Soprano’s irresistible opportunity
Well-travelled Osborne happy for chance to be part of music classic
The plan was for internationally acclaimed soprano Simone Osborne to take some time off this spring.
But that all went kaput when she was asked to play Pamina in the Vancouver Opera’s (VO) production of The Magic Flute (music by Mozart and libretto by Emanuel Schhikaneder).
“It’s impossible to say no to this piece with this company in my hometown,” said the Vancouver native, who has performed in 10 countries over the last nine months.
Since winning the 2008 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New York City at the age of 21, Osborne has been a sought-after singer.
“I’ve turned into the soprano cliché, I have a little dog that goes with me everywhere,” laughed Osborne about her half-Maltese, half-Yorkshire terrier.
“He is about five pounds of fluff. His name is Gatsby. I am totally headed towards the dark side. I have a fur baby, but you know it’s really nice to come back to a hotel room that isn’t completely empty.”
Well, recently she hasn’t had to rely solely on Gatsby for company, as she has been happily enjoying her hometown while preparing for her VO gig.
“I think my grandmother is knocking on doors making everyone come to the show,” laughed Osborne.
“You know, the last couple of seasons I have been doing so much out of Canada, it is nice to come home and share what you have learned over the years.”
This production marks the second time Osborne has taken on the role of Pamina; she did so two years ago in a Canadian Opera Company production.
This particular production of The Magic Flute, considered one of the all-time great operas, is unique in that it is First Nations-inspired and puts the classic story in a stunning West Coast setting.
“It’s a really neat exploration of this gorgeous culture and the First Nations people,” said Osborne, who first saw this production in 2007 when she was a student at UBC.
“If there is any opera that lends itself to that theme, it is this opera. It’s all about the triumph of good over evil. Family and ancestry are important in the First Nations culture, and we talk about the spirit a lot and the Creator.”
It’s nothing new that classic operas get re-imagined, but as Osborne points out, they don’t always hit the right note.
“It’s funny — I am used to modern concepts that don’t really work that well. You know, where they set things on a red leather couch in a condo in New York City, that kind of thing,” said Osborne, who lives in New York and Toronto.
“This sort of quest for truth works in this concept.”
The re-imagining of this opera is the work of director Robert McQueen.
While the groundbreaking and highly acclaimed production premièred at the VO in 2007, McQueen and others spent more than two years prior working on the concept.
In the end you have an Englishlanguage translation that eliminated dated 18th-century German ideas and replaced them with a First Nations backdrop, complete with words and phrases from the Musqueam people’s Halq’emeylem language.
“It involved a lot of research,” said McQueen.
“It was really about finding out how we were going to take this very European, very German opera and find a relationship between that and the First Nations culture on the West Coast
“What had to change was the tone the male voices,” added McQueen, a Vancouver native.
“In the original they talked about the women in derogatory fashion, which the First Nations people that were advising us thought was very strange, because it is a matriarchal society.”
Osborne, who made her VO debut last year in its production of Romeo and Juliet, says The Magic Flute and particularly this production is a wonderfully accessible opera and a bucket-list item for fans of the arts.
“It is a real masterpiece of music,” said Osborne.
“It is the last thing that Mozart wrote and he finished it a week before he passed away.
“It really is a crowning achievement in this amazing body of work. It is kind of like La Boheme — you have to see it in your lifetime. You’ll fall in love with it. It’s not that long, and especially with this amazing English translation it is a great first opera to see.
“There are comic aspects and serious aspects to it. It’s family friendly, a real story of good triumphing over evil and the strengths people have inside themselves. I think it’s good to be reminded of that.”