A new voice at Connecticut Lyric Opera
Jurate Svedaite Waller takes over as the company’s executive director
IMystic n Jurate Svedaite Waller’s home, the grand piano sits center stage in the living room, an appropriate touch in a life full of music. Waller, just named executive director of the Connecticut Lyric Opera, succeeding Matthew Burry, has been involved with music all her life, from a girl in Lithuania to stages in Italy, Colombia and beyond as one of the leading operatic sopranos in the state.
She won’t be on stage, but she will still play a leading role in the upcoming English-language production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Garde Arts Center, helping coordinate all the performance details.
“The company needed somebody — somebody who loves the company,” said Waller, an adjunct associate professor at Connecticut College who is also known by her performance name Jurate Svedaite.
And Waller, along with husband John Waller (the company’s first executive director) and artistic director Adrian Sylveen, have nurtured Connecticut Lyric Opera from its beginnings 14 years ago, so it made sense that she would finally step into the organization’s lead role.
Local opera stagings with Waller in a featured role began quietly with productions in 2001 and 2002 of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” at the Thames Valley Music School, where Waller still teaches voice lessons. But when conductor Sylveen heard Waller’s voice, he expressed an interest in putting on an opera and perhaps forming a company in which she would take a leading part.
They started intending to do just one show, a production of “Carmen,” which they miraculously pulled off in a very cramped space at the First Congregational Church on State Street. The production was so successful that they carried on with the “Barber of Seville” and decided to pursue nonprofit status, developing a loyal following.
“It’s been a labor of love,” Waller said. “Our budget is pretty limited. ... But we figure if we have good singers and great music, people will forget about the things we don’t have.”
Connecticut Lyric Opera doesn’t spend a lot of money on costumes and lavish sets, for instance.
“When we step on stage, it’s almost like being in a black-box theater,” she said. “The singers are completely exposed, so the voice has to tell the story.”
But the opera company also probably boasts one of the best musical ensembles in the state, the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. Led by Sylveen, many of the players are trained at the Yale School of Music in New Haven.
“They are absolutely amazing players,” Waller said. “It’s a huge asset.”
Still, it’s been hard to raise money, especially since 2008, when the economy went south and Waller estimates financial support was cut in half, “if not more.”
“Our relationship with the orchestra allows things to happen,” Waller said. “We help each other out.”
What started as small-scale productions in a couple venues have slowly evolved into more elaborate productions that this year will be held in four spaces, including the Garde and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. The opera company also performs regularly in Middletown and New Britain.
In addition, the Connecticut Lyric Opera for the past three summers has been featured in productions held in Tuscany, Italy, that are being done in partnership with the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the Greve Opera Academy and Music Festival. Next year, productions of “Aida” (to be performed locally in May) and “Carmen” will be presented at the festival by both Connecticut and international singers, some of whom likely will go on to appear locally.