Venture Opera presents Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Friday, Dec. 19, 7:30 p.m. at Kay Meek Centre, 1700 Mathers Ave., West Vancouver. Tickets are pay what you can ($20, $30 or $40), available at kaymeekcentre.com or at the door. An after-party featuring The Boom Booms will follow at 10 p.m. Tickets sold separately.
Mikayla Sager is coming home for Christmas and she's bringing her opera company with her.
The 23-year-old West Vancouver native will showcase her soprano voice in front of a hometown audience at Kay Meek Centre for one night only on Dec. 19 when she plays the role of Norina in Venture Opera's presentation of Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti.
Currently in her senior year at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, Sager has performed on the Kay Meek stage before, but never in a full-scale production such as this.
"It will be really nice to be back home and especially for my friends and family to see what we do," says the Rockridge secondary grad.
Don Pasquale is an Italian "opera buffa," or comic opera, that tells the story of a wealthy old bachelor who wants to find a wife. At the same time, Pasquale is angry with his nephew Ernesto for wanting to marry the young widow Norina, whom he disapproves of, and threatens to disinherit him. What unfolds over the course of three acts is an elaborate scheme, dreamed up by the cunning Dr. Malatesta, to outwit Pasquale, recover Ernesto's inheritance and unite the two young lovers.
"The show is very much a comedy and there's a lot of movement," Sager explains. "It's definitely not boring, it happens really quickly."
In a modern twist, this production will be set in the swinging 1960s rather than the 1840s when the opera was originally composed. Inspired by pop art, Mad Men and The Velvet Underground and Nico, the mid-century setting is mainly reflected in costuming since the travelling show requires a simple stage design. Making the trip to West Vancouver next week is a cast of five singers plus a director and stage manager, most of them current or former conservatory students in their 20s.
"(Venture Opera) is essentially a chamber opera company that is for young artists, created by young artists," Sager explains. While there are other companies out there for emerging opera singers, she says, most are designed for pre-professionals in their late 20s and early 30s.
"There's not that many opportunities for people who are early or mid-20s. Surprisingly there is a really big gap between the two (age groups)," she says.
Along with its mandate of giving performance opportunities to young singers, Venture Opera also tries to collaborate with stage directors to create theatrical productions as opposed to "stand and sing" style performances. Sager hopes the active staging and comedic nature of Don Pasquale, combined with Venture Opera's youthful cast, will make the show approachable for young audiences.
"The goal of the company, like any opera company these days really, is to bring in a younger crowd because opera is so important to us and we don't want it to die out." The Dec. 19 event is being presented by Sager's father, Mark, a long-time Kay Meek Centre supporter and the former mayor of West Vancouver, in honour of his mother, who passed away in September.
"She really loved that I was pursuing (music)," says Sager, explaining her grandmother was a music lover who used to sing on the radio in the 1940s.
Sager first discovered her voice when she was in Grade 3 at Eagle Harbour elementary and tried out for a solo in the school choir's Christmas show. Well-known West Vancouver music teacher Bernice (Bunny) Pearce happened to be at the audition and was impressed by the youngster's pipes. Soon after, Sager started taking voice lessons and had the chance to attend a summer music program at UBC while she was in high school.
"I got there and everyone was much older and actually knew what they were doing and I had no idea, but I thought it was really cool and I really wanted to do it." After Sager graduates next spring, she plans to stay on the East Coast, take private voice lessons, continue auditioning and try to make a name for herself in the New York opera scene. "There's a lot of competition," she says, "but there's also a lot of opportunity."
