How far would you go to improve your chances in the music industry? Would you get on your knees and scrub floors just to be close to your dreams? If you were willing to take such a job, then you would be in good company. Anna Netrebko did just that.

On December 13th, the Celia Cruz Bronx High School journalism team got to meet the Russian diva and General Manager Peter Gelb in person at the Metropolitan Opera House. As I gathered information on Anna, I was amazed to learn that at my age she was so dedicated to her music. I admired Anna’s humble beginnings working in the halls of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg to start her career. Now that I felt I was armed with all the facts about Anna, we headed for the Met. When we arrived at the Metropolitan our first order of business was to take a grand tour of the theater and all of its departments.

I learned from our tour guide that Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera House were built in the 1960s and that much of the complex was built below the streets of Manhattan. As we descended the stairs into the depths of the theater, the first thing I noticed was the long and twisted hallways that reminded me of an underground labyrinth where one could have easily been lost.

We continued through the maze of workshops where we were greeted by the sounds of hammering and the smell of wood. The workshops were busy with electricians and carpenters scurrying around building stage props that would then be dismantled and reassembled on the stage.

After leaving the workshops, we were led into the auditorium where we saw first hand a rehearsal of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera. As the curtains drew I could feel excitement building as I sat watching and listening to these professional performers execute the music and dance with amazing precision. I was fascinated to see some of the props now fully assembled on the stage.

When the rehearsal ended we went backstage where we met lead performer and Italian opera star Salvatore Licitra. Mr. Licitra shared with us his passion about freedom of expression and how political pressures influenced the history of opera. He commented, “In modern day we do not have royal restrictions and have the independence to express what is truly felt in our art.” Mr. Licitra’s words of inspiration set the stage for the final business of the day, which was to meet Anna Netrebko and Peter Gelb.

Getting to meet Anna was the highlight of my day. When she entered the room you immediately felt her presence. Her easy-going personality and radiant smile made you believe that she had always been your best friend even though you just met her, and when she spoke her charming accent immediately put you at ease. Mr. Gelb hit the mark when he decided to set his goals on reaching out to younger audiences with Anna. She is an inspiration and the perfect role model for students of music to appreciate the artistry of opera.

9 days to the Peter Grimes premiere!

Ann Hould-Ward’s imaginative costume designs for the stage version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast earned her a Tony Award in 1994. A Broadway veteran, she is now making her Met debut working on Peter Grimes with director John Doyle. (Although, she points out, she knows the house well, having worked for American Ballet Theater several times.) With Doyle, she recently collaborated on Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Los Angeles Opera and Sondheim’s Company on Broadway.

Not unlike Mahagonny with its heavy irony and sarcasm, Grimes takes place in a dark world. “Two of the keywords John mentioned when we started were ‘bleak’ and ‘oppression,’” Hould-Ward recalls. To get a feel for the time and place, she turned to 19th-century photographs of fishermen and fishing villages. Another important inspiration came from the works of painter J.M.W. Turner. One of his seascapes, “The Shipwreck,” created in 1805, provided the color palette for the principals’ costumes. Every shade of brown, blue, green, gray, or yellow that’s being used in the costumes of the soloists appears somewhere in the painting. By contrast, the chorus is dressed entirely in black, the color of the set. “The idea is that the townspeople are coming out of the scenery,” the designer explains. “They are what Peter is up against.” Some of the ladies’ capes and the rain slickers the men wear feature a design of bird feathers. Even though this will be all but invisible to the major part of the audience, it provides an important thematic element. “John said that to him the villagers are like ravens or crows on the beach,” Hould-Ward continues, “and I tried to capture that in the costumes.” Interestingly, none of the principals changes his or her costume over the course of the opera. “We wanted to make it very specific and to allow the audience to really make a personal connection to the characters,” the designer points out. “If you take the lawyer Swallow, for example. How does he differentiate himself from the rest of the town? How does he see himself, how does he look at others? Our aim was to create a costume specifically for this person to make it clear to the audience who he is throughout the piece.” There are not many operas that provide a costume designer with the opportunity to create images for as many different—and distinct—characters as Peter Grimes does.

Some of the costume designs for Peter Grimes

Turner’s “The Shipwreck,” shown here by Ann Hould-Ward, provided the color palette for the costumes.

A selection of dyed fabric samples can be seen on a black board below the painting.

The designer with some of her creations.

Photos: Philipp Brieler/Metropolitan Opera

10 days to the Peter Grimes premiere!

Tony Award-winning director John Doyle creates a new production of Peter Grimes for the Met. This opera was Benjamin Britten’s first big success, written while he was in his early thirties, and established him as one of the leading composers of his time. The work also breathed new life into musical theater in England, where an operatic tradition had hardly existed since the days of Handel. The Met production, starring Anthony Dean Griffey in the title role, Patricia Racette as Ellen Orford, and Anthony Michaels-Moore as Captain Balstrode, is conducted by Donald Runnicles. For his company debut, Doyle is joined by two other Tony winners, set designer Scott Pask and costume designer Ann Hould-Ward. The lighting is designed by Peter Mumford. Check back daily for rehearsal photos, interviews with the singers and creative team, and backstage news!