← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
Stooping an Aria with The Opera Next Door
00:18:37
The Opera Next Door co-founders Sasha Gutiérrez and Zack O'Farrill join us to talk about Don G, an adaptation of Don Giovanni, on a stoop in Bed Stuy (on Sept. 13) .
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- [00:09]
A
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Five years ago, in the middle of the pandemic, a group of musicians and friends got together to jam outside on someone's stoop since they couldn't do it indoors. And by jam, we mean opera. A few months, those jams turned into concerts and eventually a whole street side opera production. Over the last several years, the Opera Next Door has been bringing opera performances to a stoop near you across Brooklyn and Manhattan. Their concerts have attracted hundreds of fans, including families and other people who might not be able to make it to the Met or another traditional opera venue. This month they'll be producing Don G, a version of the Mozart opera Don Giovanni with free stoop side performances in bed Stuy on September 13th. Joining me now with a preview are Opera Next Door co founders Sasha Gutierrez. Hi, Sasha.
- [01:04]
B
Hi.
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A
And Zac o'. Farrell. Hi, Zack.
- [01:06]
C
Hi. How you doing?
- [01:07]
A
I'm doing well. All right, bring me back 2000 2021. How did you get started?
- [01:13]
B
Well, this was mostly an accident. I like to tell everyone that it was never in my plans to create an opera company, but it kind of happened because of the extraordinary circumstances we were in during the pandemic. We started hosting these stoop concerts and Zach, who's also my partner, he's a jazz drummer and he invited all his jazz friends to hang on the stoop. And I told them, well, if you guys are going to plan to jam on the stoop, I'm going to bring out all the arias I've been working on this past few months. And so this was basically the start of a whole series of concerts that we hosted that first summer of 2020.
- [01:54]
C
Yeah, I mean we did concerts almost every weekend from mid June up until our last one was Halloween of 20. You know, I think in New York during the pandemic, jazz on a stoop became, you know, it wasn't, it, it wasn't the most crazy thing you'd ever seen. But the opera stopped traffic. Like there would. Sasha would be singing with her, like, you know, the pre recorded accompaniment out of our keyboard amp. And like cars would be stopped and people would be taking videos out the window. Bike riders would like bump into each other because they were just like, what's this? What's going on? And so we just realized that most people had just never actually had the opportunity to experience opera at all. Most people's conception of opera doesn't go that far beyond Bugs Bunny with a Viking helmet. And so a friend of ours one afternoon asked, have you guys ever thought about staging a whole opera out here? And we said, no, we never have thought of it. And quite frankly, it sounds like far too much work.
- [03:00]
B
Way too much work. And I can guarantee that it was.
- [03:03]
C
It is too much work.
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B
It's always too much work.
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A
What is the difference between doing a concert, concert on the stoop and then doing a full production?
- [03:11]
B
Well, first of all, the concert. We do a series of stoop concerts during the summer, and we've been doing them every summer since then. These are just curated programs. Of course, they require us to rehearse and all of that, but they work as pop ups. We show up, we do an hour concert, an hour program, and then we disappear. And it's quite easy when it comes to the, to the bigger productions, the full operas. Well, it includes, you know, we gotta start looking for the people. We gotta find funds to fund the projects. We have to make sure that we can close the streets, talk to the police precinct, talk to your mayor's office.
- [03:57]
C
Well, also on an artistic level, you know, when we do the concerts, it's selections from any number of operas. And the concerts usually, you know, about an hour long. When we do the whole opera, it's fully staged. We projected translation of super titles. We are, it's, it's one piece. So like Don Giovanni is about two and a half hours long. Our version is not gonna be two and a half hours long. We were hoping to have cut it down to a little under two hours. We haven't actually done the full run through yet, so fingers crossed on that one.
- [04:33]
B
We are, we are tech week. It's craziness right now. It's always that time when we are less than a week away and we are still cleaning up some details. But it's a very exciting show.
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C
It's gonna be fun.
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A
We're talking about the Opera Next Door with co founder Sasha Gutierrez and Zach o'. Farrell. How, Zach, how do you handle the New York City ness of it all? Rain, traffic, dogs just deciding to bark. What do you do?
- [05:02]
C
Well, I will say this. We actually encourage people to bring their dogs out to the. And their kids and a bottle of wine or whatever. We do encourage that.
- [05:11]
B
Do the dogs make noise when you say not really? We've never had a dog. We actually have a lot of dog that. You know, dog owners who come by and they seem pretty chill.
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C
Yeah.
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A
How do you adapt to the world around you?
