About

Why opera? Why here? Why now?

Temecula and Murrieta have an affluent young population hungry for culture. Opera is thought to be one of culture’s highest exponents. Even the stupidest shows at the theater are crammed. We have a number of choral groups in the area whose shows are well-attended, and of course, so are the musicals. People who want to see the opera must drive seventy miles south to San Diego, or a hundred miles north to Los Angeles. In our commuter culture, that’s just too far.

We have a beautiful theater in town, and a large number of talented singers. Every singer I have spoken with has told me it is a dream come true to sing opera, and every member of the community I have spoken with has been very excited about the prospect of an opera company here in town.

Opera is an important part of our history; from the stories we can see that people are the same now as then; we still love, get angry, fight one another, die, grieve, and rejoice for many reasons. By bringing opera in English to Temecula, we will provide a vector for young and old alike to reconnect with our history and culture in an entertaining, fun and beautiful way.

Most importantly, opera is a form of theater that allows people to connect powerfully with their feelings, and this is something difficult to obtain, even on TV, where especially in comedies and cartoons, emotions are presented bizarrely, with wildly inappropriate responses. When people are able to connect with their own emotions through identification with a character in an opera, it is very good for their soul, mental health, feelings of well-being. It can be profoundly validating.

Our opera proposes to be different in several ways: we encourage the public to come to every show in their diamonds, furs, or costumes of any kind. As long as you can fit in a seat, wear what you love and feel festive in, whether it be a Civil War reenactment costume, a pirate costume, or your tuxedo or evening gown. Why is this a good idea? Because it’s a hoot to dress up, but it’s boring just to have an evening gown contest. Compare the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” midnight performances, still going on, and well-attended after thirty years. Why? Because it’s so much fun to dress up! For that matter, the Renaissance Faire is always more fun when attended in costume, because you feel as though you are part of the action.

Two of our season’s three operas will be comedies, and the third will be three one-act operas including a comedy and two tragedies, so our fare will be fairly “light” as opera goes, and we will be emphasizing well-known and funny repertoire. Our audience should come expecting to laugh, as well as to cry.

Is this a risky business?

Heck yes. Opera is a very expensive art form because it includes an orchestra, sets, costumes, and score rental. Our survival will take patrons, donations and ticket sales. We will be applying for grants. We will be doing rampant fundraising, and I encourage every member of the community who wants to see opera here to make a huge contribution in our name to the Fine Arts Network, our parent company.

We are honored to have the Inland Symphony Opera Orchestra joining us under the baton of Dr. Richard Wilson. Incidentally, that means that between Beverly Stephenson as Stage Director, Richard Wilson as Conductor and me, Moira Greyland, as Artistic Director, we have a nearly all woman run opera company, and that may be a first.

Darby Eccles is joining us as Chorus Master. This means that where my role is to train soloists and to sing, and to stage, and to make everything else happen, he teaches the chorus their music and ensures balance and harmony.

I have been steeped in opera my entire life. My mother, who was the noted author Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Mists of Avalon, the Darkover books etc.) always wanted to be an opera singer and gladly passed the baton to me when I was four years old as she discovered I had perfect pitch. She watched me in dance class (I was in the professional school of the San Francisco Ballet) and noticed that although I was neither the best dancer nor the worst, I was the only one who was always on the beat. My family listened to opera most of the time, and I took a great interest in it. I memorized my first few operas when I was ten: Die Zauberfloete, (in German) Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. I have the kind of memory where things just stick. Not useful things, like history, but pretty much anything that rhymes, regardless of what language it is in. My solo album “Avalon’s Daughter” features Celtic music in broad Scots dialect and in Irish Gaelic; I just love the sounds in the different dialects. I’ve been the lead in a number of operas, and I’ve had a long solo career as a concert harpist who sings opera while playing the harp. My bio is below.

It is ironic that I would be heading an opera company where we only sing in English, because I love the sound and singability and superior poetry of the original languages. However, I found out during a performance of Parsifal, a five-hour Wagner opera, just how ghastly it can be to sit through something that makes no sense at all. Beautiful singing is not enough; there must be a story.

As to auditions: I am auditioning all voice types, and I am especially in need of male singers for Chorus and Principal Roles. I audition by appointment only. Interested singers may contact me at (951) 252-4145.