Cairns wanted her “Impresario” to show “what it’s like trying to create, working remotely, with all those limitations.” Charles Bandes photography
Enigma Chamber Opera had a great start. After last January’s production of Benjamin Britten’s psychodrama “The Turn of the Screw”—brilliantly cast, freshly conceived and completely sold out—Kirsten Z. Cairns’s troupe looked like another promising addition to Boston’s chamber opera scene.
It’s hard to fathom what’s happened in a year. The pandemic put all production plans on hold, and Cairns left her Jamaica Plain home to return to her native Scotland, “to be nearer to family,” she says.
“We had provisionally booked another show for last August,” she says, “but then everything ground to a halt.”
Not for long. By May, Cairns was planning something to keep the ensemble together—something more engaging than just setting up an iPhone in her living room.
“It was about finding a way to feel stimulated and fulfilled,” she says, “and not just stare into space. After a month of moping around I started planning.
“I never want to do anything that looks amateur,” she says. “And I wanted to offer friends an opportunity, after having their identity stripped away. To give them something to sink their teeth into.”
Her project, a re-telling of Mozart’s “The Impresario,” took shape over the summer. Cairns and an outstanding cast of singers, actors and tech wizards have re-situated the one-act comedy, now available for free at the Enigma FaceBook page.
“I have a lot of talented friends, that was one of the luxuries,” Cairns says. “People were available.”
Some quite talented people. To create the script, Cairns paired up with writer/actor Simon Robson, and brought along much-in-demand media designer Peter Torpey.
“The Impresario” pivots around dueling divas, and Cairns engaged sopranos Katrina Galka and Deborah Selig. Tenor Matthew DiBattista sings and acts as the unctuous promoter, with popular baritone David Kravitz playing the creative know-it-all. Robson wrote the script, and plays the part of the perpetually soused director. Cairns created the Corona-themed lyrics, and Mozart wrote the music.
Torpey’s imaginative visual scenario sets “The Impresario” apart from other virtual stagings, with multiple camera angles and swift-paced editing. The result: an imaginative take on what a chamber opera might be, without in-person rehearsals or a lavish stage set.
“I was trying to look on the bright side, and find some humor,” she says. “I wanted it to be about the experience, what it’s like trying to create, working remotely, with all those limitations.” “The Impresario” will be available for free indefinitely, “as long as people are enjoying it,” Cairns says.
“We wanted to say to people ‘This is for you all.’ I didn’t want to pass the hat around. I’m putting this out in a good karma kind of way. I want people to know about Enigma Chamber Opera—that we exist, and we are doing good work.
“Anyone who is interested, we’d love to have donations. But we didn’t have to ask for money this time.”
The experience provided a glimpse into the future of opera presentations—what Cairns believes will be some blend of virtual and live.
“I think what artists will take away (from the pandemic) is the opportunity to be engaged with much wider group of people, in a different way,” she says. “Audiences can drop in and out, connect in a more relaxed way to the work. They will be reluctant to give that up.
“It’s important to come up with concepts that are suited to the medium,” she says. “If you’re blending the two, it opens doors. You have to be more quick-footed, and nimble.”
Cairns suspects Enigma might create another remote experience, in the summer, before a hoped-for return to the stage next fall.
“It might happen in Boston, it might happen in Scotland, it might happen in Australia,” she says of future possibilities. “It’s chamber opera, not with a chorus and a huge orchestra. I suspect we’ll do something remote, before we get back in theaters.
“The experience of rehearsing in a room together is quite different,” she says. “We all miss that terribly. We are desperate to get back. We’ll have to be creative about it.
“People who make their own opportunities will survive,” Cairns insists. “Traditional opportunities will be far fewer. Traditional support too. But people who are driven to create will never stop.”
Keith Powers covers music and the arts for Gannett New England, Leonore Overture and Opera News. Follow @PowersKeith; email to keithmichaelpowers@gmail.com.