- [05:24]
C
You know, it depends. You know, I think if we had more funds, we'd be able to more securely book people out for an extra date in case of rain. What we're doing this time is because we have date on September 17th at Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn. If it winds up raining this Saturday, then we'll put all our eggs into that basket. But the forecast looks good so far. It's always a question just again, to set a rain date requires more resources because you're asking everyone involved to hold on to another day of their calendar.
- [06:03]
B
And also because we do performances outdoors, especially for the bigger productions. It's not as easy as. Let me just my permit to close down the street.
- [06:12]
C
Exactly.
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B
That's for the big productions. When it comes to the smaller concerts, we do our best to continue to find a second date or we just continue with our season. But for example, when it comes to noise, when we are actually performing the big opera, I like to tell the performers that work with us that we have to understand that, yes, we are in New York City. We will have Mr. Softy driving by, we will have an ambulance. We will have some sort of craziness happening around us. But as part of our job and what we do, we also learn to be in the moment, to accept the fact that we are outdoors and we are creating art in a very special way that is not the traditional way, but we bring it out with full honesty as it is, and we have to accept that these things happen.
- [07:11]
C
I like to think that by actually doing it on a street in Brooklyn, this, you know, whatever challenges that come with that, it pays off because there's no set we could build in any theater in the world that will actually feel that real. Right? And as for traffic, like you asked, the street will be closed. We were able to secure a permit to close the street from 4 to 8pm Big thanks to council member Chiyo Sei's office, District 36, our council member in Bed Stuy, for helping hook that up with the street Activities Permit office. Very hilariously, which acronyms very hilariously to sapo, which Spanish speakers will find funny?
- [07:56]
B
For non Spanish speakers, sapo means frog.
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A
How do you decide which stoops you're going to perform on?
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B
I love this question. We don't. We don't decide. We are very lucky to sometimes get in touch with people who are interested in the project and offer their stoops. For example, this stoop that we are going to be performing on is actually the original stoop we used during the first opera we ever produced, which was Cosi Fantute, also a Mozart opera. And our neighbor, he has been a huge supporter of The Opera Next door and our crazy journey.
- [08:39]
C
Shout out to Michael.
- [08:40]
B
Shout out to Michael. And he. So, for example, that's a person who offered their stoop out of the kindness of their hearts. And we've found a lot of people that way also. We've also gotten connected through friends and family. Maybe someone hears about what we're doing and they're like, hey, I would love to host a stoop concert or a full production in the future. And actually, I put it out there. Anyone who has a beautiful stoop, they want to share, please do. Let's chat. Because the whole magic of this is that we are creating this very unique moment that do not require. I mean, we have to work together. This is all about community and teamwork. It doesn't work any other way.
- [09:33]
A
Who is Michael? Is he just a guy?
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C
Is it just like Michael is?
- [09:37]
A
I hear somebody next door to me saying opera. Like, I'm curious about Michael.
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C
If anyone has ever passed by the block of Willoughby Avenue between Nostrand and Marcy, which is where the opera's happening in Bed Stuy, chances are it's very likely that you have unknowingly crossed paths with Michael. Michael is. We can call him the mayor of the block.
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B
Okay.
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C
He's been on the block his whole life, and he is one of the most dedicated neighbors I've ever seen. To keeping the block beautiful, keeping the block a wonderful place to live. To really fostering community on the block and creating activities. He's behind the keychauff every fall. Enough can't be said about the great vibes that Michael brings to Willoughby Avenue.
- [10:30]
A
We're talking about the Opera Next Door with co founder Sasha Gutierrez and Zac o'. Farrell. So just to give people a taste, you're going to perform 30 seconds. Is that true?
- [10:44]
B
I will perform a little bit, but I will have to stand up from here.
- [10:47]
A
Okay.
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C
Adjust your mic.
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B
I would say don't touch the mic.
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C
Okay.
- [10:53]
A
Don't touch the mic.
- [10:54]
B
But, yeah, I will perform a small fragment from one of the arias that I'll be singing. I am playing Don Elvira in this production. And the fragment is from the aria Mitra di cue lal mangrata.
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C
Okay.
- [11:47]
A
That was wonderful. Okay, so that's amazing. She just stepped away from a microphone. You know, you get your jeans on.
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B
And I need to stand up.
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A
That was beautiful.
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B
Thank you.
- [11:58]
A
Where do your singers, your opera singers come from who are part of your group?
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B
We have everyone that performs with us are professional singers. We are all from different parts of the country. The world actually I have a lot of people who come from other countries. I'm from Colombia, so I do have a bunch of fellows there that have come to join us and who are also founding members of the company.
- [12:29]
C
Wait, I just want to add a little parenthesis, which is that I don't want anyone to think that just because this is opera performed on, on the street that the quality is less than you'll find other places.
