns and the spear, which is still out there, there's still that label and that thought about opera. Uh and if we can bring it down so

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they can understand it, they can feel it and touch it and be up close to it, they will come back and experience the voices in another venue, in another place and that's what we're seeing happening. You're well on your way. I mean, judging from

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the response of the Barber of Seville, these people love this uh art form, uh I mean, Figaro's arias literally stopped the show and applauding in the middle of the aria, you know, before it was over. So, uh sometimes as, as I said, the audience is, are the

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newest to the opera or the most responsive. well, I think there's something to that. The other thing about opera and I've heard this from other art groups is gosh, you have so much fun and opera is fun because if you can go out, I mean,

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there, you know, other art groups don't go out and say now I have to teach you a couple of words here and I want you to say Bravo when you love the men that are coming on the stage or Brava and they get ready to go

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because we've given them permission to yell out and clap when they want to. And I think there's something to that. I think opera is fun. It's just fun. And, uh, the Philharmonic said, uh, their board said, why can't we have fun? Like the opera? Well, it's

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different. You know, you go to sit in and you sit and listen to the Philharmonic. That's what you do. in, in opera you become a part of the character up there, you get involved in what they are doing and it's ok to yell out Bravo when

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something is just wonderful and has touched your heart, you know, it gives them permission. Thank you very much for taking time to chat with us and uh continued success with Opera Idaho. I know wonderful things are gonna be happening. Jacques Brel your big gala night and

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you're not ready to announce the opera next year. But what do you thinking about it? Well, it's gonna be as good as this year. That's my promise to the board. So, uh we're working on it and um it's uh it's been an exciting year and I'm,

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I really think by the time we end in April and we, we're ready to go for our next year, it's gonna be even better. So, thank you for interviewing me. I appreciate it. I just want everybody to know back east that uh you know, come out

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here to Sun Valley to ski and the beautiful weather in the mountains in Boise, such a hip city that opera is also alive and well in uh with Opera Idaho. So thank you. That was a conversation with Julie Kilgow, executive director of Opera Idaho in Boise

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Idaho. You can reach them by going to their website at www dot opera Idaho dot org. That's www dot opera Idaho dot org. I'm Ron Della Chiesa.