Tim fuller / courtesy of arizona opera

More Photos (1):

Related articles:

Arizona Opera's 'Lucia di Lammermoor' a treat

Other articles by Sherilyn Forrester:

'Blind Date' a teasing puzzle Shades of gray 'School of the Americas' teaches big lessons 2nd celebration of Indian artists Kids upstage the adults in ATC's 'Mockingbird' Review: ATC's 'Mockingbird' an uneven production Playwright: 'Natives' serious comedy Veterans star in 'tribute to friendship' Add Tony-winning play to your 2008 to-do list Wickedly wonderful

Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps

Arizona Opera opens its 2007-08 season with Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." It's an opera that director Kristine McIntyre is familiar with — she steered the Portland (Ore.) Opera's production of the piece three years ago.

She studied English literature at Georgetown University and theater directing at the University of Hull, England, receiving a Master of Arts.

The Portland resident directs opera, ballet and theater throughout the country.

She recently took a break from rehearsal to speak to us by phone about "Lucia" and her approach to directing.

"You know, that's one of the things about my background I'm happiest about. It absolutely prepared me for this work. It taught me how to read text and bring critical analysis to bear. How to do research, where to go next. I spent the most time studying Romantic and Victorian literature, both American and British, and 19th-century literature is actually source material for so many operas. It means everything I studied in college means something for me now. I really can use everything."

"Absolutely. I wasn't introduced to opera until age 16, through a school program which actually took us to see an opera. I was utterly intrigued, and I asked my parents to buy tickets for the opera. They were somewhat rueful, but they respected my wishes. And while I was a student in Washington, D.C., I enjoyed the benefit in cost of student tickets. So by my early 20s I knew this was what I wanted to do. And I knew I wanted to study in England. Hull has a flexible and deep program, and it was just what I wanted."

"Yes, I adhere to certain principles. I try to respect the music and text and from there try to create a world for the singers that's logical, that makes sense to them. A firm structure — and then they can play within that, see what they can discover. I ask from whose point of view the story is told and how that character's worldview affects what we hear and perceive. It's important to remember, for example, that Donizetti's audiences would have been very familiar with the literature on which he based his opera. That's not so true today, so it's a challenge to find that aesthetic and bring the audience — and the singers — into that world. You need to make it as immediate and current as possible."

"Actually, it's exactly the same, except in opera the text is the music. But the skills I bring to bear are essentially the same."

"Yes, because there are different singers. Of course, I do have the benefit of having done the piece before, but it's necessary to shape the work to the elements here. Sets and costumes are different. One of the fascinating things is that the cast has different levels of experience with this opera. Some are very familiar with it and have sung it numerous times. Some are new to it. A different cast requires rethinking. It wouldn't do to try to remount the same exact production. We're artists, not archaeologists."

"I love its Gothic nature. It's such a dark and stark tale. It's based on Sir Walter Scott's novel ("The Bride of Lammermoor"), but Donizetti strips it to the bare bones so that there's a psychological tautness. I love the way he so clearly creates the atmosphere in each scene. And I think Lucia is a really interesting character. She's not one of those young, naive, flighty women. She's a much older soul — really intense. The child has gone out of her. Her family's fate and her current circumstances — it's little wonder she seems morbidly fascinated with the dark side. She's stubborn — I always appreciate that in a heroine, and she fights till the end. In some ways, it's a very modern piece. We relate to her. We get it."

"There's a terrible Gothic sense that looms in this story. These young lovers can't control the forces they must deal with. History is bigger than their desires. There is a strong sense of the supernatural — there's a curse that will overtake them. In some operas, like 'La traviata,' everyone is transformed. Here, it's more about desolation than redemption. Yet, watching this all happen is very cathartic for the audience."

"I hope they feel they have been told a dark and satisfying tale, a good Gothic yarn. I hope they have felt something for the plight of Lucia. And that we need to be very careful with the people around us. I hope they are moved by the struggle of two doomed characters, watching them struggle against things bigger than themselves, trying to make a life for themselves. Watching their destruction should be very disturbing. You know, it's important to get in touch with the dark side. To explore those extreme boundaries, and then to come safely back home."

Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," which premiered in Naples in 1935, is based on Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Bride of Lammermoor," published in 1819.

The Ravenswoods and the Ashtons are political enemies. But Lucia, an Ashton, is in love with Edgardo, a Ravenswood. Her brother Enrico insists she marry Arturo, a marriage that will help protect the Ashtons' rising fortunes. Edgardo steals into the Ashtons' castle to meet with Lucia, and the two take oaths of fidelity and exchange rings before he leaves for France to fulfill a political duty.

Meanwhile, Enrico continues with plans for Lucia's wedding to Arturo. Enraged about Lucia's love for Edgardo, Enrico shows Lucia a forged letter which indicates Edgardo has taken another lover. Reluctantly, Lucia signs the marriage contract with Arturo. Edgardo unexpectedly appears and, realizing that Lucia has married Arturo, curses Lucia, demands the return of his ring and angrily tramples his own ring on the ground. During the wedding celebrations, Lucia's tutor and chaplain, Raimondo, tells the guests that Lucia has killed her bridegroom. When she appears, she sings an aria in which she dreams of being with Edgardo and then collapses. Edgardo, waiting to duel Enrico, learns that Lucia is dead and stabs himself.

Tracy Dahl was not bound and determined to be an opera singer.

"I thought I might be headed for Broadway," said Dahl, who sings Lucia in Arizona Opera's production of "Lucia di Lammermoor" on Saturday.

"I came to opera quite by accident. I was doing 'Side by Side By Sondheim' and my first opera simultaneously. I was singing Barbarina in 'The Marriage of Figaro' — a very small role. But when I did that aria for the first time with an orchestra, it was so exciting. I was hooked. It's hard not to be moved by opera. It just grabbed me."

This is the third time Dahl, who hails from Canada, has performed with Arizona Opera. She also has performed Lucia several times.

"This is a very demanding role, physically and emotionally, so pacing yourself is one of the greatest challenges," she said.

And it's an attractive role for many reasons, she adds, not the least of which is its great history and "all the amazing women who have sung it."

"Donizetti drew this role so masterfully. Each high note has a different meaning, and it's the singer's challenge to find new life for each one.

"And there's such pathos with Lucia. She's a victim, but she has such passion, such fight."

Singing Lucia with Arizona Opera offers opportunities to make new discoveries about the character. "You have a different director and conductor and new colleagues. For this production I've learned a lot about how she bridges her two worlds, the world of knowing and the world of denial," Dahl said.

Her extensive work in the world of music has had her participating in events "from the amazing to the absurd." And she has dreams about doing more.

"I would like to return to musical theater, maybe." She pauses again. "You know, I would really like to provide the music, either live or recorded, to accompany figure skating. Skaters soar. They glide. At its best, figure skating is the physical parallel to what opera singers do with our voices."

"Lucia di Lammermoor"

• Music by: Gaetano Donizetti.

• Libretto by: Salvatore Cammarano.

• Director: Kristine McIntyre.

• Conductor: Cal Stewart Kellogg.

• When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.

• Where: Tucson Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave., Downtown.

•Tickets: $26-$114 through Ticketmaster, 321-1000, or Arizona Opera, 293-4336.

The Arizona Opera first season was in 1971, after a group of local art lovers pushed to form the company.

That year, pulling from local and regional talent, Rossini's "Barber of Seville" was staged at the Tucson Convention Center Music Hall, now the Tucson Music Hall.

It wasn't long before the company grew to present a three-show season, and by 1975, it took its show up the road to Phoenix, as well.

But the opera really exploded when Glynn Ross, formerly head of the Seattle Opera, signed on in 1984.

These days, Arizona Opera produces a five-opera season and has its own conductor, Cal Stewart Kellogg, its own orchestra and its own chorus.

The company has offices in Phoenix and Tucson, and it still calls Tucson its headquarters. Joel Revzen, an award-winning conductor and member of the Metropolitan Opera conducting staff, came to the company in 2003 as its artistic director. He was named Arizona Opera's general and artistic director in 2004.