- [12:40]
A
Oh.
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C
Clearly the artists that, that, that work with us are so top notch. And we are. And particularly this production. We are so excited about this cast.
- [12:49]
B
Yes, we do auditions during the season. We cast according to what we're looking for. Our singers come mostly from conservatories, universities, people who are trained as opera singers. Because for us to be able to do what we do on the streets, we really need people who are professionally trained to be very healthy in the way they sing and to take care of their instruments. So we are very picky about who sings with us.
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C
Yeah.
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A
What have you noticed about audiences when they are watching opera? They're sitting in their little chair, sometimes they're standing against a tree. What have you noticed about them?
- [13:32]
C
You know, I think back to that first time we did it in May of 2021 with Cosi Fan Tute. And I remember our. Like, one thing that we asked ourselves maybe once or twice leading up to it was, what if nobody likes the opera? What if we. What if we hit intermission and everyone leaves?
- [13:53]
B
Or what if no one shows up?
- [13:55]
C
That was a different question. That was a different question. But you know what we found, and I think part of it is that we do project the super titles so everyone knows what's going on and can follow the story and follow the action and follow the jokes. Because, you know, a lot of these operas are actually comedies. We actually not. Okay, there's tragedies, too. There's tragedies too. And this one, this one is kind of a dramedy.
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B
This one starts off kind of like a dark, dark comedy.
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C
What we found was that not only did we have the audience stick around with us for the entire. The entire opera through intermission, but they were like, laughing out loud with the jokes. They were laughing out loud with Italian comedy from the 18th century. And it just illustrated for me that the problem with people not being there, not not saying they don't get opera or not being interested or just not. Not feeling like they can connect, is not in the art form itself. And it's more to do with how it's presented and the effort or the lack thereof that that is being made to go out of your way to share this art form with people.
- [15:15]
B
A lot of people feel intimidated by the art form. And I've been told this several times. When people go to our concerts and they're like, oh my God, it's the first time I listen to an opera singer. And also the fact that we are very close, like physically close to the people who are listening to us versus when we are on a stage. I mean, don't get me wrong, we all love the stage, but that there's a distance between the audience and the performer. And so noticing that we are actually, and I say this in the opera next door's language, we are your neighbors, we live around you. We are part of your community and we're just like you. But our job is to sing and we're just sharing it. And so a lot of the very great things that I love about what we do with the opera on X Door is that we call this place where opera meets people instead of the other way around.
- [16:13]
A
Okay, someone wants the details. You're on the 13th and the 17th. Can you explain each one and where people can get information?
- [16:21]
C
Yes, I will give the details. So September 13th is our outdoor performance that is going to be in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn on Willoughby Avenue between Nostrind and Marcy. That's about a two block walk from the G train, Myrtle Willoughby stop. There's the B44 SBS bus close by. It's, it's, it's, it's pretty easy to get to. That's right there. I'm not going to give the exact address. I promise you when you get to that block, you'll know you'll find it. That is the street closure starts at 4. So street closure is what we consider. Our doors open at 4. Show is at 5. We plan to be done around 7, 7:15. And that one, there's no, there's no ticket fee, there's no need to rsvp, just byoc. Bring your own chair, bring your own picnic blanket. Bring your kids, bring your dog, bring your friends, bring some snacks, bring some drinks, get ready to have a good time. Bring some sunscreen if you need it. And so that's the 13th.
- [17:28]
B
And then on the, we are encouraging donations. Yes, yes, okay.
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C
We are highly encouraging donations. We'll get, we'll, we'll get there, I'm sure. And the 17th is, the 17th is at Shapeshifter Lab in Park Slope, Brooklyn. That's 837 Union Street. That one is a little later. That one. Doors open at 6, show starts at 7. That's also going to be our season closing party. The show is actually kind of we're setting the show in the gritty New York of the 70s and 80s, the era of disco and salsa. So that one is going to be a disco salsa dance party combined with our opera. And so we're encouraging everyone to dress to impress. That one does have tickets. They're $30. And if you would like to find out, if you'd like to just stay in touch or, you know, be reminded of how to get these tickets, you can follow us on Instagram at the Opera Next Door.
- [18:17]
A
That's how I found you.
- [18:18]
C
Yeah.
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A
This is the coolest thing I have ever seen.
- [18:22]
C
You can follow us on Instagram. You can go to theoparanextdoor.org is our website.
- [18:27]
A
Also, our guests have been Sasha Gutierrez and Zac o' Farrell from the Opera Next Door. Have a wonderful show.
- [18:35]
C
Thank you.
- [18:37]
D
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