Interview with Mark Adamo
By John Ardoin
 |
|
Composer and librettist for "Little Women," Mark Adamo. |
|
Mark Adamo is one of the newest and brightest names on the American musical scene. In a short while he has attracted the sort of attention that -- in the classical music world, at least -- normally takes years to achieve. He talked with GREAT PERFORMANCES about his rapid rise and what the future holds for him.
GP: You must be a very happy man these days with a half-dozen companies scheduling future performances of "Little Women," plus the PBS telecast, a recording, and the acceptance of the score by a major music publisher -- Schirmer's.
MA: I have no complaints. I am filled with gratitude.
GP: Yet in your bio it states that you began with a scholarship as a playwright. Did words come before music in your life?
MA: I always loved music and wanted to be a musician, but I didn't have a piano until I was 15. So words came first. At nine, I was already writing short stories. Theater, however, was my real love. So when I finally got a piano, I thought, "Perhaps I can write music for the theater." And at New York University, I majored in dramatic writing with a minor in music, although eventually I got a degree in composition as well. But I still didn't think of myself first as a composer. I moved to Washington, [D.C.] and ironically, I received a commission for a piece of music from some musicians there who I thought would have known better! Frankly, I thought they were kidding, and I did nothing about it until the conductor called one day and said, "Well, what about this piece. Are you going to write it or not?" So I had to get serious about it, and what resulted was a large 40-minute score titled "Late Victorians" for singer, speaker, soloists, and orchestra, which interweaves a memoir by essayist Richard Rodriguez with the poetry of Emily Dickinson to create an AIDS memorial piece.
GP: Did you then go from "Late Victorians" to "Little
Women?"
MA: What happened
was that the premiere of "Late Victorians" attracted the attention
of a small opera company in Washington affiliated with Catholic
University. The idea of an opera on "Little Women" was actually
theirs; they called me and proposed it. At first I thought, "How
on earth am I going to find an opera in this book?" Even though
I loved it and had loved it since I was a child, it seemed to me
then like the most unlikely operatic subject imaginable. But I reread
it, looked at the films and realized that this was really a story
about Jo's attempt to stop the clock. At that point, I got extremely
excited and went back to the people at Catholic University and told
them I solved the problem. To my surprise, they were not interested
in my idea at all. They wanted only nostalgia and period, a sort
of parade of American scenes. I wanted much more, and it was obvious
we couldn't work together.
 |
| Conductor Patrick Summers
with Mark Adamo. |
|
GP: So what
happened next?
MA: Well, I had met composer Carlisle Floyd when I was working
as a critic and had told him about my opera. So when the plans for
it fell apart, I called Carlisle and said, "I just cut my own throat.
I have an opera nobody wants." He suggested that I send it to David
Gockley, the director of the Houston Opera. This is something I
would never have thought of myself. I mean, Houston commissions on
a high level -- from Carlisle himself to Bernstein and John Adams.
In my mind, I was just a local Washington composer and this work
had been planned for a local company. But I sent it in, and to my
amazement Houston commissioned it for its Opera Studio. There were
to be just two performances. But after opening night and before
a single review appeared, David, to his credit, took me to lunch
the next day and said, "I have never seen such an enthusiastic opening,
and we want to have an ongoing relationship with you." And in addition
to a repeat of "Little Women" as part of the company's regular season,
we began talking about two other operas.
GP: And they are?
MA: First an adaptation of Aristophanes' "Lysistrata,"
and secondly a very free treatment of the Dracula story.
GP: Will you write the librettos for them as well?
MA: Of course.
GP:
Then perhaps you are the ideal person to resolve the age-old question
in opera of what comes first -- the words or the music!
MA: Not really, because to me neither comes first. Let me explain. When I begin an opera, I first make an outline of what the scenes will be. Then I pretend I am sitting in the theater seeing the piece in front of me, and I am deaf. I ask myself, "What's going on on stage, who are these people, and what do they want?" And then I pretend I am blind and try to understand what is happening -- what am I hearing and what does it mean dramatically. In effect, I am acting out the play or opera before it exists, but once I do this I have a good idea of what the words and the music should be and they start percolating at the same time. Until I find the action, however, I can't write either.
GP: How would you describe to someone what your music sounds like?
MA: That's a tough one. It's like trying to describe yourself. How many of us could do that accurately? I think people should just listen and decide for themselves what it's like and if they like it!
Photo: Conductor Patrick Summers with Mark Adamo: Photo by George Hixson, courtesy of Houston Grand Opera.
|
|
Thirteen Online
